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UPDATE: I will have a full report shortly. For now, the latest SAG statement:
SAG NATIONAL BOARD MEETING ADJOURNS WITHOUT ACTIONS
LOS ANGELES, January 13, 2009 –SAG President Alan Rosenberg sent the following message to Screen Actors Guild national board members and alternates today:
“At the end of the National Board plenary meeting this afternoon, a group of board members submitted a document to the Guild that purports to deal with the employment of the National Executive Director and the continuing approach to negotiations. After analyzing the document, Screen Actors Guild’s in-house and outside counsel have concluded that the document does not constitute a valid written assent, for several reasons, including a lack of sufficient signatures and the absence of any language on the document demonstrating the intent of the signers to grant their assent to the proposal. Guild National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen and the National Television and Theatrical Contract Negotiating Committee remain committed to advancing the cause of actors and our crucial contract negotiations.”
No substantive actions were taken by the Guild’s national board, which met at SAG’s national headquarters January 12 and 13 for almost 30 hours straight.
No mailing date has been set for the previously approved TV/Theatrical strike authorization referendum.
We have no further comment.
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Are they just trying to be funny?
What the hell can take 30 hours that they’d rather not go home and get a nap? Seriously! What happened to filibusters and “no quorum no meeting”?
So much for Variety’s exclusive.
LOL. Damn, Variety and THR are going to be bummed. How are they going to spin this into a “SAG Strike Authorization Vote has been stymied” piece?
Nikki, you just keep on telling the truth, Darling. I’d rather be fed the salty truth from you than a sugary littany of lies and distortions from the AMPTP and their shill rags.
Thank you.
Wow, what a shock. Nothing was accomplished. Thanks again membership first. Way to get things done. Unbelievable.
So, after 30.5 hours of meetings there is nothing new to report and no new plan? Anyone wonder why they have been unable to get a new deal in place at this point?
Come on SAG, get off your asses and do something. Strike or sign the last offer, but move the process forward. People are losing their homes and bisinesses while this stalemate continues.
The only thing more pathetic than this is the IATSE leadership and their negotiating skills…
This is going to be used in E-Law and Labor Relations courses for years to come as a textbook example of “How Not To Conduct A Strike.” I’ve never seen a bigger bunch of idiots in my life.
Another shameful waste of union money by the leadership. This meeting was a charade.
What a bunch of boobs. SAG leadership has stumbled at every step in this adventure, and now they publicize their own failed vote of “no confidence” in their own press release. This is stupid on SO many levels, the least of which is that this is nothing but more ammunition for the AMPTP. It’s clear now that they’re not going to get the strike authorization, and that the membership is deeply divided and wouldn’t survive a strike even if they did.
The writing is on the wall: Take the contract, no matter how crap it is, because that’s all you CAN do. But they can’t even see that. So the stalemate will continue until … when? What miraculous event has to happen for SAG to actually DO something, ANYthing?
I’ve been on their side ’til now, but now I’m just disgusted with the lot of them.
WTF?
So its all come down to semantics? The intent is clear. Run rabbit run
Doug Allen is toast.
No substantive actions were taken by the Guild’s national board, which met at SAG’s national headquarters January 12 and 13 for almost 30 hours straight.
Seems to this causual observer that if SAG couldn’t get anything done in 30 straight hours, the AMPTP didn’t stand a chance.
What a bunch of self indulgent pricks! SAG couldn’t hit water if jumped into the ocean. The Los Angeles economy is screwed! Help us, Obi Wan Kenobi!
And now get ready for SAG vs. SAG: The Lawsuit. Still no contract in place, still no strike authorization, still out of work? Watch for production to jump forward as SAG fights with itself until 2011.
Honestly, just put it to a vote and get it over with.
I don’t understand why the infighters are trying to sabotage a simple vote. Unless there are other forces at play here. Let SAG vote. Voices be heard, chips fall where they may, enough of this bullshit.
I gotta agree with Workin Stiff. The minority party manages to stave off a coup after 30+ hours of filibustering and people think they are WEAK!?!
I like the guy who says to “Take the contract, no matter how crap it is, because that’s all you CAN do.” Because that’s in no way defeatist.
There IS something you can do. You can NOT take the deal and go to the mats and watch Chernin and Moonves et al squirm while the entire town goes up in flames and stockholders in their companies call for their heads because they couldn’t come up with a deal for ACTORS.
Yeah, you really think they would get to keep their jobs if there was a strike? But, by all means, let’s not strike because we all wanna keep working for pennies.
You have GOT to be kidding me? This is really pathetic. So all of this and absolutely NOTHING has changed. Brilliant. So of all us that work on movies that haven’t worked for the last 4 months are STILL screwed because these jackasses don’t know their assholes from a hole in the ground.
I’m gonna be sick.
This can’t be real. For once, I’m beggin for ACE to regale us with some spin…
Exactly how many months has it been now that SAG has done absolutely NOTHING either way? My God, SAG is officially a complete fucking joke. They’re so desperate to stall the AMPTP (you know, those with the checkbooks who greenlight movies and series which, you know, employ SAG’s members) that they don’t seem to realize or care that production has trickled which means even less jobs than usual for its members which SAG continues to fuck around. Or maybe they’re simply as stupid as everyone says. What next? Fighting over chairs? LMFAO!
My,my. Anyone have the blow by blow?
30 hours can blow by very quickly in negotiations. Parties negotiate, break apart into sides or subgroups. Review documents, draft documents, discuss documents. Break for meals and caffiene. Back to arguing. I wouldn’t assume the fact nothing decided means nothing accomplished. Many proposals likely flew back and forth. Lots of accusations and proposed strategies. The sides within SAG may not be any closer, but they hopefully better understand each others positions.
it would be funny if it weren’t so utterly pathetic and tragic. how could a once proud and powerful union have so destroyed ourselves that we have become the stuff of corporate wet-dreams. it must be the single worst conducted labour almost-dispute in history. we will all be held accountable by the next generation of actors to whom residuals and the idea of making a half-decent living from their chosen profession will be as fantastical as unicorn soup. it’s shameful. unless there’s something i’m missing, we rejected merger numbers of times, elected the present administration to get us a better deal on DVDs and to fight for a proper and equitable share of new media and then, when it actually came time to get dirty, we re-invigorated the AFTRA debate, split ourselves down the middle, took DVD off the table, then stabbed our leaders in the back, front and face in front of our enemies. I guess we’ll get what we deserve. i’m sorry Doug and Alan. sorry to you and sorry for me and all of us.
I have a suggestion. Why not film all this SAG silliness for a bad reality television program? It would probably be a hell of a lot more entertaining to watch than most things on TV today. People love to watch complete meltdowns.