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LOS ANGELES (January 16, 2012) — The AFTRA and SAG Group for One Union (G1) met for nine days in Los Angeles to continue the process of creating a successor union to SAG and AFTRA. After productive discussions and reaching consensus, a Merger Package was approved by the G1 to send to the respective boards of AFTRA and SAG for approval. The SAG National Board of Directors will meet on Jan. 27 and 28 to review and vote on the package, which includes a Merger Agreement and Constitution. The AFTRA National Board of Directors will meet on Jan. 28 and, if needed, Jan. 29 to review and vote on the package.
Details of the proposed merger package will not be released prior to the AFTRA and SAG board meetings.
“What we have accomplished over the last year is tremendously gratifying. We are confident our members will agree that we have created something we can all be proud of – actors, singers, broadcasters, dancers, voiceover artists, background actors, stuntpersons and all entertainment and media professionals that will be represented by this new union. The consensus process allowed our G1 members to fully discuss, debate and reach agreement on critical provisions that form a strong foundation for a single union that will protect and strengthen the future for all our members,” said SAG National President Ken Howard and AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon.
The G1 began its fifth round of talks on January 7 and concluded January 16. Meetings were held at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel and at AFTRA and SAG headquarters Los Angeles.
The SAG and AFTRA merger planning process and G1 meetings were facilitated by Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations Professor Susan J. Schurman and noted labor consultant Peter S. DiCicco using principles of interest-based problem solving and consensus decision making.
AFTRA And SAG Negotiators Agree On Merger Package To Send To Memberships
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SAY GOOD BY to SAG
The race to the bottom.
Looks like the actors are finally getting their act together. Good for them and good luck with your merger, guys. The Teamsters have your backs.
This is great news for the future! I’m looking forward to the progress we will make on behalf of Performers with a more powerful Union.
Really?! So please explain to me how we’ll suddenly be more powerful? You can’t can you? No one can. What exactly is the gd advantage of a merger? You’re like all the idiots out there who think just because together the unions will number 210,000…that suddenly The actors will rule the entertainment world. We won’t…never will…why suddenly will we be “more powerful”? Wake the F$%K up!
Instead…SAG and AFTRA will RAPE the pensions of those SAG and AFTRA actors who are vested…to pay for the new letterheads, stationary, signs, whatever.
Are you people so naive to believe that a merger is going to improve things? No it won’t. Will we suddenly get higher pay? No…instead trust me…they will go straight for our pensions and screw with them. WHY ELSE ARE THESE LIARS NOT PLANNING ON TELLING US WHAT THEY’LL DO WITH IT UNTIL AFTER THE VOTE COUNT?
I will never vote for a merger until they gd tell us what the hell they plan to do with my pension!!!
They’re criminals if they get away with deciding upon y 23 year vested pension AFTER the fact.
If any of you out there have a pension…you cannot vote for this merger.
It’s all bulls$$%. It’s a con. More powerful my ass.
SAG-AFTRA cannot touch your pension. Their being united can only ENHANCE your pension – by being able to direct all of your earnings (at your say-so) into one plan, rather than being split by two. Reciprocal cooperation between the plans can only exist when the plans are held by one union, SAG-AFTRA.
Of course they can touch your pension. They can change all the vesting rules, delaying it by years. They can change the amount you’re due, lowering payments. I was going to say that the only thing they can’t change is the actual cash value of what you’ve put in, but they can do that, too. They can mismanage it, or bankrupt the fund altogether. Have you never heard of Enron? People lose their pensions all the time. All it takes is a few stupid moves, by people who are not being adequately monitored/questioned.
I dunno. Robert makes a lot of sense to me. Why isn’t anyone telling me what happens to my pension after this merger?
What good would it do to tell you anything? You obviously have your fingers stuck in your ears. Bankruptcy of either AFTRA or SAG’s pension plans are a DISTINCT IMPROBABILITY – and has nothing whatsoever to do with merger. You obviously have no knowledge of the ERISA laws that protect our Taft-Hartley multi-employer pension plans. This has absolutely nothing to do with “Enron.” Go work your scare tactics somewhere else.
We aren’t thinking a merger will give us higher pay. That is a straw argument, avoiding the issues.
Wow…people are really stupid. Pensions will not be lost since there are federal regs protecting them. Actually the merger will help since you will get credits for both SAG and AFTRA work to 1 pension plan. Also this will help mor people obtain medical ins. if they don’t jack-up the requirements too much. The merger will make the union stronger since producers will not have 2 unions to pit one against the other like what happened a few years ago (Aftra settled and SAG dragged on for another year). But you are right that this only works if they don’t hurt the members too much by lowering fees where too many people can join, and increasing requirements for pension and ins.
No tears from me. The Writers Strike and subsequent SAG two year “strike, stoppage, dispute, whatever” destroyed the entertainment business.
The reason SAG is doing this is because they’re broke. REALLY? Broke off lesser work in entertainment because their actions created — “Lesser work.”
Amazing. To the responses from you Union clowns. Things did not improve. Things are worse, and even SAG itself is now history. End of story. Done. Good luck arguing that. Now you can join the rest of us who had their jobs taken from them off the strikes.
There have been some in Hollywood, such as the late Nick Counter, whose venal self-interest and boundless distain for union members led him to wage ignoble war on the most vulnerable SAG actors, seeking to strip the poorest actors of their wages and protections in exchange for a huge corporate paycheck. Even from his deathbed, Nick Counter fought against a few extra pennies in gas money for extras. But at least Nick Counter “sat on the other side of the table” during his career-long quest to financially ruin actors. Amy Aquino, Ned Vaughn, Richard Masur, Ken Howard and others in “UNITE for $” have raised the banner of Nick Counter, but they somehow have wormed their ways into SAG leadership and that makes their treachery all the more despicable.
That’ great. You found one guy you think is screwing you so you go on strike to screw everyone else who’s not even in your union.
Wow. Makes me feel so much better about losing my job. About my Boss losing his job. About entire production compainies forced to close up shop. You’re right, that ONE guy who said was screwing you was easily, EASILY, worth destroying the rest of us.
Well, at least according to you. You greedy self important union shrill.
How can you merge one Union where you have Rule One, NO ONE CAN WORK NON- UNION, with another Union where the big earning Broadcasters make their money working at NBC Union , then walk across the hall and work non- Union at MSNBC ? They have mo answer for that and they are not including the minority opinion in the material being sent to members who may not be thinking of the important questions. When your big stars / producers want to make a non-union movie out of the country, pay themselves tons of money the way they always do and no one else the way they now do, how are you going to stop them? No protections, no rules on times, meal penalties, child labor, nothing. One Union has a couple of Billion in their Pension Fund, the other has less than two hundred million. How do you think that is going to work out for those collecting SAG Pensions, especially when the current SAG leaders weakened their fund by a) letting corruption in the fund go on for years under their noses, b) let all the TV shows go to AFTRA without challenging the right of jurisdiction in order to force the merger on their membership, c) the recession fell and given that you have morons deciding on what the investments of the fund will be more was lost than needed to be. A good manager does not match the losses of the market , he saves you from doing that badly. SAG lost $800,000,000.
For Plan 2 last year it was something like $1600 to pay if you qualified , the same thing in AFTRA would have cost $17,000. How do you put those two plans together without things getting worse for SAG members ? And it is much harder to qualify for insurance in AfTRA, harder now in SAG too already. But there are no answers to questions about how these differences will be resolved, just ” trust us” it will be resolved later. Meanwhile the members never got the study they were supposed to have about how the pensions could be separated or combined , how dues would actually work , how much insurance would cost.
This is a SAG bust from within. The long held dream of all the studios come true. They have succeeded in separating the stars from the actors who support them and the next generation of actors. How are they supposed to live, support their families? Already we are losing residuals everywhere, what are the Producers going to take from us to create a new Plan for this new entity ? What will we have to give away next? The stars have thrown people who have to make a living being actors who aren’t names under the bus. I never thought that could happen. I am deeply shocked and so disappointed in the people that are supposed to be the ” good guys ” of Hollywood. They put on their Director /Producer hats and have forgotten what it is to be an only an actor.
“The only thing that can bring an Actor down, is another Actor” – Eddie Cantor 2nd President of the Screen Actors Guild.
Between this, networks’ predictably boring shows, predictably boring casting, and shows being cancelled when they don’t perform after one outing, television is in a depressingly sad state the likes of which I’ve never seen.
Cable shows like Homeland, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men are the only last sign of what can happen when creativity is put first. They represent what television is supposed to be–a group of incredibly creative artists and crews providing great storytelling for a little escape.
It is show business yes. The dollar comes first. Reality shows are cheap and get good ratings. Why? Because people no longer feel a distance between themselves and the actors who they feel are high above them living some fantasy life. When they see reality shows, they think, “Hey that could be me.”
Sadly, many have forgotten that television and movies are escapism. People no longer want to escape. They want to see closer similarities between themselves and the “normal joes” on television.
When reality shows die–we can start to rebuild.
I don’t know how to kill them, but I wish someone would.
What is the social significance of watching the Kardashians tool around the West Valley in Bentley’s and pretend that they have problems for which we should feel sorry?
You want good television back people? Stop feeding the reality trolls.
We all lost our jobs to your “strike,” and three good years of heartbreak after heartbreak in the entertainment business. Your brillians solution? Kill reality TV..
Wow. Astonishing. Just kill reality TV and all our jobs (lost in the strikes) magically come back!!! Amazing. Wait, no, it isn’t.
Film business doesn’t care about reality TV-anything and TV itself??? They’d be doing much better if they could do more than 10 episodes at a time… Makes it hard to build an audience.
There was a time TV Shows did more than 10 episodes at a time… It was OH YEAH —- BEFORE the strikes…
Face it. You union strikes created the problem and your so called “solutions” are just as unproductive.
You’re free to just say “Okay, we were wrong to strike and cost everyone jobs,” at any time… Any time.
REALITY SHOWS AND BEHIND THE SCENES DVD’S BOTH SERVE AS THE CANCER OF THE ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS. TWITTER IS A TUMOR AND YOUTUBE IS A MILD VERSION OF THAT. Ever sense these things became popular, the 4th wall has been destroyed blurring the line from reality. The entertainment business has always been the fabric of our lives and now it’s got growing holes in it. Twitter just makes everyones opinion heard. The opinions of THE PUBLIC have become more important than their actual attention: Viewers can’t save a show anymore. Sense everyone feels like a feared critic, everything has gone to shit. Everyone feels like they are on the stage now and in the spotlight. So why would they pay any attention to actors. Creativity is becoming a dying art now. Once we got the internet, painters were already doomed. Now the plague is simply spreading to TV and soon FILM.
Don’t blame 100% of TV’s downfall on the union and expect an apology to fix everything. Get real “Really.”
Give me a break. We didn’t lose jobs because of the strike. The entire business is changing. Just like music and newspapers, etc.
So quit with the ridiculous hyperbole, it only undermines your credibility.
So says this wise “all knowing” union troll… He can look into your very lives and see everything about you… Amazing. You didn’t really lose your job. No. He knows exactly how your life was. He sees and knows all.
No, I did lose my job in your strike. Many did. You keep going around pretending nothing happenned but you screwed everyone. Must be nice, steal jobs away from people not even in your stupid union and then claim “the business is changing.” Yeah, it did. Thanks to the SAG and the Writer’s Guild. Before the strikes, industry was doing much better.
I repeat, (since you’re going to talk around it) the industry was much better before your strikes. I REPEAT@@@@ Things were much better before your strikes…. Talk all you want, that’s a fact!!!
And I repeat… Things were much better before your strikes. No getting around that issue, as much as you come up with so called other “excuses.”
RIP – SAG
:~(
It’s a great day for all performers.
Especially morning radio DJs in Columbus, Ohio, who will now be voting on actor’s contracts
Broadcasters will not be able to vote on actors’ contracts anymore than actors will be able to vote on broadcasters’ contracts.
Wanna bet?
. . . What’s disturbing is that they are trying to ram this merger down our throats without allowing the other side to present their point of view. For example in the SAG magazine “Actor” and at the SAG website http://www.sag.org, you won’t find equal time and space given to those SAG actors who are against the proposed merger. . . Furthermore, this merger has been promoted using $5 million of SAG funds without members consent. Plus there is no written merger plan yet. Once it is in writing, then shouldn’t we have at least 6 months to discuss it?. . Then there’s the ongoing scandals at the P&H Plan and Foreign Residuals. Both scandals involve tens of millions of $$ of SAG members money. Wouldn’t it be a better priority to get to the bottom of these scandals first? . . What about AFTRA whose members routinely work off-the-card. Will they be allowed to continue their union-busting activities under the new union? . . . Finally, why would anyone want to destroy the name “Screen Actors Guild” ? It is a name held in very high esteem by the general public. Mention you are a member of SAG and the other person’s eyes light up. Is it going to be the “G1 Awards” in 2013 instead of the “SAG Awards”? I sincerely hope not. To other SAG members – please be sensible and vote against any merger. Thank you. . . .
SAG-AFTRA United!
They’ll be called the SAG Awards, your poor ding.
Anybody can be professional actor now. Even radio broadcasters. Good one SAG, good one.
I don’t get it. I understand having one union for all actors. But, how am I helped by having a union that also represents news broadcasters? It makes no sense to me.
Actors and broadcasters will be united in one union that may have to stand up to management concerning an area that affects both actors and broadcasters: PENSION PLANS. If management pulls a fast one and tries to saddle a 401K on us instead of continuing our defined benefit plans, they not only won’t be able to populate their movies and TV shows, they won’t be able to get the Evening News read. Think about it.
Yeesh, Tom. What on Earth makes you think an Evening News broadcaster is going to have the same interests and desires as you? As it is, actors themselves fight viciously over these issues. Add in people from completely different lines of work, and you think suddenly there’s going to power in consensus? Newscasters can take scheduled vacations. Can actors on film sets and TV shows do that? So, what will be traded by actors when newscasters want three weeks instead of just two? It makes no sense at all. If all anyone needed were numbers, well…then NBA players would have united with auto workers years ago. But you wouldn’t really recommend that to them, would you?
Or wait. Maybe you would.
Broadcasters will vote on broadcasters’ contracts
and actors will vote on actors’ contracts.
But all performers will unite to protect pensions.
(And you obviously have never worked under contract to a TV show
or you’d know that vacation weeks ARE negotiated for actors.)
Actually, Tom, I just finished the fifth season of a SAG tv show that airs on premium cable, after a prior show that lasted eight seasons on premium cable, which rounds out a thirty-plus year career. I don’t know who you are, or what your agenda is. I know I have none – other than to raise quite reasonable questions. I find your dismissive reassurances rather slippery and suspicious. And I wonder how you managed to leave a comment above with no “reply” button embedded. Because, for all your dismissive reassurances, people should be quite concerned about the safety of their pensions. I hardly consider encouraging caution to be a scare tactic.
If people want change stop complaining and become apart of the solution rather than running off comments and hope you will be heard the only way people are heard is when they come together and VOICE it in person not through emails. If people are truly concerned about this then change will happen, otherwise people will just sit by letting others make the decision for them. We are only accountable for what we contribute too.
I personally feel that the merger will only cause more problems then solve them.
CJ, the only way people will be heard is when they VOTE! Understanding the complex issues about this merger is essential to making an educated choice.
There’s no going back after agreeing to a “merger”. I just hope that, 1) SAG members will take the time to completely understand what’s at stake and, 2) that the six merger committees found a way to make it work where union members don’t get screwed.
I’m not holding my breath – on either count.
Ah – “Syd” – you “don’t know who I am?” I’m not the one posting anonymously, “Syd.” That seems rather slippery and suspicious.
You have a thirty-plus-year career as an actor? I’ve been at this 50-plus years – and I’m still going strong.
Nothing at all wrong with “caution” – I’ve made the effort to educate myself re our pension plans. Have you? Really?
Having two actor’s unions for producers to “negotiate” with is insane (for actors). Especially when one union has much cheaper rates and residuals. So in theory, I’m for one union, one voice.
But all good intentions of a unified front will fall by the wayside unless the negotiators come up with an independently verifiable proposal for SAG’s Pension and Health Plan.
For union members 50+ years old, retirement planning is an increasingly important subject.To say to them: “We’ll figure out what happens to your pension and health AFTER the merger” is a non-starter.
As much as I’m distressed by the current state of affairs I can’t approve a merger that doesn’t tell me what happens to my pension and health benefits. To do otherwise would be like selling my house before I agree on the price.
To continue to have actors in the same union as broadcasters is RIDICULOUS. There should be one union for actors – but newcasters should be in their own union. And I would only vote for one actor’s union if we get the SAG payment and residual structure. AFTRA’s lack of residual (until they run your show a million times first – then you get a few bucks) has KILLED this industry and made it impossible to survive for 99% of us.
Vote No If You Don’t Know. Occupy SAG!
Becoming informed would be of greater benefit to you than sticking your fingers in your ears and ululating in order to continue Knowing Nothing.
With all due respect, Mr. Ligon – it is your wail of assumption that is deafening. When the mantra of the current leadership, when it comes to MY pension and health benefits, is – Merge First, We’ll Deal With P&H Later; when Vice President Ned Vaughn admonishes the membership for asking too many questions about THEIR P&H by telling them they’re “beating a dead horse”; when President Ken Howard blows off a member face-to-face by telling him his decades-long service and pension credits will “probably fall through the cracks”- well, who then, really, has their fingers in their ears?
I’ve been to virtually every meeting in the last twenty years – and I’ve never been witness to more evasions and more diversions and more close-mindedness of the most critical issues for ALL performers in my entire career than in just the last two. And the consequences of voting without the knowledge that informs us fully how our lives will change are incalculable – for many of our brothers and sisters will be left out in the retirement cold. And that is a risk not worth taking.
So what’s the solution? Decerify Aftra? SAG can’t do that. They’ll get the pants sued off of them. I too don’t care for having DJs and broadcast news people in a performer’s union but it’s really hard to untangle this mess.
“So what’s the solution? Decerify Aftra? SAG can’t do that.”
I’ve heard they can do just that. But won’t. Matt Mulhern knows exactly the correct form to file, but can only be filed by the SAG board. And if a lawsuit was part of their (the SAG board) hesitation, it shouldn’t be. Because our elected SAG board leaders are bound by the SAG constitution to do what’s best for SAG members, not AFTRA. Anything else would be a dereliction of duty, don’t you think?
But SAG isn’t running SAG these days, AFTRA is.
If the following questions are answered by the unions with a “yes” or “we don’t know and won’t know until after merging with AFTRA”, then I will not be voting for merger and I have two votes since I’m a member in good standing and vested in both unions.
1). What will happen to the SAG P&H plans if we merge? Notice, I’m not asking about the merging of the plans. I’m asking about the SAG plans themselves. If there is a new union, but I’m still working under a SAG or AFTRA show and receiving residuals from SAG/AFTRA shows, where do my contributions go and if they go to their respective plans, how will the new plan be funded?
2). Will my SAG health premiums be increased due to the merger? And if so, by how much?
3). Will the accrual rate for pension credits not yet achieved be lowered? SAG is at 2%. AFTRA’s is a 1/2%
4). Will broadcaster still be allowed to work non union (i.e ESPN, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC etc) while actors are prohibited from working non union?
5)Will broadcasters get a break on their dues payments but not actors?
6) Is AFTRA planning on ending its open door policy while the merger questions is being voted on?
7) Will extra performers have to still struggle with the voucher system?
8)Will the members be getting a pro and con statement in the merger referendum?
Now, for those non SAG/AFTRA members posting on this site who are bemoaning the WGA strike, that has nothing to do with this conversation. The studios and networks used the strike to completely clean house and cancel contracts without fear of being sued. And it’s almost a laughable cliche to blame the current state of affairs on unions. Typical right wing/tea party rhetoric. And that’s ok. Not very smart but ok.
And for Mr. Ligon, who can’t pass a lap top without posting unintelligent and usually wrong diatribes, it’s a good thing you are no longer on the SAG NY board. You’ve proven yourself to be one of the most misguided and angry people on the blogs. You should try to enjoy retirement and maybe volunteer your acting and singing chops at an adult day care center. Maybe that’ll help center you.
If they don’t know, vote ‘no’.
Your need to move into personal attack
invalidates any argument you may have put forward.
I am hardly retired, by the way.
I had a pretty good year last year.
Some TV, a film, and two stage plays.
You?
The treason of Ned Vaughn, Amy Aquino, Ken Howard and the rest of “UNITE for $,” is what has destroyed SAG from within. These are the individuals who for selfish and narrow reasons have spoiled the 99% SAG MEMBER’S ability to earn a living as actors. VOTE NO on their proposal for merger. It is detrimental to 99% of SAG members.
Such slander and libel can only be spewed anonymously
and renders the rest of your post useless trash.
You make a solid point re “reality shows”. Most are of little value, and the sooner America gets bored with it, the better off we will all be.
This is an oscar winning message board. Imagine the actors voicing what you just wrote
FACT– We negotiated the last major SAG contract ALONGSIDE AFTRA AS IF WE WERE MERGED AS ONE with no differences whatsoever if we were OFFICIALLY merged or not, and what happened?
It was the second worst contract in the history of Screen Actors Guild.
This is a fact. This is not interpretive. It is a fact. And facts speak volumes. You need to stick to the facts and what you KNOW and can COUNT ON in a situation like this.
AFTRA STOLE SAG’S jurisdiction in scripted dramatic television programs purposefully, to create this situation.
And guess what? Your current SAG board and governance ALLOWED IT.
They are allowing this situation to occur, and deliberately offering no other remedy other than merger to the members.
It’s a sham.
There is a reason why merger has been voted down SEVENTEEN TIMES in the past. Actually there are HUNDREDS of reasons why it was voted down. Because AFTRA’s involvement in SAG’s traditionally held contracts and jurisdiction has ALREADY crippled this profession and the typical actor’s ability to support themeselves.
Don’t you want more money and protections and residuals under SAG contracts? I do. And so does everyone else. They just don’t understand exactly what they are being presented here because THEY ARE BEING LIED TO.
Guess what? Once your SAG Pension Plan is closed or sent into ‘active hibernation’ because of this merger, you will NEVER get it back. Never. And it’s really great. They don’t even create those types of Pension Plans anymore. You would have to live to be nearly two hundred years old to accrue the same type of cumulative pension in AFTRA.
Facts. They are important. Use logic here. If these two entities are merged–one vastly superior (SAG) and the other dramatically inferior (AFTRA), you are never going to end up with something better than you already have with SAG. You will end up with a marriage involving all the crappy policies and utter inferiority that is AFTRA. There’s a reason why no one is impressed when you get your AFTRA card. Because it doesn’t stand for anything. It’s useless. It’s a totally incompetant union whose best maneuver was to cripple a powerful and prestigious union in order to get somewhere.
Nobody loves AFTRA. Nobody really wants to merge with AFTRA.
They just aren’t being offered any other solutions or plans of action. It’s the categorical suppression of information to try to hoodwink actors into voting for merger.
And they won’t.
They will vote it down.
And they will force their representatives to do something to protect them and their jobs and job opportunities.
The fat lady hasn’t sung yet.
If you’ve read this far, do yourself a favor and try and discern the raging current of hysteria & bitterness that runs underneath the anti-merger rhetoric here in this comment thread.
You’ll find a few interesting and specific strains of irrational thinking:
1) Fear of loss of vesting and pension credits – Answer: The SAG & AFTRA pension & health plans have nothing to do with the proposed merger. The merger is between the unions – not the pension plans. The pension plans are separately chartered and overseen by boards distinct from the unions themselves. (I belong to my unions AND I also benefit from my pension plans – two totally separate & distinct relationships.) The merger itself will allow both unions to address the future for actors which will probably include a new single pension plan for contributions from all union work as well as the continued servicing of vested members by our existing SAG & AFTRA pensions.
2) Fear of broadcasters & deejays – Answer: That’s ridiculous. It’s like truck drivers fearing nurses in the Teamsters. And that union is doing quite well for both truckers and nurses. Actors and Broadcasters work for the same employers: Fox, Disney, Viacom, etc. It makes sense to have us under the same union banner. Different divisions will keep contracts separate. Broadcasters will vote on their contracts, and actors on theirs. Those of us who work as performers belong to both unions in order to work under both jurisdictions. I for one would rather pay one set of dues and deal with one merged administration that reflects the best of both unions.
3) Fear of the loss of SAG – Answer: SAG is only going to become stronger with this merger, as will AFTRA. I like Mr. Ligon’s suggestion above: “SAG-AFTRA United.”
Just remember, fellow SAG and AFTRA members:
When any proponent of merger, like Didgerdoo, tells you that — “The SAG & AFTRA pension & health plans have nothing to do with the proposed merger. The merger is between the unions – not the pension plans” — think again.
To state that the proposed merger of SAG and AFTRA into one union and the possible merger of the SAG and AFTRA pension and health funds are not related is patently absurd. Of course they are related. They are intricately related. They’re related by member earnings and they’re related by employer contributions. They’re related by eligibility and they’re related by service. Every actor who joins these professional guilds does so not only because they love acting – they do so in the hopes of one day earning a living and of building a secure future for themselves and their families. And with pension and health benefits, they can turn those dreams into a reality. If these two unions merge, it would directly impact every pension credit and every co-pay premium on the road to financial and medical security.
If the unions merged tomorrow and the Trustees of both P&H plans then began their feasibility studies, by all accounts, with all forensic due diligence, it could take anywhere from 2-5 years to complete before making their recommendations. Whatever the cost — two-to-five YEARS. And in that time, the following will continue — the existing contracts we’re working on will remain in effect until 2014 – which means that SAG earnings will go to the SAG plan and AFTRA earnings will go to the AFTRA plan – so split earnings will continue for a minimum of two years. Why – because there is no new plan.
And with a newly-merged union, what will happen to new shows and new features that enter the production pipeline during that time? There’s no plan in place to account for those contributions while the study moves forward so — where does our money go? SAG? AFTRA? Again, there’s no new P&H plan. And after the contract expires, how do we negotiate with the producers re: contributions if the studies remain incomplete and our P&H plans remain in limbo?
Secondly – what if the trustees decide, after their study, that it’s not feasible to merge the plans — so they instead freeze both existing plans and form a third one, a new one? Will members just shy of vesting their pensions or qualifying for lifetime medical when they retire – with their old plans – will those pension credits be grandfathered into a new plan? Will the Trustees create a pathway for cross-crediting? Or will the members have to start from scratch – and their pension credits forever frozen? Those performers at four years – one shy of a partial vesting; those at nine years – one shy at a full vesting; those at fourteen – one shy at qualifying for SP 25 (Senior Performer Health Coverage at 25 per cent premiums) or those who are one or two years shy of LIFETIME secondary medical coverage when they retire – what’s the plan for all these performers? No one knows.
And if they do merge the plans, SAG members may very well get clobbered. The plans are so vastly different in premiums, in accrual rates, in earnings requirements, in contributions – how will the Trustees reconcile it all? The numbers bear it all out – everything right now, if you’re a SAG member, is far superior for you and less so if you’re an AFTRA member – so will the Trustees then take away from SAG and give more to AFTRA in order to reconcile the two? Guess what? No one knows.
And, even more importantly – if the Trustees decide to form a new P&H plan – how will it be funded? How was the current one originally funded? What did the producers put in to get it started back in the early sixties? What did actors give up to get it started – because we all know the producers don’t give without taking – and guess what: Actors gave up all residuals pre-1960 to get a pension and health plan. What will they give up this time – because they will have to give up something.
The bottom line is – no one knows. No one has answers. The NOTHING TO DO WITH MERGER mantra borders on naivety.
Trust Us: Vote for Merger And We’ll Figure Out P&H Later –that’s what all these pro-merger advocates are saying to you. So here’s a question: Why on earth would you vote for a merger plan before having the answers to these very critical and very fundamental questions regarding your money, your benefits, your investment — your future.
And just to be clear – this is not an assault against merger. This is about getting you – the members — the facts — all the facts — regarding the consequences of merger – before you vote. Not after. Now. Not later.
Pension and health has “NOTHING TO DO WITH MERGER”? I’mm sorry – but it has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH MERGER!
All of you go back and read up on union history. If the AFL and the CIO could manage to find common enough ground back in the 50s to merge, for the betterment of ALL its members, your two organizations can, too. One Voice.
Welcome back, Alan. It’s nice to hear from someone who knows firsthand what’s been going on, and what will happen.
(This comment was to be posted under Alan Rosenberg’s post below. No idea why it ended up here)
Merger will never make actors stronger because the intention of merger is to make us weaker. It’s as simple as that. It is, and always has been, about the ability to strike. This merger, combined with the management conceit called “pattern bargaining”, to which this new entity will willingly adhere, ensures the industry that they can count on a compliant work force. Perhaps this is what the membership wants and, if that is so, it is the way it should be. But we should be told the truth. The ultimate goal of the AMPT is to reduce the work force to those they deem necessary; the rest of us are fungible. I guarantee you they are absolutely gleeful about this new organization that will remove any possibility of resistance to their achieving that goal. Goodbye SAG, it was great while it lasted.
Alan, you wouldn’t know what the “ultimate goal of the AMPTP” was if it kissed you on the forehead. Or maybe your “Personal Assistant” gave you a clue? You also obviously don’t know how much management HATEs the idea of SAG & AFTRA merging. But then you always were out of touch, limousine liberal that you are and always have been.
Wow, Tom. In one post, you deride someone for what you call libel and slander. Yet here you are making personal attacks on someone simply because you don’t agree with their views. Hypocritical much?
If you want to make a point, make it. Make it without slinging mud at other people who don’t agree with you – and there are plenty. Post facts, not hopes. That’s the only way people will take you seriously. As it is now you and your fanatical views have become invalid. Hell, maybe your views started out that way for all I know.