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Los Angeles (October 22, 2011)– The Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors met in a regularly scheduled plenary meeting on October 22, in the James Cagney Board Room at the Guild’s Los Angeles headquarters.
The meeting began with a moment of silence in honor of members who have passed away since the last meeting. The board received reports from operational departments, committees and task forces including:
Merger Task Force
President Ken Howard reported to the board on the efforts of the Guild’s Merger Task Force and efforts to unite SAG and AFTRA members in a single successor union.The Board also received status reports from member and staff co-leads of each of the six merger workgroups:
· Governance & Structure
· Operations & Staff
· Finance & Dues
· Collective Bargaining
· Pension, Health & Retirement
· Member Education & OutreacHFinance Report
· National Secretary-Treasurer Amy Aquino delivered a report on the Guild’s first quarter financial results noting that SAG’s revenue and expenses are tracking the budget for fiscal year 2012.National Executive Director’s Report
· National Executive Director David White reported on operational enhancements underway at the Guild. White told the board about the continued success and expanded use of the recently launched online SAG Production Center and contract signatory function. White revealed that more than 2,250 productions have executed or applied for SAG production contracts through the online signatory function since it publicly launched in June 2011, a figure that exceeds all projections for the initiative at this stage.· White also reported on the Guild’s support for, and participation in, the Creative America effort to stop content theft. SAG’s involvement in the industry-wide education and information campaign has included member communications, staff communications and various public relations efforts including video testimonial messages and print handouts provided at member events.
In other business, the Guild handled routine governance matters including a review of committee appointments and a report on the Regional Branch Rules of Procedure project.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. PDT.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Awwww… AFTRA sent out a press release. Ain’t that sweet!
This is not, cannot and willnot be a “merger”, and I truly wish our SAG “leaders” would stop calling it so.
“The meeting began with a moment of silence in honor of members who have passed away since the last meeting.” Yes, let’s start with a “Save the Cat!” moment so that readers of this BS press release will think we’re doing something positive on their behalf.
Truth is if there were a camera present and said camera were to, say, tilt up, we might see Roberta Reardon standing right above SAG “N.E.D.” David White, and Kim Hedgepeth above SAG “President” Ken Howard, both yanking and pulling their puppet strings. (You can see when Kim wants Ken to talk, she wiggles her left pinky so his lips move.) (Ned Vaughn will be hiding in the closet over to Ken’s left…)
Ken Howard had something to say? So Ned Vaughn handed him a piece of paper to read. Please… SAG “President” Ken Howard has absolutely nothing to say unless he’s told to speak. His AFTRA TV show provides him with sides so he doesn’t get confused…
The entire focus of these “task force groups” is to design a new union/guild – NOT a merger. Meaning that the function of these groups is to allow both SAG and AFTRA to die (over time and attrition). Further, to negotiate with the AMPTP as a new, combined Guild which the AMPTP (our employers) could give a shit about. They (the AMPTP) won’t even approach the negotiation table about pension until this new “Mystery Guild” comes to fruition. So whatever these “task force groups” come up with and present to the membership(s) in January, they canNOT predict what will happen with both/either guilds’ pensions into the future. And they will tell you exactly that in their January report.
Do you SEG background people remember what happened in ’93? Lots of promises, but the bottom line (hehe) was to bend over and accept your fate. Producers (the AMPTP) don’t need to hire union people.
And I, when I hire actors and BG, will NOT hire union/guild performers. Why? Because you will NOT and CANNOT make me, you spineless, ignorant wannabe crybabies! Don’t like to hear that? THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Kick these U4S “leaders” out of SAG and vote in people who respect the craft; people who know what it’s like to struggle to earn a living as an actor; people who want SAG to survive beyond this temporary AFRA (yeah, there’s no “T” in AFRA) takeover conspiracy.
My own thoughts are: why let both guilds die? Why not just have SAG absorb AFTRA, or at least AFTRA actors? I mean, if AFTRA is bound to die anyway (please, God), why not just give Reardon $500K, put her on a plane to the Amazon and get rid of her? (As if she ever gave a crap about AFTRA actors in the first place…) Oh, sorry Kim Hedgepeth: you can have $100K as well, but with the stipulation that BOTH of you must STFU and not show your backstabbing faces around here ever again.
Deal?
You guild members wanna negotiate a contract? Let’s have ALL guild members stand up and say ‘NO’ to the bullshit, and ‘YES’ to leadership that actually has the stones to support the betterment of actors, without their own personal egos, financial needs and agendas getting in the way.
I’m voting absolutely NO on any “merger” these “leaders” come up with. Let actors be actors, and let broadcasters be broadcasters – each with their own guilds, happily. Broadcasters and weathergirls should NOT be voting on actors’ contracts. WTF?
wtf indeed………
Time to up your meds, Ace. Your bizarre hallucinations might require medical attention. Please check in with a mental health professional posthaste.
In case you haven’t noticed, SAG members are sick of all the craziness and want to merge. Badly. Maybe they understand something you don’t.
Union Actor
(part of the 99% of
ACE is right. I’m surprised to read this here but the SEG example is exactly what I was giving someone on set the other day.
Its all gonna happen again.
Never will I vote for this. I don’t care. Kill me. No vote. This is once again another hoax. Keep raping us actors. …till we leave the business — oh yeah, I know what you’ll say…like that A-List casting director joked over my hungry tears the other day at the Casting Workshop where I had paid $50 to meet; “Go if you want — there will be more and we’ll just find someone else.”
Hear Hear,
I gave up my life to Act — to perform a public service by entertaining — to alleviate your sadness — to enlighten you in boredom — my friends from my Ivy League school went on to make $250k a year — got married — had LIVES. I stayed here and sacrificed day after day.
And this is how your town and your profession repays me? I sit on the corner like a Vietnam Vet begging for food — like someone who never even graduated high school, when in fact I have a post-graduate degree in a craft you spit on.
So True…
…Acting is indeed a public service
…and not for the cowardly either.
I have not attended any meetings from either unions. I just don’t like listening to the political mumbo jumbo. I became an actor to act, not enjoy a political office. I’m thankful and appreciative of those on our boards and my peers who attend and participate. Another reason I do not attend is having to listen to the impassioned rhetoric from folk like my fellow member above. Most of it, to me, is a waste of time.
That being said, I think a merger is more than important. I do not feel that we are simply “actors” vs “broadcasters”. Especially when 1/2 hr sitcoms can fall under, depending on the project, a SAG or AFTRA contract. Animation programs, same. We are ALL actors. We need to live in one house under the same roof.
Hey, I’m also a big fan of “absorbing” a union, but considering the pride of both unions, I’m pretty sure that will never happen.
More than I’m disappointed in Ace’s comment, I’m disappointed that this article did not, or I guess could not, reflect exactly what Ken Howard said regarding the merger.
Guess I should have gone to the meeting.
“Impassioned”, yes. And as you (and obviously some others) are disappointed in my “rhetoric”, it IS important.
See, part of your responsibility as a fellow union member is to participate in said union. You can’t just hope everyone else makes the effort to get involved in making your work and future career better, you have to do it. You can’t wait for celebrity “leaders” to tell you what to do (“leaders” who have a conflict of interest, by the way). Don’t like the politics of union participation and/or leadership? Fine, there are lots of non-union productions for you to choose from. See ya’!
SAG is a union. It can only give back what we members put into it. Read Matt’s comment below. Long? Yes (well, it was a letter, not a comment, after all). Impassioned? Yes. Accurate? Absolutely! But you, and others, won’t take the time. “Too long!” you say. “I just wanna act!” Fine. But if you don’t take the time to understand what’s going on, you and generations of actors after you will not be able to make a decent living as actors.
As for my comment above, while I have no doubt this new union will happen (with all it’s shortcomings), there is really no need to kill SAG to do it, just to assuage Reardon’s ego.
One more thing: I do not think we are, or should be “actors vs broadcasters” (or any other performers). We all perform in some way, but the way we earn our income is completely different. Broadcasters (and DJs, etc) are not on any type of residual pay structure that producers would/could re-use for profit. Residuals (profit participation) are how actors make a living. I just don’t believe non-actors should be able – or asked (by Reardon) – to vote up or down on out income structure.
I too, have now after two years of scraping by on unemployment buried my pride and once again after 5 years started taking Background Jobs — this after being on a series and other massively noticeable projects… what do you want me to do — I don’t come from money and I have no other family — this is my only option that can allow me to still go to auditions. yes, do background — they wouldn’t let me break a lunch shift at a restaurant and neither would bartending be so behooving the mental acuity required of an actor.
The biggest mistake Background Actors made in 1993 was listening to the promises of the hierarchy and they got screwed. The majority of SAG members are people working Background, these are the blue-collar variety of the Actor Lot, whose bread and butter depends on their Union. I see day in day out how wages and more so working conditions have plummeted in the last 5 years.
As principal performers, we stood by you “writers”, but our livelihood got SCREWED in the process. Anyone can now walk in and join AFTRA — the pool has gotten even larger than before, as if we didn’t have enough competition to begin with. What is even worse is that stupid SAG has so loosened the rules that now anyone can even Taft-Hartley themselves under the New Media contract by setting up a little Youtube Project and shooting a home video — whether the video makes any sense or not.
And now I work background.
Never gonna vote yes on a merger. Bye.
Press release from SAG is much to do about nothing. Any reader would have to look up the word “status” in the dictionary to understand it’s true meaning. Apparently what was shared with the board was nothing more than a report from Howard/ Aquino/Vaughn and others explaining the responsibilities of each of these smaller committees of the G1 (such a stupid name). There were no details presented and some of our brothers and sisters from NY weren’t happy. Not to mention the few remaining survivors from Membership First. It’s late Oct already and this pile of shit is supposed to be presented and voted on by the boards no later than the third week of January. Certainly before the SAG Awards because it is the mandate of Ken Howard and Roberta Reardon (Who?) to walk out on the SAG awards stage, in front of millions of viewers, hand in hand, and announce that the unions have agreed to merge. (pause for applause). TRIUMPHANT!! That’s the plan. Whether the merger plan is ready or not. This is a joke. What about our pension and health plans? What about a ton of other concerns? Is all real issues going to be settled or explained to the board before they vote and before we vote? The word on the street is that no information about what a merger will do to our plans will be investigated or shared prior to merger. We won’t know anything about the impact on the p&h plans before we are asked to vote on merger. But the powers that be will start a pr campaign to really spin the merger and sweep any concerns about pension and health under the rug. NO REAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE IMPACT OF MERGER ON SAG’S PENSION AND HEALTH PLANS WILL BE TOLD TO THE MEMBERSHIP BEFORE WE VOTE! SAG and its mouth pieces and AFTRA and its paid mouthpiece (Roberta Reardon is getting paid $3500 a month until merger passes or fails. Yeah, you read it right. A volunteer is getting paid $3500 a month because she claims she is missing out on work because of her busy merger schedule. What fucking work? This woman has not one acting credit yet she claims to be an actor. And she didn’t have to provide proof of loss of work when she requested that money. The AFTRA national board is paying her with members dues money without even finding out if her claims are legit.)
If you are a SAG member, just read the current issue of Take 2 to see how fucked up we are. And these bozos keep claiming that if you are vested, you are safe. Not according to Take 2. SAG’s pension and health could slip into the red zone if things get worse and cuts aren’t made. All because SAG didn’t fight AFTRA when they began invading SAG’s jurisdiction. Well, SAG did try to fight but those who were fighting were fired, denigrated and prevented from telling the truth. Since Ken Howard/Vaughn/Aquino and White have been in power (late 2008 to today), SAG has lost 95% of network television and almost all of basic cable to AFTRA. People can’t blame Doug Allen and MF for this. They haven’t been in power since Oct 2008. This take-over has been going on for 3 years. SAG’s blood is on the hands of U4S. And they are the evil architects of this bullshit merger plan. Their finger prints are all over the end of SAG and the beginning of the more powerful AFTRA. Don’t be fooled. This is all about putting an end to SAG and building up AFTRA as the only actors union.
Someone ask “Ace” if he can say “paranoid schizophrenic.”
Look in the mirror and question what you just said. Ace is merely highlighting the severing of SAG’s testicle and the danger of future working conditions of Actors. THINK. This is not about the short-term — it is about the long-run. Actors the world over who didn’t have such a strong union in their own nations used to look at the strength of SAG with envy and longing; it is not about being united — this will lead to the loss of progression made over time, of working conditions of Actors that were fought and won over decades; and it will all be gone!
Forever.
Look in the mirror and question what you just said. Ace is merely highlighting the severing of SAG’s testicle and the danger of future working conditions of Actors. THINK. This is not about the short-term — it is about the long-run.
And for the majority part, this is not about the megastars of people making above $250,000 — this is about the everyday working actor who barely scrapes by $25k a year while living in poverty — this is about the blue-collar actor.
Actors the world over who didn’t have such a strong union in their own nations used to look at the strength of SAG with envy and longing; it is not about being united — this will lead to the loss of progression made over time, of working conditions of Actors that were fought and won over decades; and it will all be gone!
Forever.
There are two possibilities to avoid this merger:
1. Something blows up internally, the anti-merger people just finally call bullshit on this, go public, big enough to be covered in the press, and with enough time to be absorbed by the membership in a way that makes them as angry at UFS as they were at M1, and then, the vote doesn’t even go out because it won’t pass.
2. Something blows up legally that just stops it in its tracks.
Dr. Schurman is overseeing the merger talks:
Dear Matt,
I appreciate receiving your very detailed explanation of your strongly held opposition to the merger of SAG and AFTRA. Let me clarify my role. I am retained by the current officers and Executives of both unions to facilitate the the merger process. As such it is not my purview to express a substantive opinion on the wisdom of the process or the specific details of the proposed agreement; rather, my job is to help design a process of discussion, information seeking and negotiation that will lead the parties to the best agreement they can find – one that will satisfy the interests of both memberships and lead to better overall terms and conditions of work for all SAG and AFTRA members. In the end, the members will either accept or reject the agreement that is submitted to them. As you well know, several previous proposed agreements have been rejected by the members of the Screen Actors Guild.
My suggestion is that you send your statement below directly to the officers of these unions. It expresses your view in a cogent way (which makes me very proud – we always hope our Rutgers alums will be excellent writers). I don’t think it is appropriate for me to convey this information – though I have certainly encouraged them to listen carefully to a broad range of members views as we move through the merger discussions. As I have become involved in this process I have been contacted by members of both unions with a range of views from “why is it taking so long – its a no brainer lets get it done” to “I am totally opposed to merger.” And lots of middle range positions.
My best regards,
Sue Schurman
————————-
Dear Dr. Schurman,
As a graduate of Rutgers, MGSA, BFA, Acting, 1982, and a member of both SAG and AFTRA ( as well as the DGA and AEA), I take note of your advisory position in the G1 merger talks.
I assume you are familiar with the history of merger attempts between SAG and AFTRA, so I won’t bother to speak to the reasons for those prior attempts and failures.
What I will say is, I am against merger, and as a 28 year vet of SAG and AFTRA, I have, through direct experience, an informed sense of why this is happening now, and who the central players are, behind this 17th attempt to merge the two unions.
We are in a crisis, as you probably have ascertained. The 2008 contract offer from the AMPTP for SAG’s TV/Theatrical was deemed not nearly sufficient by the previous administration of SAG, and in my opinion, rightfully so.
Without going into the long-form version, SAG originally had the full support of its national board to send out a strike authorization, then, the board rescinded that vote, depriving the former administration of the ability to re-enter negotiations with the AMPTP, with the only negotiating ace-in-the-hole, as it were, any union actually has – the threat of strike.
The signing of the contract entered an interminable delay, after AFTRA voluntarily left Phase 1 bargaining and signed their Exhibit A contract, which was essentially identical to SAG’s TV/Theatrical.
It is my firm belief this was done with full consideration of the political opportunities this action would allow AFTRA.
SAG refused to sign, and “written assent” was used by the SAG political faction UFS, for the first time in the history of SAG, for anything approaching the seriousness of action that followed: the firing of our former NED, and the muzzling of our former President, from communicating with the membership as President of SAG, with any real authority, or to the press, or public.
A new regime took power. Subsequently in their two plus years in office, SAG has lost essentially all its television programming going forward. This has created a “split earnings” crisis for members. Half your income (movies) goes to SAG contributions for P&H, half your income (TV), goes to AFTRA P&W. Members of both unions end up often qualifying for neither as a result of the split.
The answer, as preached by the current administrations of both unions, is to merge.
One could argue, in effect, the “split earnings” issue was created to foster merger. Never in the history of SAG has any administration, moderate or progressive, allowed, or even contemplated allowing, such an action to go unanswered, yet, this administration of SAG, has neither protested the loss of SAG’s TV jurisdiction, nor attempted any action to stop it from happening, or getting it back.
This is unprecedented. SAG has always guarded its jurisdiction fiercely, and in the instances where there has been “shared jurisdiction” it has been a series of mutually agreed-upon and negotiated one-offs, as it were. The Situs agreements are perhaps the best example.
“Method of capture” is not the determining factor in jurisdiction. Hence, “digital,” should not be used as a reason to give TV to AFTRA. It simply does not apply. This was made explicitly clear in the last, large-scale jurisdictional case, between SAG and employers who had signed TV contract agreements with actors to have the former TVA represent them, instead of SAG.
The resulting NLRB decision was definitive in favor of SAG. This is why there has been little “shared-jurisdiction,” and when it has happened in the past, SAG agreed voluntarily, and temporarily, but the SAG membership as a whole, has never voted to make any “shared jurisdiction” agreement permanent.
Unless I am mistaken, federal labor law leaves the choice of a bargaining agent up to one group: the workers.
Unfortunately, the workers, the SAG membership, in this case, has never voted to make any of these agreements permanent. Federal labor law dictates they determine their representative, not any particular administration, or even, temporary national board majority, on their behalf.
No single cast of any single current TV show that would, previous to the current administration, have been covered by SAG, but is now covered by AFTRA, after the producers awarded these shows to AFTRA, was ever given the opportunity to vote on this switch in the normal bargaining agent, SAG, for “all motion pictures for television,” as the NLRB ruled in 1951. AFTRA was awarded “live TV” or “television performed in a live manner” in that same set of rulings. Nothing has changed in federal labor law.
And yet, here we are, as SAG members, with an administration, at the very least not defending what would normally, for the last 60 years, be SAG TV jurisdiction, or, at the worst, actively participating in the wholesale give-away of TV to facilitate merger with AFTRA, by the creation of the current crisis of “split earnings.”
Prior to 2008, there were “split earnings” but SAG had nearly 95% of “motion pictures for television,” and 100% of movies. It was not anything approaching a serious crisis for members of either union.
One can deduct all this is either pure coincidence, and a by-product of the AMPTP considering AFTRA “the more stable union,” despite AFTRA’s long record of financial and organizational instability, or the product of “the AMPTP punishing SAG for delaying the signing of the 2008 agreement.”
Or, one can deduct the obvious: this is a scam.
The G1 meetings are producing no information for anyone except those, due to confidentiality agreements, in the G1 meetings.
The SAG membership is told a “plan” will be made public in January, 2012, and a “merger referendum” will go out to both SAG and AFTRA memberships in March, 2012.
Whatever your advisory role actually consists of, and assuming your best professional intentions, I wonder if any of this gives you pause?
There are legal clouds on the horizon regarding the SAG P&H plan, allegations of embezzlement. There is the foreign royalty issue, in which the legal foundation upon which SAG established itself as the “collection society” since the signing of the Berne Treaty 19 years ago, is being re-examined as legally moot, due to the illegality of anyone but SAG actors themselves having the legal right to set up a collection society for their own foreign royalties.
There is the arrest in Spain of Teddy Bautista, long-time head of the SGAE, the collection society in Spain, and the allegation he has lined his, his families, and his cronies pockets, with SAG members (among others) foreign royalties, for 19 years.
There is the distinct possibility our own legal representation, both SAG and AFTRA, have been representing the best interests, financially speaking, of the MPAA, not SAG and AFTRA members.
These issues of possible obstruction of justice, and other serious criminal charges have not gone away, despite the best efforts of the MPAA, and the individual and class action settlement attempts to end all past and future liability to SAG and AFTRA (SAG has collected on behalf of AFTRA).
As one at the nexus of the legal wrangling currently going on, told me: this is “not going away.” The reason, I am told, is because the legal position of SAG is simply untenable, and will eventually be proven to be so.
It is the belief of those of us deeply familiar with the history of SAG-AFTRA merger attempts, that this has nothing to do with “the best interests of actors,” but rather, the best interests of the industry, and the producers, the AMPTP.
SAG is currently hobbled by a deeply inferior TV/Theatrical contract. It gave back, in 2009, the right of force majeure, which SAG held since its inception in 1933. It gave away SAG members rights on clip consent, and product placement protections. And then, of course, it established a disastrous formula for new media, the current and future delivery system of, eventually, all content. The lack of minimums and free windows, as more and more of SAG members content is delivered under the terms of new media, makes for a radically different profession going forward, one decidedly to the financial disadvantage of SAG members, and the benefits, minimums, P&H, residuals, foreign royalties and workplace protections SAG members have gained, in every instance, by strike, or threat of strike, since the inception of our union.
This is, in short, a corporate-backed attempt to bust the union, in keeping with the national trend, which has witnessed the decline of both private and public unionism from a high in the mid 30th percentile, to its current level of approximately 7%.
A “merger” with AFTRA, will produce a producer-compliant, overstuffed (broadcasters and recording artists), mash-up of disparate needs, voices, and countering cultures. Actors will have no reason to observe the current vital Rule One prohibiting non-union acting work by members. This is due to the fact that broadcasters will be part of this new union, and it is common knowledge broadcasters have worked non-union without penalty by AFTRA for many years. I have also been told by a top, former, long-time staffer, of both SAG and AFTRA, it is also common knowledge AFTRA has never enforced Rule 1 – even for its actors. No real enforcement, only show.
There is, as an actor, absolutely no possibility union actors, in a new union that absorbs that non-union culture, will observe Rule One in the new union. Work as an actor is brutally hard to find. Our professions are very often short-lived, up and down, entirely unpredictable and inconsistent. I can attest that, personally, I trained at an extremely difficult four-year MGSA program, under the tutelage of former Acting head, William Esper, then entered a ruthless business, and that I have scraped and beaten the odds for every job I have ever gotten in the 29 years I have been a working professional actor.
I can tell you personally, it is only in the last two, three years, specifically, that I have begun to have serious doubts about the future of my profession. I have no doubt this merger is not going to strengthen out bargaining position, but clear the way for the downsizing of an already extremely difficult profession, and lead to more and more non-union work by actors desperate for a job to pay their bills and feed their families.
I can tell you for a fact, there is a reason SAG members are not being given any answers to a whole host of issues involved in merger: there aren’t any answers. We are well aware of this, Dr. Schurman. Broadcasters will not agree to a merger if they cannot work non-union when they wish. They are living off full pensions, in many cases, off the work of actors, who worked AFTRA jobs, and whose contributions have floated the AFTRA P&W boat for many, many years, without the benefit of vesting by all those actors who have funded broadcasters pensions, but fell short of full vesting themselves.
There is no answer to the merging of SAG P&H and AFTRA P&W. The loss of TV has directly resulted in the severe degradation of the financial strength of SAG’s once vibrant P&H plan. To actually say to vested SAG pension participants, such as myself, “we’ll figure it out after we merge, trust us,” is both ridiculous, and an insult. Of course we don’t “trust” the current advocates of merger. There is a very good reason merger has either been tabled within SAG, or voted down by the SAG membership, this possibly marking the 17th time, since 1933.
We are not happy about this, as you can well imagine. Yes, it is the national economy, the global economy, of course, but as the SAG trustees just put in print, it is also due in large part to the loss of TV to AFTRA.
This is a simmering kettle, soon to come to a boil. I do not know exactly what your role is: simply an advisor, or one entrusted with any real authority in this process, but I appeal to you via our connection as a former student of your current employer, Rutgers University, where I am sure you are a respected and trusted professor, and as a current long-time professional in the two unions you are actively involved with, in the ongoing G1 discussions of merger. Please take this into consideration: if we do not have answers well before this referendum is sent out, there will be a back-lash of serious proportions. Our professions, our livelihoods, and our beloved union, SAG, the only thing standing between us, and the void of non-unionism, and blatant corporate greed, are in the balance.
I hope you convey, as one with a common connection in Rutgers University, to the heads of both unions, they have serious questions to answer, and if they don’t, there will be consequences for the current deafening silence.
Respectfully
Matt Mulhern
SAG, AFTRA, AEA, DGA
Rutgers, MGSA Class of 1982, BFA, Acting
–
M.M. – the return of the Gang of One.
At this point in my life, I have 22 years vested in a Pension. Last years Pension Report from SAG informs me that at the age of 67 when I may decide to retire, I am entitled to $4,273.00 a Month.
I have 18 moe years to go before reaching that age. I was lucky as a younger actor, and now I am not working so much as an older actor.
That $4,273.00 a month I will receive may very well be my only source of savings. (Who knows if I’ll ever get any U.S. Social Security Money?)
I mention this because NO ONE in all the merger talks has said anything about what will happen to our pensions.
If there is a Federal Law that guarantees my current pension will NOT be affected, and I will get everything I earned, then I am fine with a merger. But if no one can at SAG or AFTRA will guarantee that…then I’d be a very unwise person to ever vote for a merger.
Every actor should understand this. What will happen to our pensions – current pensions! – is the most important matter for almost all of us who have earned one.
Please spread the word. And excuse my next sentence but a merger scares me more than anything.
Don’t FUCK with our pensions. If you don’t know what’s going to happen to them…don’t fuck with them!
The *MAXIMUM* guaranteed benefit, by the government if the SAG Plan becomes insolvent, is only $1320.00 per year. That’s the MAX for Taft-Hartley Plans otherwise known as Union Plans. You can get the details by googling.
Funny how the merger zombies never talk about this subject. Wonder why?
“Your” government guaranteed pension might be calculated much lower than $1320.00 per month.
If SAG and AFTRA merge and the powers that be, don’t continue to fund the SAG plan, you might be eating cat food in your old age….
Correction: that’s $12870.00 PER YEAR which works out to
Jesus, Mike…that’s even more frightening than I imagined.
This is the biggest issue facing us and how the hell can any merger advocate NOT take this into consideration?
This is borderline criminal. I have been telling all my friends for years who talk of a merger…”Yes, but what about the pensions?” No one gives a fuck. And yet here they could be pushing me towards a life of homelessness come age 67. To go from a guaranteed almost 50K a year in 2030, to possibly only $13,000.00 a year? I mean again…WTF?
And does anyone think SAG will be stronger by a merger? Please tell me what the Fuck we gain by merging. I’m an ACTOR as in SAG…I’m not a host, an anchor, a reporter, a radio DJ…I’m an actor.
The days of any group of people – sag and aftra – striking and winning is gone. It went when the world became run by Corporations. All the studios can wear us down because they’re still getting revenue from a zillion other sources. Maybe a strike worked years ago when all the studios had was their roster of films…but that’s gone.
So really…why the fuck are people wanting to merge?
If my pension gets taken away…to me, that is a criminal act. Plain and simple.
there are reasons for and against merger. one reason for is that when the two actor’s unions constantly squabble with each other and compete for contracts, they undercut their strength, and producers simply divide and conquer at the bargaining table. i’ve been a part of a negotiating committee and seen it happen. to have one union encompassing all acting work for tv, movies and new media would largely eliminate that. sure, you’d still have factions within the union – you’ll never get rid of people’s tendency to disagree – but the producers wouldn’t be able to turn to another union for access to the same actors, which they do now.
and there are obvious arguments against the merger, which have been made elsewhere in this thread. but i don’t think someone should assume there are no good reasons for a merger. anyone who thinks the status quo is working fine is delusional. something has to be done. in my opinion, there are two major hurdles to clear – the pension issue, and the idea of whether to include thousands of broadcasters and radio dj’s who have no stake in how actors in other media are treated, and vice versa.
Believe me — I’m concerned too about this — Many Actors are.
Please vote a stronger leadership into office. Please.
Important point – ERISA – the federal body overseeing pensions, if SAG P&H goes belly-up, which the current administration is flirting with, in incredibly irresponsible fashion, guarantees just over $12,000 a year.
That’s it. Our pensions go boom? You will not get your stated amount. The full amount is NOT guaranteed by the government.
12k is.
So, we are being asked to vote on a merger with NO study of the possible effect on merger? In 2003, when the infamous Kasdan memo “leaked out” (thank God) of the Mercer Report, it was enough to turn the tide, and merger lost by 2%, no doubt due to the information in that memo, which validated the concerns of pensioners, or those SAG members thinking they’d like to BE vested someday in a healthy pension plan.
So, the answer this time? Don’t DO any studies. Say the law prohibits ANY “discussion” of the merging of these two plans, SAG and AFTRA. That is a lie. WE, SAG and AFTRA members, are PAYING, 5 million dollars for this 17th merger, attempt. In 2003, WE, paid, 4 million. But Ned Vaughn says there is not enough of a “time frame” for a study? That is a lie, pure and simple. He is actively avoiding what ANY responsible leader would do in this situation – get the best, most independent, most up-to-date study you can of the merger of P&H and P&W. It is an amazing abdication of fiduciary responsibility.
What is there to hide by NOT asking independent experts, what THEIR considered opinion is on the merger of the 2 programs?
It says it all that they are not allowing a transparent process.
And non-union? Here’s my guess. Nothing. No real teeth. There can’t possibly different rules for the broadcasters, who WILL continue to work NU. So, why isn’t the membership of SAG being told NOW, “there will be NO NU work allowed by the new union?’
Because, whatever the merger produces, it will NOT change the NU flouting of Rule 1 by AFTRA, by BOTH broadcasters AND actors.
If you admit that NOW, then, of course, merger is dead. So, DON’T admit it, then hope the bulk of the vote is from non-vested, younger members, who don’t CARE about pensions or health insurance or the possibility of NU destroying the new union.
If there is ONE vested or nearly vested SAG actor reading this, who, when they started, will not admit they would have done virtually ANYTHING to get work? I’ll eat Ken Howard’s toupe’.
The vast majority of actors in SAG and AFTRA will be out the door to NU land as soon as we merge, because the producers will put together NU projects because it will cost them HALF what a union project would. Get it?
And as SOON as experienced actors see this? NU rules. You are NOT going to take a pay-day, now that these fucking geniuses have opened up the NU gates by merging with the NU King – AFTRA?
Come on, that’s bullshit. You’ll take NU jobs because you will be playing on a completely uneven playing field, and you will be cutting out half, more, of the opportunities to work after this merger. And there will no longer be penalties or sanctions, because the new union will be dominated by a philosophy, AFTRA’s, that never took Rule One seriously!
Of COURSE NU will poison the new “union!”
Experienced SAG actors reading this, vested, or nearly so, better wake up and spread the word. VOTE. Because the younger members? Eh, maybe, maybe not. See, when you’re young, you don’t GIVE A FUCK about this shit, because you know, in your GUT, you’re just HOPING you can get a JOB. ONE JOB. And the vast majority drop out when, 2, 5 years in, they aren’t working.
So, the threat to unionism and P&H? Is directed at the actors in SAG who have SUCCEEDED, who have beaten the odds, and EARNED their pensions, EARNED their health insurance, EARNED their ability to stay afloat guarded by SAG in an EXTREMELY uncertain business.
You are going to VOTE THAT AWAY?
THAT’S INSANE.
Matt Mulhern is NOT a gang of one. Matt Mulhern articulates what 1,000s of informed SAG members know to be true. Unfortunately the people who have the interests of someone other than SAG members, and the SAG members that don’t understand what is going on, and who are swayed by the slick fliers and rhetoric of scumbag celebrity producers posing as actors keep voting us down. Under Membership First, 1,000 passionate SAG actors showed at the membership meetings. The informed actors are so disillusioned that UFS upcoming membership meeting will convene at the tiny SAG offices on Wilshire. This nightmare has been going on for three years. The media doesn’t seem interested in investigating what is happening and neither does Washington. But I believe in the United States. At some point, the truth will come out, hopefully indicting every UFS member. Is there still time to get 5,000 signatures to get the Obama administration to look into this matter? Though these days there doesn’t seem to be 5,000 SAG members with the courage to sign such a petition.
I (and all of my peers) vote NO every time. And in this last election, I (and all of my peers) voted only for candidates who were against merger.
It’s a scam. We all can vote NO as much as we want – our votes just don’t count anymore.
Simon – “1000′s? You really believe that? UFS has shrank away to a bitter non-progressive few and are far outnumbered by a huge majority in FAVOR of merger. Where have you been hiding?
M.M. once stated that “the City was surrounded”. By the invisible Army?
Matt Mulhern not only is a Gang of One, he uses a number of aliases here and on every actors’ chat board in order to hold false conversations with himself and peddle his numerous lies and half-truths concerning merger and the leaderships of performers’ unions. His stylings run from the “intelligible” as the one above that he sent to Ms Schurman to filth-laced diatribes such as the one above that has “shit” and “fuck” in every paragraph. One can only assume that someone with deep pockets is financing him because – while he once worked as an actor – he has been virtually unable to hold a job for the past number of years. Someone with deep pockets who is trying to prevent the most progressive and positive action performers’ unions have ever taken.
Please get a new SAG leadership.
Then please get the SAG membership to go on Strike… no more movies nor TV…. and get the damn SAG Union back to where it was.
Please.
Else this all ends here.
Smart actors make friends with writers, directors, producers and casting folks. Dumb actors rally around union leaders and protest contract talks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until I die:
Nobody works in this town because someone at SAG made a phone call.
The only way you work is proving to employers you can bring it to the table. So, go meet a writer, who knows a producer who is interviewing directors and show ‘em what ya got. Make friends and you’ll work. Rely on your worthless union and you’ll starve. I promise. peace.
I have met many types of talented people in the industry, but meeting these people does not mean a guarantee in the industry, yes we all that workin the business may go to an occational party, fine, thats great, but we all have to live, and casting always the same performers does not make change in the business, we need to share, and the ones that need to work, should get there chance, and posibly be casted once a year, there are thousands of performers, and all need work, so please cast farely, and share the business not the selfishness of being greedy, we all need each other.
I think it bears mentioning (reminding) that there was no “squabbling” until AFTRA fabricated a false issue, accusing SAG of poaching one of their soaps, and have been on the warpath ever since.
Let’s not lose our focus of WHY we’re in this mess, and who created it. AFTRA is not a friend of actors. It’s a self-serving group of egotistical and power hungry people, whose main goal is saving their crappy union, no matter the cost to union members.
Acting a public service? You’ve got to be kidding me.. A profession is chosen by its draw and its possibility of an income. Acting may have both as a draw, but it is NOT a public service or even close to one. The garbage collector performs a public service no matter what degree they got from an Ivy League school. Actors have every right to be paid for reruns and they should get exactly the pay they got when hired the first time to do that job. No matter how many times the program runs, unless they have a contract that says otherwise. Stars of sit-coms will make a killing no matter what but the bit part players get paid once and that is wrong. An actor on “Seinfeld” should be paid the exact wage they got to do that work the first time, no matter the number of times such a program runs/reruns. Show owners and producers are making money each time a show runs and the actor was part of that production. But to ask for pensions and profits for something that may or may not make a dime is simply foolish. As someone said earlier in this list of comments “more will come-we’ll just find someone else”. Make no mistake, if you choose to treat your craft as a public service you are just fooling yourself. Actors are contract workers, nothing more, nothing less, and SAG is doing just what the name says, its sagging in the support of its memebers.