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LOS ANGELES (July 21, 2010) – The Administrative Committee of the National Board of Directors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA, AFL-CIO) – a national union of more than 70,000 professional performers, recording artists and broadcast journalists – met today for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting.
At today’s meeting, the AFTRA Administrative Committee approved the formal appointment of AFTRA’s members to the AFTRA Exhibit A/SAG TV-Theatrical Joint Wages and Working Conditions National Plenary Committee and Negotiating Committee. AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon will serve as AFTRA’s National Chair for both the Joint W&W Plenary and Negotiating committees. The other members of the committees remain confidential, pursuant to AFTRA policy.
President Reardon also reported to the Administrative Committee that she has proposed to Screen Actors Guild President Ken Howard the creation of a “Presidents’ Forum” to facilitate focused and informal discussions between leaders of the two unions to establish a common vision for a single, new national union representing professional performers, recording artists and broadcast journalists working in the entertainment and news media industries.
President Reardon said, “I first became involved in union service at AFTRA because I believe in one new union for all of our members. That new union must address and anticipate the dramatic and accelerating changes in our industries and the needs and concerns of members in all jurisdictions, in all parts of the country. This important discussion must be both careful and thorough and must be inclusive and unburdened by bureaucratic processes. For ourselves and for future generations, it is imperative: we cannot fail.”
The Presidents’ Forum is an opportunity for each union’s President to invite key leaders from within each union to participate in informal, but focused, discussions, with a view to creating a common vision for a new union. The Forum would meet on an as-needed basis as requested by the union Presidents, with different AFTRA leaders participating, depending upon the agenda and topics at each discussion to permit as inclusive and diverse input as possible. It is expected such informal discussions would continue through the end of 2011, given upcoming contract negotiations for the AFTRA and SAG Non-Broadcast/Industrial/Educational Contracts, which expire on April 30, 2011, and the months-long wages and working conditions meetings and negotiations planned for AFTRA’s Network Television Code (“Front of the Book”) which expires on Nov. 15, 2011.
The Administrative Committee also unanimously approved two new experimental agreements covering narrators who record audiobooks produced by Highbridge Audio and John Marshall Media. Each agreement includes terms for minimum compensation as well as employer contributions to the AFTRA Health & Retirement Funds. The agreements cover audiobooks intended for distribution through the National Library Service and for commercial release through major distributors such as Audible.com, MacMillan, Random House, Blackstone, Harper and BBC, among others. The Highbridge Audio Agreement is effective July 22, 2010, through July 21, 2011, and the John Marshall Media Agreement is retroactive to July 1, 2010, and is effective through Dec. 31, 2011.
The Administrative Committee received the formal announcement that the AFTRA Boston Local has established a scholarship in memory of long-time Boston broadcast journalist and AFTRA National Board Member John Henning, who passed away on July 7, 2010. The scholarship in Henning’s memory would be administered through the George Heller Memorial Scholarship Fund of the AFTRA Foundation.
The Administrative Committee acknowledged the passing of both Mr. Henning and long-time union activist, actor Larry Keith, who passed away on July 17.
The Administrative Committee is next scheduled to meet on Aug. 18, and the full AFTRA National Board is scheduled to meet on Sept. 11, followed by a joint meeting of the AFTRA and SAG Joint National Board in preparation for the commencement of the AFTRA Exhibit A/SAG TV-Theatrical negotiations which are scheduled to begin on Sept. 27, 2010.
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Pleeeeeeease… I don’t trust a single word that Roberta Reardon says or types. (As if they haven’t been “discussing merger” for the past two years.) Just f’ing do it already. Ratify it before September 27 and go in as one union. Why drag out another couple of shitty contracts for three more years?
And separate the residual-generating contracts from the others, willya? Actors get paid differently than other people and we should have our own separate contract. If you’re gonna shove it down our throats, the least you could do is give us a glass of water to help us swallow it.
Gary A; Don’t you get it? SAG/AFTRA are already merged. They are negotiating together. Ratify what “before September 27th”? I don’t understand why people don’t get it. This is your “power in numbers” scenario happening right in front of your very eyes. Isn’t this what people wanted? Both unions united, negotiating together, presenting a united front against our employers? These upcoming negotiations is the perfect litmus test for a formal merger between the two unions. All of you who are gaga for merger better follow what’s about to go down during the next coming months. This is what you’ve been praying for. Let’s see how strong SAG/AFTRA will be at the table. “If we are merged the employers can’t play one off of other.” “Power in numbers.” “AFTRA wants the same things SAG wants.” “The broadcasters will stand by the actors side and visa versa.” “Once we negotiate together, there will no longer be two unions fighting over the same crumb.” and so on and so on and so on. Well, let’s see what happens. I’ve got a feeling nothing will happen. We’ll be lucky to get 2-2% increase each year of the contract (look what was offered to the Teamsters) There will be no changes in New media payments and those ridiculous streaming residual checks of .09cents will continue for another 3 years. So Gary, with regard to negotiations, SAG/AFTRA” is going in as one union.” Nothing will come of it that will benefit SAG actors.
Yes, UA, I get it. However, we are not merged – at least not yet. “Teaming up” at the negotiating table means nothing. You’ll note that three years ago SAG and AFTRA began the contract negotiations together, only to have AFTRA pull a fast one and create a false issue so that they could feign a reason (complete BS) to negotiate on their own. If we were truly merged, this would not be a possibility.
The biggest problem now is that we are (both SAG and AFTRA) vulnerable under the current circumstances. The AMPTP knows all they have to do is threaten to hammer another wedge between us and we’ll snap into lockstep with them.
You’ll also note that there hasn’t been one word about going into these early negotiations with a strike authorization…? If our “negotiators” don’t like what the AMPTP offer us, what are they gonna do about it – tell the AMPTP’s Moms on them? We have no leverage, and without leverage we are defenseless.
Thank you, Roberta Reardon, Kim Hedgepeth and UFS. You have all truly weakened the status of the professional actor.
Roberta Reardon proposing a “President’s Conference” with Ken Howard is like Millard Fillmore reaching out to Herbert Hoover to discuss creating a third union headed by Warren Harding.
The mind boggles. The weakest, worst run union by FAR of all the entertainment unions – AFTRA – joining with the President overseeing the destruction of the formerly most powerful union in Hollywood – SAG.
The breast swells with pride at the prospects. The inmates actually are running the asylum. Into the ground.
That’s just it… Just like Oil and Water, Actors and Broadcasters don’t mix. The Broadcasters will get what they want and vote in favor of a lousy contract for the Actors. So, where does that leave the Actors? Worse off!
Just say NO to merger!
The last time they tried to merge the two actor unions, they stated that they COULD NOT merge the SAG Pension Fund with the AFTRA Retirement Fund. Nothing’s changed, they still can’t!
Actors would be much better off if SAG were to take over the jurisdiction of all actors currently represented by AFTRA. Then, all pension credits from any on-camera acting job would be combined.
Of course they can Merge the SAG pension with the AFTRA Retirement!!! HAHAHA that is laughable. All it is, is time and Money. they don’t WANT to merge the two, but of course they CAN merge the two. we put men on the moon, I am pretty sure we can get some paper work done for f*ck sake..
As for Broadcasters voting on actor’s contracts, why would they? And furthermore, why would actors vote on broadcasters contracts? Just because it is one union, doesn’t mean you can’t have divisions within that union between the different performers ie: broadcasters and actors. They vote on their contracts and we vote on ours.
Who is running this thing, Monkeys?
If they do not accelerate a merger, it is only to serve the unions’ interests and not its members — once again. That being, that by not having to pay into benefits for the major of actors who are not able to meet min. requirements in either union, the unions save A LOT of money that otherwise they would pay out. Additional, staff in each union continues to make large salaries without a worry in the world. Meanwhile, the actor is not properly served. Stop the rhetoric already. Just do it while the majority of actors want it and need it and would vote for it. It is the best solution for the long term.
BUT, please don’t give us the shi**y AFTRA service after the merger. Even casting directors and producers will tell you how service oriented SAG is and how unresponsive AFTRA is.
Doubtless the producers are tired of it taking all day to help TWO unions craft press releases and statements to the membership explaining why more concessions will mean bigger money in the end, AFTRA before lunch, and SAG after.
So they’d like to engage in the chore just once and have the rest of the day free. And in exchange for this they’re willing to offer…well, nothing. Times are tight, ya know? Entertainment hardly pays investors any more, and unless the actors will help cut costs by cutting the number of times the producers have to pay lawyers to write up actor concessions, well, thousands of jobs will be lost and contract talks will have to be held in Michigan… or Wisconsin… whatever state is willing to rebate the price of meeting rooms and Power Point presentations. You’ll be SAVING performers’ jobs by joining the two unions and reducing the number of union negotiations. It’s really the only smart choice!
Besides, Ken Howard has an early call for a guest spot the next day, so there’s one actor who will really be helped out by shorter negotiations! See, good for everybody! Sign here. Oh, and don’t forget to validate the producers’ parking. (If you don’t they’re just gonna bill it to you, anyway.)
Actors should decertify AFTRA not merge with AFTRA. They are the producers union, not the actors union. They have cost actors million in residuals and raided SAG’s jurisdiction. It’s extortion–If you don’t merge we’ll steal your jurisdiction. It is an attempt by New York based union, who have little experience as actors, to destroy SAG. Check the credit of the AFTRA people that propose the “New Union”.
I don’t know one actor that wants AFTRA to be their collective bargaining representative they want SAG. They producers want AFTRA.
Hello? This is a case for the NLRB. Employees are the ones that are suppose to choose their union, not employers. Give actors the opportunity to vote like they’ve done in the past.
Unite For Strength, is either the most (take your pick) inept, corrupt or wimpiest group, to lead SAG in its history. Not one peep about AFTRA stealing SAG jurisdiction in TV. It’s a scandal.
I need a copy editor.
Actors should decertify AFTRA not merge with AFTRA. They are the producer’s union, not the actor’s union. They have cost actors millions in residuals and raided SAG’s jurisdiction. It’s extortion–If you don’t merge we’ll steal your jurisdiction. It is an attempt by New York based union, whoseleaders have little experience as actors, to destroy SAG. Check the credits of the AFTRA people that proposed the “New Union”.
I don’t know one actor that wants AFTRA to be their collective bargaining representative, they want SAG. The producers want AFTRA.
Hello? This is a case for the NLRB. Employees are the ones that are supposed to choose their union, not employers. Give actors the opportunity to vote, like they’ve done in the past for TV film jurisdicition.
Unite For Strength, is either the most (take your pick) inept, corrupt or wimpiest group, to lead SAG in its history. Not one peep about AFTRA stealing SAG’s jurisdiction in TV. It’s a scandal.
While in theory decertifying AFTRA would be ideal, it should have been done long ago. Whoever allowed two actors unions in the first place? Now, however, we are too far down the current path.
Are you willing to risk co-negotiations with our sister union by stirring up anger against her with a decertification rally? That would be devastating to the actors. And then what? What if it is voted down? Then how are you going to pick up the pieces for a merger then?
Before Unite for Strength took over and completely abdicated their fiduciary responsibility to the SAG membership, SAG had 98% of prime time Network Broadcast TV dramas. AFTRA had only two mid-season replacement sitcoms. Regarding Prime Time, the reason that there was no decertification movement, was because their were hardly any AFTRA shows to decertify. That is until UFS took over.
It is also unclear it the decertification process can be done show by show or if universal decertification of AFTRA by actors is the appropriate strategy. Also who would be allowed to vote in the decertification election, would also need to be determined. Would it be the entire AFTRA membership or just the ‘actor’s bargaining unit’.
But the first thing SAG members need to do is to vote Unite for Strength out of office. —Do you believe, that the current SAG leadership, did all they could to protect SAG’s jurisdiction?— If you can’t answer that question affirmatively, then you were BETRAYED by your union’s leaders. You must vote them out of office.
There are also other methods besides decertification that can be used, once UFS is gone. The most logical would be for SAG to file a Petition for bargaining “Unit Clarification”, through the NLRB. But that won’t happen with the duplicitous UFS slate controlling SAG. Unite for Strength must first must be voted out of office.
There is no difference in the way a “digitally” shot TV show is made, from a “film” shot TV show. A lot of filmed show switch to digital and probably nobody even noticed. SAG has exclusive jurisdiction on all TV show made like motion pictures, in other words all scripted dramas not broadcast live. Which means all scripted dramas, because there are currently no scripted dramas broadcast live.
Actors don’t need or want a “New Union”. Which would mean the death of the once great Screen Actors Guild. They just want AFTRA gone. If SAG has jurisdiction clarified though the NLRB AFTRA will be finished. Actors will throw a party if that ever happens, but United for Strength must go for that to happen.
Your history is flawed, and the articles and comments proving the point are still available on DHD and elsewhere. As many people predicted, Membership First’s absolute inability to accomplish anything beyond a defacto strike threat forced the studios and networks to go AFTRA. By the time UFS rightly wrested control from a cabal who were hellbent on striking during the worst economic crisis in living memory, nearly the entirety of new scripted programming had gone to AFTRA because AFTRA had a contract in place.
That is not raiding. That is being available with the leadership of SAG refused to be. Had the studios and networks NOT gone with AFTRA, nobody would have worked on anything because the shows would not exist.
The above comments are spot on as the across-the-ponders say. “Who created two actor’s unions in the first place?”
Well, the philosophical predecessors of the Roberta Reardons and Kim Roberts – those people. The people who, in about ’48, out of NY, said “hey this TV thing is going to be huge – let’s go after it!”
And did. Which if fine. Free country. But SAG said “hey, ho, wait a whoa – second there Roberta (or whomever was the thief in chief in ’48 of the TVA – which became AFTRA – some middle aged white dude I’m sure) and brought a Unit Clarification claim to the NLRB – exactly what SAG should be doing now.
And the NLRB, in it’s limited, but, bottom-line wisdom, said “You? (TVA) get LIVE TV,” which at the time, was a lot of TV, “and you? (SAG) get all scripted motion pictures for television” which meant, and means – all TV except TV going out live as it is happening.
So, yes, we’re in a sort of perfect position for SAG to file a Unit Clarification Claim, but, of course, SAG’s current bleedership isn’t doing that, which should have been done a couple years ago when the AMPTP began paying off AFTRA for signing the shitty deal by giving them all TV and trying to bust SAG with the help of AFTRA and the A-list actors.
You know, it’s sort of like, well, so many things, really, so many analogies come to mind, but let’s say Roberta Reardon is Halderman and Ken Howard is Erlichman and Merger is Nixon, and, right up until Nixon had Barry Goldwater walk into the Oval Office and say “Dick – it’s over,” Nixon thought he could beat it.
Merger and the destruction of the Screen Actors Guild for a bunch of pansies for management will make their same ridiculous arguments, while lying through their teeth, until someone finally walks into Ken Howard’s office and says “DICK – it’s over.”
But so many of you who pound the current UFS faction, AFTRA, and everyone believed to be under that umbrella, seem to completely ignore the real driver behind our unique situation. And that is the actors themselves. There are too many of them who want to work. And, because of the inept and corrupt way SAG vouchers were and are obtained to get into the union, as well as the AFTRA-pay-your-way-into-the-union approach, you have a huge membership in both unions that are not qualified to work but believe they can. They are not educated in what is best for them. They are no longer a manageable group of actors who are fully trained and know their craft. Few of them have experience. Often, many of them have little theater experience. But, they all have stars in their eyes. And, more than ever before, they are driven by emotion and desperation — not solidly understood economics. This is a problem leadership created. And to ignore this massive problem is to not understand what you are up against.
UFS has played into this emotion since the beginning. Like a hero. A way out of this mess. Membership First, while honorable and just in its goals, will appear to these actors as a bully and continuing a war that seemingly cannot be won — and it confirmed that by carrying us into the abyss of no work. It is psychology folks.