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UPDATE, 12:45 PM: The Screen Actors Guild issued a response saying, in part: “We believe that this suit is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend all claims in court. We are confident that our actions are appropriate and consistent with the law and our own rules of procedure.” Full statement posted below.
BREAKING… EXCLUSIVE 11 AM: (Click here for .pdf of lawsuit) A number of Screen Actors Guild members filed a lawsuit today asking the 
court for a preliminary and permanent injunction to stop SAG from calling for a vote on the proposed SAG-AFTRA merger. The suit claims that the SAG Board has breached its fiduciary duties to conduct an actuarial impact study detailing the effects of the proposed merger on SAG membership pension and health benefits. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California.
The members filing suit are: Martin Sheen, Edward Asner, Ed Harris, Valerie Harper, Clancy Brown, James Remar, George Coe, Diane Ladd, Lainie Kazan, Nichelle Nichols, Renee Aubry, Jane Austin, Erick Avari, Steve Barr, Sara Barrett, Terrance Beason, Michael Bell, Warren Berlinger, Joe Bologna, Ralph Brennen, Alexandra Castro, Jude Ciccolella, Cynthia Lea Clark, David Clennon, Joe D’Angerio, Patricia D’Arbanville, Dick Gautier, Dorothy Goulah, Marty Grey, Sumi Haru, Angel Harper, Basil Hoffman, David Huddleston, Anne-Marie Johnson, David Jolliffe, Kerrie Keane, Peter Kwong, Kurt Lott, Barbara Luna, Eric Lutes, Stephen Mach, Michael McConnohie, Peter Antico, Susan McNabb, Phyllis Timbes, Marguerite Moreau, Traci Murray, Nicole Mandich, Larry Newman, Barbara Niven, Kathleen Nolan, Jack Ong, Peggy Lane O’Rourke, Leslie Parrish, Scott Pierce, Robin Riker, Stephanie Rose, Alan Rosenberg, Alan Ruck, Wendy Schaal, Tascha Schaal, Nancy Sinatra, Cynthia Steele, Renee Taylor, Malachi Throne, Beverly Todd, Jessica Wright, Momo Yashimo.
They are suing the Screen Actors Guild, SAG Executive Director David White, SAG President Ken Howard, Amy Aquino, Ned Vaughn, Mike Hodge, David Hartley-Margolin and others.
“We have spent almost two months negotiating with SAG in an effort to get them to present the truth regarding this merger plan. Member are entitled to full disclosure, not half truths and misleading and unsupported promises” the plaintiffs’ attorney David B. Casselman of the Los Angeles law firm Wasserman, Comden, Casselman & Esensten, LLP said in a statement today.
“They have done nothing of substance to support their claims that the proposed merger will protect SAG member benefits. The average SAG member makes less than $10,000 per year. They need to know that all necessary due diligence was done to protect them.”
MORE
Since Sept. 15, 1981, the SAG Constitution has recognized that careful study of any SAG-AFTRA merger plan would be necessary “to satisfy the requirements of law and the protection of all eligible members against the loss of benefits, presently or in the future (Appendix 1).
The SAG board voted on Jan. 28, 2012 to approve the proposed merger plan and to submit it to a vote of the membership. On Jan. 29, 2012, the presidents of SAG and AFTRA announced on national television at the SAG Awards that the “historic step” of merger was about to be realized.
“We believe the defendants made this announcement in order to thoroughly saturate the media with pro-merger propaganda, avoiding any balancing information which would allow SAG members to intelligently evaluate the issues prior to voting,” says Casselman.
“If an uninformed membership approves this merger, and then we all learn that it will have crippling, negative effects, it will be too late for anything to be done to return SAG or its current pension and health plans back to their current status,” says Casselman.
In response to the lawsuit, the Screen Actors Guild released the following statement:
“We believe that this suit is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend all claims in court. We are confident that our actions are appropriate and consistent with the law and our own rules of procedure.
“Any suggestion that the members have not been fully and fairly informed is preposterous. We have scheduled more than 50 informational meetings across the country, have posted all of the merger documents on the website for over 4 weeks, and we have afforded the merger opponents the right to send an opposition statement at the unions’ expense as part of the referendum package.
“This lawsuit is a clear attempt at circumventing the will of the membership. It is disappointing that this group seems dedicated to preventing their fellow members from exercising their democratic right to vote on their futures through the union’s fair and established referendum process which is already underway. This filing is simply a public relations stunt that follows a clear pattern by some of the plaintiffs of filing unsuccessful lawsuits against their own union. We do not believe that the members will be fooled.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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This will be an interesting fight.
Look over the list of names.
Why is everyone on that list either over 60 years of age or their name is not well known?
Just curious why there aren’t any younger, known actors involved in the suit.
Young actors are ignorant of things like pension plans and fiduciary duties. A pension is not on a young “20-something-actor’s” radar.
We’re lucky to have these wiser elders in the Screen Actors Guild.
This merger is a disastrous mess. SAG’s current leaders should hide their heads in shame. Their duplicity and dishonesty will not be forgotten.
Young people/actors think they’re never going to get sick or old and that they’re going to live forever-
Younger members? Two reasons. They are unconsciously uninformed – how many young people care or know about their retirment benefits? NOT saying they shouldn’t, but that they donts. Reason 2: young performers have been consistently shut out of the process. And they are not protected or given voice in the merger agreement. Remember: young performers pay the same due percentage as anyone else, but have little or no voice. Most don’t even begin to understand the union responsibilities and benefits until they are older.
My guess is that the older actors recall the days that the guild actually helped the actors and made it viable to earn a living. Over the years things have slowly been taken away. New aka young actors would not be aware of the real life impact of these changes. Older people in NYC used to complain about the graffiti on trains. Younger people did not know of a time when there was not graffiti on NYC trains. Similar concept here.
Really? Because getting involved in a fight will be bad for one’s career.
I’ve got two shows in development. I would never hire Ned Vaughn based on what he’s done. There’s a few of them.
Younger (and older) actors are terrified of studios blackballing them. They desperately want to act in a movie or on TV, and shortsightedly may not fully appreciate the importance of pension and healthcare and the impact of many of the other horrible provisions of this criminal merger-proposal. The real question is why would so many lifelong actors, passionately involved in the guild oppose this merger, unless they understood how horrible and dishonest it is? These members are risking so much for a slumbering membership that is just starting to wake up. The cabal in power has shamelessly subverted SAG, possibly for quid pro quo. A US Attorney must investigate the actions of SAG and AFTRA leadership in recent years. There seems to have been fraud and deception on a massive scale. “Unite for Strength” has not been busy protecting SAG Members’ wages and working conditions. The cowards in “Unite for Strength” have nearly ruined the ability of thousands to eke out a modest living. As far as I can tell, Ken Howard, Ned Vaughn, Amy Aquino, Mike Hodge, David Hartley-Margolin belong in federal prison.
Younger, known actors simply aren’t older, experienced actors who understand this merger is about the 2.9 billion dollar SAG pension fund and the 1.9 billion dollar AFTRA pension fund.
There are people (SHARP intake of breath in shock!) who want to keep, or, get their grubby little fingers in that pie, and THEN? There’s US, who rely on the P&H program being sustainable and solid, which it was, and CAN be again, if SAG simply votes this pig down, then decertifies AFTRA, or, goes to the NLRB with a Unit Clarification Claim that SIMPLY SAYS “HEY, UH, YOU GUYS (THE NLRB) – ALREADY RULED A LONG TIME AGO, that “method of capture (digital?) is ‘NOT a determining factor in jurisdiction,’ and YOU GUYS RULED, THAT SAG’S TV JURISDICTION WAS ‘ALL SCRIPTED PROGRAMMING FOR TELEVISION’ – RIGHT?
SO… WHY DID SAG – UPON THE DAY UFS-LED SAG TOOK OVER – GIVE AWAY ALL SCRIPTED PROGRAMMING FOR TELEVISION, TO AFTRA, (?!) WITHOUT A PEEP, LET ALONE A FIERCE EFFORT TO PROTECT SAG’S RIGHTFUL JURISDICTION, that was being brazenly STOLEN by AFTRA, THEREBY CREATING AN EXPONENTIALLY WORSE “SPLIT EARNINGS ” PROBLEM, THEY THEN CITED AS THE REASON WE HAVE TO MERGE?
Could it be that THAT WAS BY INTENTION to facilitate merger, he asks sarcastically? I mean, come on – seriously?
THAT IS WHAT THE MERGER-ZOMBIES DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW AND THATS WHAT THEY ARE PURPOSEFULLY LYING ABOUT. Younger known actors, generally speaking, don’t care nearly as much, because they are… young.. and some, very few, but SOME, are known… and they think it’s gonna be all tits and giggles!
Then they peak, then their overhead from that ridiculously huge, unnecessary house they bought, as well as the vacation home, and the home for Mom, etc etc etc – THAT overhead knocks on their door and says “HI! GUESS WHAT?! YOUR BUSINESS MANAGER IS ACTUALLY RIGHT! YOU’RE FUCKED!”
THEN, they BEGIN to understand why protecting SAG is VITAL. Why protecting RESIDUALS is VITAL. Let’s hope these younger known actors still have a SAG that is there for them when they are in danger of losing health care, because, hey – whadd’ya know? – NOBODY IS HIRING THEM – and they need, or their family needs – HEALTH CARE.
And Pensions?
These pro-merger officials, and proponents of merger, can’t answer a SINGLE question with ANY surety about what will happen to pensions, because they HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO PENSIONS.
HELLO? WE DO NOT HAVE TO MERGE, NOR SHOULD WE. WE JUST – FINALLY – NEED TO GET ALL ACTORS UNDER ONE ROOF – SAG – BY ALLOWING THE “SAG or AFTRA?” REFERENDUM TO GO OUT, AS IS YOUR FEDERAL RIGHT, UNDER EXISTING FEDERAL LABOR LAW – AND ONLY YOUR RIGHT – NOT PRODUCERS, NOT THE UNION (SAG OR AFTRA) ONLY ACTORS – TO CHOOSE THE UNION TO REPRESENT US, THE ONE UNION TO REPRESENT US.
SAG.
WE GET TO CHOOSE. SO, WE VOTE THIS DOWN, THEN SEND OUT THE VOTE TO CHOOSE and ALL JURISDICTIONAL PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED. TOTAL BARGAINING LEVERAGE – IN A UNION OF, BY, AND FOR – ONLY, ACTORS.
THAT is POWER. “Hey Mr. Producer-man? You want Will Smith? Julia Roberts? Tom Hanks? Sandra Bullock? George Clooney? Robert Deniro? Meryl Streep? etc, etc. etc.? ”
Give us a fair deal in new media – NOW – give us BACK the things AFTRA and UFS-led SAG GAVE AWAY: clip consent, product placement protections, force majeure?
OR, WE STRIKE – AND YOU DON’T GET TO USE THE STARS IN ANY OF YOUR PRODUCT. SAME with TV stars, once SAG gets its rightful jurisdiction back. THAT is POWER. THAT makes producers SHIT themselves.
You know why so many A-list actors support this merger? They aren’t particularly well-informed, or, they are misinformed, or, let’s be honest, they couldn’t GIVE A SHIT about the needs of the rank and file – and what they really care about? IS THEIR MULTI-MILLON DOLLAR PAYING PROJECTS IN THEIR UPCOMING PIPELINES – as actors, as directors, as writers, as PRODUCERS (Tom Hanks – largest independent producer in Hollywood? Hello? ) – to NEVER be threatened by the possibility of a work stoppage – EVER AGAIN (SAG-AFTRA, will be a producer compliant “where do we sign” – union – a “union” – in NAME only) by a union- SAG – whose VAST majority can FORCE them to honor the needs of the MANY, over the needs of the few – THEM.
We keep SAG free, democratic, and strong? We get back ALL our jurisdiction? We get rid of AFTRA poaching and interfering and threatening SAG – ONCE AND FOR ALL?
WE, the MAJORITY of SAG actors, the VAST majority, call the shots, and when we MUST have the support of the stars to GET, say, a fair deal – in new media – which we MUST have come next contract time?
The A-list has NOWHERE TO GO, but on the picket line with the rest of us, unless, UNLIKE past SAG union labor stoppages, they want to, um, TRY to cross a SAG picket line, to go on a set and work NON-UNION.
KNOW WHAT? We are on the verge of GIVING that power AWAY, Because, the A-list will NEVER cross that line. They are not THAT stupid. And with their support, whether they like giving it or not – WE WIN, IF, our demands are reasonable and fair, and a fair deal in new media, and getting the other things we just gave away in 2008-2009 back? – is ENTIRELY FAIR. IF the producers are stupid enough NOT to give us, after all, simply – a FAIR deal – and what we deserve and, by the way, what they can EASILY afford to pay us.
It’s up to us. Vote “NO.”
You nailed it Matt.
DECERTIFY AFTRA!!
Why is AFTRA being rewarded for screwing SAG? All actors should rescind their memberships in AFTRA. All actors belong to SAG ONLY!! Producers only have one union source for actors and we get a union that is dealing with actor related issues.
Perfect, Matt. Amen to everything you wrote.
They may be unfamiliar to you. To me these are seasoned professional actors who speak from the heart. They have little if anything to gain from speaking out, yet they are doing what they believe is best for their craft, and the majority of actors who make barely $15,000 per year.
I’ll put my faith in them any day over the current A list flavor of the month. Wow, Leslie Parrish. Unbelievable, I forgot how in love with her I was.
I would argue that the plaintiffs of the lawsuit, and others against the proposed merger, are inadvertently protecting an older system of negotiation, production, distribution and work just as much as the out-of-touch executives in the large media conglomerates. Those folks would like nothing more than to keep talent divided resulting in lower wages and subsequently lower contributions to health and retirement benefits.
In regard to “younger actors” being in this lawsuit, if you look at the distribution of the SAG board members, you will find that the Unite for Strength, which was elected by an enormous majority in 2010 on a pro-merger platform, is full of many well-known actors under the age of 60, most of whom I would guess are in the late 20s-mid 40s range.
Additionally, I would gather than younger actors are keenly aware more than previous generations of the importance of health benefits and retirement benefits, (since we are less likely to have social security than our forbears). Consequently, there is likely a greater understanding in this group that the merging of SAG and AFTRA will lead to greater access to these benefits for the membership at large.
Thank you.
Yes there are. Im under 60 and so is my husband
This is the first good news I’ve read in a long, long time.
Good for you! Good for us! It’s about time the magnifying glass is put to the fine print of this fraudulent “merger”!!!
Last Night’s Informational Meeting SAG-AFTRA NYC
I would call it 60-40 pro-merger, charitably. For every question from a kool-aide-drinker, or just, blowjob, as in Tom Ligon, who practically disappeared under the dais during his statement of undying fealty to merger, there were many questions of doubt, confusion, and outright rejection of merger.
John McGuire sat back from the dais, behind, and I kept thinking, “nobody knows he’s the multi-millionaire off our money for the past 30 years, and he is probably the most influential guy up there.”
There were some whoppers. David White rattled on about the loss of TV contributing to the demise of SAG P&H. I was in the balcony, and it just jumped out of my mouth? “WHY?!” Ken Howard had a stroke, “who is that! that’s not according to! – we! … that can’t! …”
So I got on line. I mean, the fucking balls of White to say “look at the Take 2′s sent to you – the P&H program is in trouble and we invest well, but the loss of TV has been very harmful.”
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
THE guy more responsible than anyone, by the COMPLETE abdication of DOING HIS JOB and STOPPING the wholesale give-away of TV to AFTRA, then BLAMES the same wholesale give-away of TV to AFTRA – HE DID NOTHING TO STOP – for the damaging of the SAG P&H plan?
Other bullshit highlights? Ken Howard, Roberta Reardon, David White, and others, continued to LIE by saying “none of this can be solved unless we merge. The ONLY way to address these issues is to merge. Otherwise nothing can be done.”
THAT IS A LIE.
There was NO mention of the perfectly legal options for SAG to address this attempted hostile take-over of SAG by AFTRA: DECERTIFICATION AND/OR A UNIT CLARIFICATION CLAIM TO THE NLRB.
To me, I was stunned they kept saying that.
Versions of “we have NO CHOICE but to merge,” which is a LIE.
They also kept saying “producers choose the union,” which is a LIE.
Again, for the 8000th time, producers can do whatever they want, but in the event of THIS singular-in-the-history-of-SAG, attempt to destroy SAG and merge with AFTRA, by this purposeful financial attack on SAG?
Actors ABSOLUTELY have the right, GIVEN THE CHANCE TO VOTE, to solve the jurisdiction problem COMPLETELY – by voting on a “SAG or AFTRA?” referendum.
The dais KNOWS that – and they are LYING about it. Everyone should know that. Repeatedly LYING about it.
SAG members should know, our President, Ken Howard is up there LYING with a straight face that SAG has NO other option except to merge with AFTRA, which is something for which, in my opinion, he should be removed from office for saying. And he says it repeatedly. You can tell, they are well aware merger is on the ropes and they face possible legal challenges, as well as an awakening membership, and SOMEONE has drilled into their heads “tell them MERGER IS THE ONLY OPTION!”
Which is a LIE.
Another other outrageous thing was Roberta Reardon saying “there’s this rumor going around that AFTRA actors work off the card, which is simply untrue” which was met with OPEN derision “it IS true!” by some in the crowd.
They’re “explaining” or “justifying” the “no-union” broadcaster status by saying “it is REALLY REALLY HARD to organize broadcasters!” They go into detail as to why, but THAT is the sum explanation.
And the broadcaster on the dais, a nice guy, caught me in the lobby after and tried to explain, and I told him “I appreciate the explanation, but you have to understand, when I hear Roberta Reardon saying AFTRA actors don’t work off the card? Listen, that is simply untrue, and I know it for a fact. And you need to understand that SAG actors are well aware they will be merging with a culture of non-unionism, and let’s face it, producers can be bottom feeders and as SOON as one waves a substantial enough payday under a name actors nose, who NEEDS the cash? That actor will do it, and that actor will say ‘why should I be expected to NOT take this job when the broadcasters work non-union ALL THE TIME?’ And THAT ACTOR WILL BE RIGHT AND WILL THEN BE FOLLOWED RIGHT OUT THE DOOR TO INCREASING NON-UNIONISM BY OTHER ACTORS, AND THEN – ALL BETS ARE OFF.’ ”
And the broadcaster seemed ill at ease with the notion that the culture HE was used to as a broadcaster, was something NOT tolerated in SAG, as if “hey come on man, we can make this work. We don’t organize cause it’s hard man, but actors can work union, and you all can just let us slide.”
BULLSHIT.
John McGuire was the speaker for ALL questions regarding P&H, and, in short? He did not have ONE definitive answer to ANYTHING. “They (trustees) could, they might, we probably” was met with sustained questions of “what does that mean?” and his only answer was “well, we think, we might AND THEY COULD CAUSE THEY CAN AND POSSIBLY, SHOULD.”
IN SHORT HE WAS OPENLY ADMITTING THE FACT THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OR ANY CERTAINTY ON P&H AT ALL. NONE.
He discussed Tom Ligon’s oft touted “reciprocity” in terms of “they COULD (the 2 plans) let money earned in one plan, added together with money earned in another plan, equal a certain amount of benefits, by this concept of ‘reciprocity.’ The trustees MIGHT do that.” Ditto for examples of pension credits, etc.
The fiduciary responsibility to the members ARGUMENT – IS SO STUPID. WE ARE JUST BEGINNING TO COME OUT OF A PERIOD OF TIME IN 2008 WHEN WE ALMOST ENTERED A 2ND DEPRESSION BECAUSE WALL STREET TOOK THEIR “FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY” TO THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, AND FLUSHED IT DOWN THE TOILET – FOR THEIR PERSONAL GAIN.
When I spoke, I just said “I don’t see ONE SINGLE STAR HERE TONIGHT(It was pretty full) I said “WE are the 99% – and this merger is about MONEY.” I said “SAG has a 2.9 BILLION DOLLAR PENSION PLAN – AFTRA has a 1.9 BILLION DOLLAR PENSION PLAN. THAT IS WHAT THIS MERGER IS ABOUT.” Then? I simply read, with Erik-Anders Nilson’s help (me, my 2 minutes, him, his 1 minute second question, me, my 1 minute second question) the opposition report, and asked people “pro or con, to please READ THIS OPPOSITION STATEMENT.”
I came away more convinced than EVER that this is a complete mess, and they are OPENLY LYING to the membership. It is SHAMEFUL. AND, it was nowhere NEAR a pro-merger crowd, and that was in NYC!!!!!
It was, I’d guess, 60-40 pro-merger, at BEST.
Thanks for this, Matt. Appreciate the detailed information.
matt. pray tell. what is YOUR brilliant alternative, sir? we are sunk already. how is staying “un-merged” going to address ANY of sag’s problems?
Jesus, am I writing in Mandarin fucking Chinese?
The “solution?”
Is not MY solution It is “the solution afforded SAG members under federal labor law”:
Vote “no,” then, either decertify AFTRA, or
bring a Unit Clarification Claim to the NLRB to get ALL SAG’s rightful jurisdiction back.
LIKE I ALREADY SAID and a thousand others have. Fifty times.
none of those will work. we have all moved on.
Thanks Matt Mulhern:
For telling it like it is.
Merger can be simplified; instead of SAG-AFTRA; let actors choose either SAG or AFTRA.
I’ll choose SAG in a heartbeat. AFTRA has proven not to represent
their actor membership fairly in fact has hurt our ability to earn a living not to mention undermining our pension and health plans.
Let’s make lemonade out of this lemon of a SAG-AFTRA debacle.
Sempre Fi to SAG.
Sy (NY ACTOR)
I believe this merger is inevitable and will yield great benefits to both guild’s members; however, this is a smart move. The benefit and pension plans certainly need to be addressed and defined before the vote.
PPL JUST LOVE TO COMPLAIN. WITH ALL THE MONEY THEY MAKE THEY HAVE NO WORRIES ABOUT THEIR PENSION/HEALTH. SMDH
This is gonna be 2007 all over again. @M: younger actors know that getting involved in any kind of political fight in this town can be a career-killer if you back the wrong horse. That’s why. turns out, hollywood folk have little self-control when it comes to personal vendettas(no matter how silly the reason). They’re being smart.
It’s about time our membership stood up against this merger! I am well under 60, mind you. It may be that the reason these people are the only names on the list is that they actually care enough to READ the details of this proposal and also catch the details that were cleverly left out!
If I had known about the lawsuit in advance, my name would be up there. I support this suit wholeheartedly! I just received an email notifying me,(a regional actor) of a meeting to be held by SAG in Wilmington, NC on Monday night to shove this load of merger baloney down the local members throats. I do not see any benefit for SAG members to be joined to AFTRA. SAG has provided NOTHING in the way of how this merger will affect our Health, Pension and Insurance plans. Of course they haven’t because that involves time and effort to research the consequences. And “consequences” usually has a negative connotation, and you know actors don’t like anything negative.
Here again, this is a prime example of the SAG leadership NOT doing their due dillegence. If this merger moves forward, it will have a negative impact on us all! Please read the facts and then read between the lines people. You WILL see that this is NOT GOOD for the membership!
And don’t forget, there ARE other ways to address getting all actors in one union as noted by some other posters. This mad and crazy rush to merge and the creation of ALMOST EXACTLY the same new entity as they tried with AIMA in 2003 is shameful. Shameful that in 2012 they couldn’t have come up with an ACTORS UNION. ACTORS and performers, musicians, stunts – all the sorts who are in SAG right now; they COULD have done that. There’s no reason they couldn’t have. And since Broadcasters work off the card anyway, there’s no reason why they couldn’t operate in a separate Guild/Union anyway. It’s about the money. Shameful. Shameful that officers of the new union would be selected at a Convention, not by vote, shameful that these officers would have the ability to pay themselves a salary. The whole thing is disgusting. The idea of all actors together is great. But this is shameful. Not one iota of improvement from the last piece of crap they tried to foist on us.
“The average SAG member makes less than $10,000 per year. They need to know that all necessary due diligence was done to protect them.”
Really?? Protected from what? Losing benefits we don’t qualify for anyway?
Protected how? Preventing A unified voice when negotiating future pay and benefits?
“Divide and conquer.” It’s what the Producer’s did on the last round of contract negotiations very effectively.
There’s an awful lot of big money coming to support the anti-merger movement. Due diligence? Let’s have some transparency and disclosure on this. Who really is behind the push to oppose the merger? And Why?
Really want to protect something for this under $10K per year SAG member? Protect my bargaining power so on the one or two days I work on a project, I get paid a decent wage for my part of the project.
Well said, Michael.
The names on this list are the same names from Membership First that screwed SAG not that long ago.
The merger wouldn’t even be possible if MF hadn’t made such a strong divide between SAG and AFTRA. Really backfired in their faces and cost SAG a ton of money.
It will happen again.
Really sad actually. But I don’t believe they will be successful. I hope not for the sake of all actors looking for a decent wage and trying to earn a living.
“The merger wouldn’t even be possible if MF hadn’t made such a strong divide between SAG and AFTRA. Really backfired in their faces and cost SAG a ton of money.”
You have to be kidding? MF was the only group of actors who had the courage and the intelligence to call out AFTRA for being the true cancer that it was and continues to be. Plain and simple, AFTRA offers sweetheart deals on basic cable and has done so for years. That is union busting. That is not my opinion. That is a fact. You should be grateful that there are at least a few actors left who have the courage to stand up to this “union” who is far more interested in protecting staff and they they are providing a decent living for membership.
Whatever happens with merger, let’s be very clear that the true villain in this story is AFTRA leadership which undercut the acting profession by offering no residual contracts for basic cable and then went out on their own in 2008 and left SAG holding the bag.
Posting things in all caps must mean these silly hair-on-fire statements are really *true*, eh? If you really want to know which people posting here are actually working performers, start by discounting those so ill equipped to debate merger honestly, intelligently, and calmly that they can’t get through a sentence without their little fingers losing control of their ability to type normal sentences. I can only imagine what it is like to have a conversation with these people. Tinnitus for days afterward.
Yes, think of your Career, you shout! Yes think about it. Love your ensemble? Happy with your castmates? Are any of your co-workers dual card holders? Think they’d mind hearing you talking about “shutting down AFTRA”–think your work will with them will suffer if you support their right to merger? How about your agent–asked her or him how she or he feels about merger? All of my agents would love to do away with the excess paperwork and limitations in submitting, and all believe that this will help them get better salaries for all of their actors (that’s how agents make their money, so don’t start coming up with bogus reasons not to trust our agents, as well as our unions).
Oh, and I’m 62, and have belonged to all three unions since 1974. I was a strike captain in 2000, and met some of the hotheads from the LA Boardroom at that time. Looking back, I have to ask, how can anyone who is making a couple of million a year in residuals while only paying dues on the first 10% of their earnings talk about “sacrifices” when they lead the rest of us into a strike who must pay dues on 100%. And guess who’s back? The very same celebs and their minions who wanted the strike to keep on going in 2000, so they could get up and make speeches. And now they’re shouting in all caps about “shutting down” the enemy–AFTRA. Get a life, or a career, or both. I’m out.
Membership 1st is the reason that 95% of prime time TV is now AFTRA. Thanks guys!
actually, no. the united for strength contingent are the ones who let aftra poach what is jurisdictionally sag productions. the white shadow and ned have refused to pursue this infraction legally or even with the nrlb.
That is quite simply a bold faced lie. Prime Time is AFTRA because AFTRA decided a day before joint negotiations were set to begin to violate a 30 year old agreement and negotiate on their own without SAG.
How can you blame MF for actually sticking up for actors and making incredibly modest demands from management.
NO!! AFTRA is the reason. They broke ties with SAG with some lame story about SAG attempting to steal the BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL actors from AFTRA. SAG explained that the actors had come to them and SAG had told them to go back to AFTRA. The whole situation made no sense to me at the time but now everything is falling into place.
…..really? please stay off the meds when reading your history book.
Membership First did this. No denying it. When Membership First speaks, a sane person’s ears start bleeding.
AMEN!
MembershipFirst may have had some method problems, but their principles were right, and they fought for them. They didn’t cause all the work to go to AFTRA, it was collusion between a few studios and AFTRA and the studios desire to cripple SAG. AFTRA played along because it was struggling. They don’t give a rats ass about actors, or they wouldn’t give away residuals like they do. If they’d cared about actors when the studios came to them, they should have said: go back to SAG. If they cared about actors they wouldn’t insist on this corrupt convention structure. If they cared about actors they’d work to put all the actors under one roof and separate out the others into their own entity. Can’t be done? Don’t believe it for a minute. Of course it can be done. They just don’t want to do it, and their friends on the SAG board who insist they have no conflict of interest in negotiating for SAG, go along. It’s corrupt, and completely harmful to actors.
Not a very persuasive argument on your part. Like you win anyone over to your side by being an A-hole, JG – a lot of people on this thread remember that happening as it happened. Comments like yours pollute these threads and make it impossible to have any kind of discussions. Maybe you’d better get back ON your meds.
Because young actors like the rest of the young society, only care about them fucking selves.
Bravo!!!!!
Finally a display of balls in a union devoid of true leadership.
The devil is in the details, assholes !
What’s going to happen to my P&H?!
Finally… Sanity to the fore…
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The list of plaintiffs is not complete.
Please add my name “Paul Edney” and my friend “Barry Brandt” to the list. Thank you.
We have been waiting for this day for a very long time.
.
Matt: I annoy a performer, but for the better part of 40 – yes, darlings 40 yrs – I have been an actor’s advocate either as an agent, or of late, a manager. My FB page has begun to sound much like your Post here. I welcome to speak to any SAG actor because simply a Yes vote is detrimental to the health and welfare of their Union…. And their future compensations! I am saddened that some believe their pension is protected BY THE US Governmt.! Yes SAG has made serious mistakes, things are weakened but merger is not going to strength SAG, just destroy it completely. And with a YES vote there is no do-over. If you think your leaders arent lying to you, call me I have beachfront property in Mojave!
This tiny handful of Actors against merger do not speak for the overall membership.
They are only representing their own interests.
Where is the solidarity?
Save for your (subjective) quantifier, I could say exactly the same thing about the pro-merger people:
“This tiny handful of Actors against merger do not speak for the overall membership. They are only representing their own interests. Where is the solidarity?”
You claim “tiny”, I claim a vastly growing contingent of educated SAG members who are finally seeing the light. And our “only interests” are protecting SAG, not running roughshod over membership in a huge power grab.
To your last question, “Where is the solidarity?”, I ask you, where was the solidarity in 2008 when AFTRA split off from SAG and the decades-old agreement to bargain together? Forgetting about that little tidbit, Rik?
Really? That’s deep and thoughtful analysis.
That comment is a joke. Why don’t the anti-merger folks come up with an alternative? You don’t, because merging NOW is the only sane course of action. Pension and health will only get WORSE if we don’t't merge. Gah. So sick of this stupid back and forth. You guys are now making us a bigger laughingstock than we already were.
It would seem from some of the statements that there are OPTIONS for bringing all the actors together. They’ve been mentioned. Let’s have the balls to pursue them. We can take care of the Broadcasters and others a little bit without joining with them in a Aftra-esque sham of a union. Please, dilute the Kool-Aid. You’re not really reading and listening if you really believe there are no alternatives. It might be it’s the Actors turn to do a good turn for the country by LEADING, in a ballsy way to stand up for collective bargaining and unity of purpose and methods and means. The new union doesn’t have to look like this pile. They moved a couple of sentences around and replaced some punctuation. Almost ten years, and that’s the best they could come up with. Pathetic.
“Why don’t the anti-merger folks come up with an alternative? You don’t, because merging NOW is the only sane course of action. Pension and health will only get WORSE if we don’t’t merge.”
Here is an alternative for you that actually makes sense and doesn’t doom our profession:
Once this hostile take over of SAG by AFTRA is voted down, actors, from both groups should work to decertify AFTRA, an open union that condones non-union work (broadcasters), has an open door policy and finally, has been screwing actors for a decade by offering residual free contracts in basic cable.
At the very least, responsible people should force AFTRA to stay within the confines of their jurisdiction: broadcasting, game shows and other non-scripted programing.
All Actors should be in one union and it’s called The Screen Actors Guild, which has a better health plan, better pension accrual rate, better pension overall.
How many times do you have to be told there are alternatives. Maybe you should investigate them instead of affirming the lies.
Look regardless of whose wrong or right in this situation, anyone with a brain would know better then to say yes to something there is no details on! I mean don’t you wonder why they are asking us to vote BEFORE they have specifics? Are you going to order a sandwich and pay for it without knowing whats in it? Well this is much bigger and you are saying because we are asking for specifics first we are looking foolish? I say maybe the ones who are foolish are the ones who overlook the details and suggest others do as well! The vote should be brought to us with every detail spelled out, then we have the knowledge!!!
The only group who has had problems is the Actors: Split contributions between SAG and Aftra. This merger does not fix this problem – it actually codifies split contributions.
The Plaintiffs are not looking out for themselves alone; they are looking out for the next generation of actors, who are mostly uninformed at this point.
This IS a solution: If the ballots ever go out, vote NO.
Then: DECERTIFICATION AND/OR A UNIT CLARIFICATION CLAIM TO THE NLRB.
All Actors in one Union? YES! The Screen Actors Guild, which has a better health plan, better pension accrual rate, better pension overall.
Let the people who are NOT Actors: disk jockeys, weathermen, broadcasters (who work non Union on Cable News shows like MSNBC, CNN, Fox, etc…) stay in Aftra, which is riddled with incapable leadership (unless you call lowballing the Basic Cable contract to get pilots to go to Aftra, leadership).
The AMPTP (our employers) want this merger to go through. That should be enough to make Actors know that this is not good.
Interesting note: SAG wages for television are lower than Aftra, (because SAG made the deal a year after Aftra) yet producers are still choosing Aftra this pilot season. Hello?
Because the residual structure in Aftra is weaker than SAG’s. You get a little bit more money up front, but they pay considerably less down the road.
You don’t know dick. work AFTRA WB $106 or $114 for 8hrs. 5 and under $433. for 8
SAG $142. for 8 $825 for 8
of course, it’s because the aftra contracts provide for so few and tiny residuals. in the long run (years), an aftra show is so much cheaper to produce vis-a-vis actors’ pay, w/o all those pesky residuals to hand out…
AGAINST THIS MERGER??? JOIN US ON FB AT JUST SAY S.A.G.!
FOR THE MERGER!
At last night’s meeting in New York Ken Howard was dismissive and disrespectful to Celia Weston. And when she quoted CORRECT figures about AFTRA’s lousy rates some AFTRA representative on the dais accused Celia Weston of lying. Celia Weston, a very smart woman and one of this country ‘s finest actors. As to the supposed opposition of Producers to the merger, if they are so opposed then why would they have sent all the TV pilots to AFTRA again this year? The UFS inside SAG busters are using the flood of pilots to AFTRA as their big excuse for merger.
Why the big rush in between releasing the plan and sending out the ballots ? Why the change to a for profit Delaware Corporation? ( which Ken Howard tried to cover up last night) After the discovery of the theft of a still undisclosed amount from the Pension Fund in 2008 that went mysteriously unreported in the audits for the next three years. , but was reimbursed by an insurance company to the tune of two million dollars ? After a whistleblower has reported much corruption in the management of our Pension Plan under the stewardship of Bruce Dow who has stepped down while he and several others are being investigated by the IRS, the Dept. of Labor, the Dept. of Justice ? Guess what is different about Delaware Corporations guys? The Trustees of the Plans, the Board of Directors can no longer be held personally and financially responsible for what happens under their watch ! Is this one reason for the big rush job? So that members will have no recourse when we find out what happened? Someone doesn’t want to get sued when it all comes out what has been going on with our Pension Fund ?
I can’t stop wondering about these stars who are supporting this merger. They can’t have studied it. Or they are so much more Producers than actors they don’t care about anything except their greed . If merger happens , how are they going to look the actors that support them in the eye in the future? Those actors won’t be able to afford insurance, will be lucky if they end up with a 401 K plan, will have lost all the residuals they ever had when Ken and his backroom convention asskissers have to give any remaining residuals away in order to get that lousy 401k plan to replace the once great Pension Plan we lost. Because the AMPTP will be holding all the cards , not a Union that has Broadcasters who will cross our picket lines and delegates that are not representational of the people who work and meet once every two years . There will be no strikes, this whole thing is built to prevent that from ever happening. Their fellow non- star actors working minimums and buy outs won’t be able to support their families anymore and SAG will be gone, thanks to them. What is wrong with these people? It is bewildering.
I oppose the merger since AFTRA will dilute our union but filing suit to prevent a vote only makes us seem un-democratic. The membership of SAG should be the ultimate voice on what happens to SAG, not some judge who could probably care less about us. Just my $0.02 worth.
hmmm……why not just get rid of the unions all together……sounds like it would fix everything….it is not 1930 after all…..but since we insist on keeping the unions…it only makes sense to merge the 2 and grow in strength…i would think that everyone learned their lesson over the last few years….(clearly some of you missed class that day)……the people who are suing do seem a bit older….and a tad more to the left than the rest of hollywood…..and my guess is they would protest anything….and the kids today…no….they don’t think about the future…they never had to…..so….let’s teach them that it is not so bleak…..instead of talking about how they suck……they are your future……and honestly……they can only go by what they are shown…..
work together……don’t be daft about this……for fuck sake….this is not brain surgery….it’s the entertainment industry……
Even brain surgeons have lawyers. No contract is EVER simple.
I’m sure there would be far more signatures had we been notified of this & given ample time to submit our signatures , I would have liked to be included !
Merger may someday happen but this attempt is not it — it is too rushed and too poorly prepared. Actors must unite against this. It is not in our best interest and will not strengthen us. It will weaken us even more!
VOTE NO on MERGER!
I am so glad the big name actors have finally step up and voice there opion about this f up merger. We need the help of these name actors. Thank you