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UPDATE: Smoke & Mirrors For IATSE & AMPTP, Too
I don’t see why the SAG National Majority and their pals, the Big Media labor lawyers, are needing to waste more than an hour in talks since all they’re doing is Xeroxing AFTRA’s TV/Theatrical Contract. These past two days have consisted of nothing more than playing at negotiations. 
Sure, feature players will be thrown a few bones regarding French hours and force majeure and other stuff the AMPTP was going to back off anyway. Heck, the plan by the AMPTP all along was to make a big show of only giving in to the so-called “moderates” once they came into power in order to make them look all that much better compared to the “militants”? Nice to know that the SAG National Majority is following the AMPTP’s script to perfection. So color me unimpressed when this deal is reached lickety split. And the heavy-lifting residuals issues really necessary to the continued financial security of SAG and its members will be left off the table.
Funny, but getting no publicity is the fact that SAG Interim NED David White back before Presidents Day scheduled with no prior notice a Special Meeting of the SAG National Board for this uber-busy Hollywood awards weekend. And the plenary doesn’t have an agenda. Now, maybe White merely wants to pin down his own compensation package which never got to a vote. Or maybe this special National Board meeting for Saturday is intended to get approval for the TV/Theatrical Contract which even the SAG National Majority knew was just a formality. Get it, guys? White scheduled the plenary before this week’s AMPTP negotiations with SAG’s new TV/Theatrical Contract task force even began. I understand that Hollywood Division’s Membership First board members learned about the calling of this Saturday special meeting by accident. And they think the timing of it during the most event-packed Hollywood weekend all year is deliberate. Because if Membership First board members can’t get together its full contingent, then the SAG National Majority could amass a 2/3′s majority to do almost anything it wants to.
But I still don’t understand how the SAG National Majority is planning to get its newly negotiated TV/Theatrical Contract ratified by the membership. My guess is either the SAG National Majority concocts a legal strategy to circumvent the SAG constitution and approves a motion that this contract can only be voted on by “affected members”. And what then would the standards for that so as to disenfranchise tens of thousands of SAG members? (Since the folks behind Unite For Strength came together in the first place to push through affected member voting and would be breaking their campaign promise not to pursue it.) Or else the SAG National Majority takes a page from AFTRA and convinces members in an underhanded (mis)education campaign that a “Yes” vote ratifies the contract and a “No” vote doesn’t just send the pact back to the negotiators for a try at better terms but supposedly authorizes the SAG board to call a strike. That would be blatant bullshit because a “no” vote on the contract has nothing to do with a Strike Authorization Vote, which would need a separate ballot and a 75% threshold as well. (Maybe that’s why the SAG National Majority has inexplicably left that Strike Authorization Vote sitting out there in order to manipulate the membership with such strike scare tactics.) Stay tuned.
Why Is Strike Authorization Vote STILL On The Table At SAG After Today???
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Thank God for you Nikki — Telling it like it is! What would we do without you?
Happy Oscar Weekend!!!
If UFS doesn’t send this piece of shit contract to the members, so we can properly vote it down, if they try to push it through and ratify it without the members consent, I will personally see to it that they are removed from office under the Articles of the SAG constitution that allows me to do so. And trust me, there is more than one!!!
Nikki hits the bull’s eye!
Every once in a while, during this whole interminable, sad, union-busting with the help of the “moderates” in the union debacle – something gets written by someone who has some idea of what’s what, and you actually allow yourself to hope someone, somewhere, will finally get it.
This is one of those posts. Let’s just get on with it folks. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Rosenberg, Johnson and Brown are telling it like it is, hold the bullshit and pleasantries, while McGuire, Arkin, Vaughn, Carteris, et al, are desperately pleading with Nick Counter “you HAVE to give us something so we can sell this to the membership.”
The delay? I’d guess it’s over just what that “something” is, and how much, with the UFS people pushing hard for better to assuage the coming shit-storm if they don’t get full jurisdiction from dollar one and a fair package for residuals in new media – the ONLY REAL non-negotiable – and the ONLY reason the AMPTP has waited this thing out all these months, so they can tie those residuals up in a bow, and then bury the fuckers for good.
My guess is UFS wants to show their bona fides, so they can crow about how tough they were.
But the logic for UFS walking out with fair residuals in new media, full jurisdiction, clip consent, product placement protections, Force Majeure, Taft-Hartley, no french hours, pay SAG the 60 to 100 million bucks you owe it, I mean, what’s the realistic possibility of that happening?
There isn’t any.
So, either, something totally illogical happens, let’s call it a miracle, or this is two days of UFS trying to “throw down” while Rosenberg, Johnson and Brown look at their nails. They’ll tell the AMPTP AND UFS AND John McGuire what time it is, cause, why not? What do they have to lose? They’ll get out-voted no matter what they say or do anyway, but they’ll get run over – while out comes Ned Vaughn (don’t you just know he’ll be the guy at the mike?) telling us “how pleased we are to emerge from these talks with a contract that we can recommend whole-heartedly to the membership for a ‘yes’ vote to get this industry moving again!” YAY!!!!!!!!
On to boosting our majority this summer, merging with AFTRA, which, for those playing at home means, for all practical purposes, destroying SAG (since, you know, it won’t exist anymore)instituting qualified voting, and getting rid of this damn “democracy thing” once and for all!
AIMA – run out of NY! Hopefully by 2011! Now THERE’S a dream come true…
intense. thanks for the rundown.
Among others, I have been awaiting news from these new “negotiations”. I’m very aware of who could spew untruths my (and the entire membership’s) way, and I’m leery of that. I’m also very interested in what the offer is: is it “better” than the LBO? And if so, why wouldn’t the AMPTP make that play with the previous NegCom?
And before I’ll even consider approving any contract offer, the $100 MILLION force majeure money must be paid – PLUS INTEREST. Period. No payment with interest: no ratification.
Beyond that, the offer had better be a huge improvement over the LBO – I don’t give a damn who brings the offer or how at this point – and must have a new media residual structure attached to it. No new media: no deal.
No matter what the new media deal offer, the wording of the so-called “sunset clause” must be changed to allow SAG (and all guilds) to fairly revisit and renegotiate new media for our next contract.
If these major demands aren’t met, what else have we but to send out a SAV? And if the so-called “SAG National Majority” won’t make that move, then the SAG membership (we can still vote, remember?) must start a grass roots campaign to fight for our rights, even if that means ousting our elected leaders for failure to make good on their promises.
But again, before all of that happens, let’s see what the “negotiation task force” thinks is the best they can do. I’m all a-twitter with anticipation…
Nikki appears to have a good bead on the latest in this situation.
It is vital to reiterate loud and clear that while a new contract requires only a simple majority vote of the membership to pass, an authorization to strike requires, what, 75%? That threshold means that even if the new board majority sends out a Janusian Frankenstein of a contract/strike authorization vote, voting against the contract doesn’t necessarily mean authorizing a strike, because the contract would have to go down by a 3/4 margin. Further, with this new crew running the show, the membership could vote by 85% in favor of a strike authorization and U4S and their fellow corporate appeasers would still simply sit on their hands and refuse to call it.
As for force majeure, that never belonged on the table in the first place. IMHO, SAG should sac up and take the moguls to court over this one. As for French hours, the moguls should get that the day they have to start paying corporate taxes at the same level as French companies.
ROCK SOLID ANALYSIS. NIKKI YOU NAILED IT!
(What, no trolls on this article yet?)
The other inconvenient oddity about this particular weekend and why it is one of the worst weekends on which to hold a National Board meeting, is that the entire commercial negotiating committee has to haul ass to NY for THOSE negotiations which start on Monday.
And as far as David White’s contract goes, do you know he’s asking for almost as much as Doug Allen got for doing only half of Doug’s job?
“In these economic times?”
That’s YOUR dues money, actors.
I am so sick and tired of people being sick and tired of the contract negotiations. I think the membership will blindly ratify this egregious farce because they just want to move on and be in a new contract! You think I’m wrong? please.. please… disagree with me!
I think the moral of this story is – United we stand – Divided we fall. The AMTPT has managed to divide the unions and is slowly picking us off one by one. What would happen if both IATSE and SAG went on strike together? What would have happened had SAG and AFTRA struck together (or merged 6 years ago for that matter)? What would have happened had the WGA waited a few months and struck at the same time as the SAG contracts were up?
The only way to get anything from these people is to grab them by the purse strings. One union going out on strike all by itself won’t do that – they have other options (AFTRA TV show anyone – Reality). If a few of the unions got their act together and started working in conjunction with one another then things might get done. Until then – well, we’re all screwed.
As always, egos and politics have gotten in the way of what is right and fair and the only ones who win are the Studios.
Just my 2 cents.
I hope and pray they only let “affected” members vote on the contract. I hope they write it in stone and seal it in iron. Im sick of baristas and old men that did one episode of Coach in 87 yelling and whining about an issue that has no bearing on their lives. Background shouldn’t even be given membership. Leave the SAG contract to working actors, period.
Everyone else is just running their mouths because it makes them feel like they’re a part of the industry when the reality is when the contract issue is resolved they’ll have nothing to do anymore thats remotely related to hollywood. They’re playing dress up.
Screw em.
Sincerely
Legitimate career holding SAG
Yo, “Bill Weathers”
Other than being an elitist who presumably wants to sign whatever stick the AMPTP wants to stick up your ass, who are you, exactly? I’m confused exactly what the foundation for your arrogance is, and you seem a bit MIA for somebody who holds himself in such high regard.
What do you want to bet that the money I’ve made on average the last year doing consistent background and standing in on major feature films for many months at a time for twelve hours a day over the last five years trumps your average income for the same time period, bitch? And you’re going to take away MY vote? Don’t think so, captain fantastic.
Oh who cares? Just sign the fucking contract so people can get back to making a living. I’m sick of whiny bitch ass “actors” who’d rather bitch and complain than actually, you know, work.
Ya hear that, actors? Mahogany wants us to “sign the deal”, so that “people can get back to work”. Let’s all make that happen, okay? So, go ahead, and grab your ankles because Mahogany wants to get back to work because Mahogany is the only one who clearly knows what REAL work is. Yeah, because, you know, there’s so much money in bitching and complaining. So let’s all throw away the majority of our income for the next 3 years so that Mahogany can get back to work.
I’m so tired of this attitude. It’s such a load of shit.
I knew there was a reason I love Justine Bateman!!!! You rock!
u really called that one, huh!