'Where The Wild Things Are' Runs $32.4M 
Oscar Can't Always Get What He Wants 
NBC Bright Spot Of Lousy GE 3Q Earnings; 4Q … 
Oops! Vivendi May Delay 20% NBCU Sale? 
65 Nations Vie For Foreign Language Oscar 
Elle's Women In Hollywood Power List 
HOW BIG IS BIG? AEG Predicts Michael Jackson … 
Sane Debt-Reduction Move By Redstone; But … 
EXCLUSIVE: Comcast Wants NBCU Deal Done … 
So the SAG campaign for board of director seats currently underway is now starting to mirror the U.S. presidential race. That's because a celebrity war is overwhelming the real issues at stake for the biggest actors guild, like residuals and non-union work in New Media for the new contract. But perhaps it was inevitable. After all, SAG and AFTRA battled over big Hollywood actor endorsements just six weeks ago, and this SAG election between Unite For Strength and MembershipFirst is a de facto referendum on whether the two warring thesp guilds should declare a truce and even join together. On Wednesday, Unite For Strength sent to the media a list of high-profile actors who are supporting UFS's slate of candidates. Mostly, these are the same VIPs who vigorously opposed SAG's MembershipFirst contingent's open declaration of hostility on AFTRA and the ratification of the smaller actors and broadcasters union's recent contract negotiated with the AMPTP. (This, after AFTRA pulled out of joint contract negotiations with SAG after years together of bargaining with employers.)
In an email message distributed to 38,000 Hollywood SAG members, Sally Field urged fellow actors to support election of the slate in order "to end the senseless war with AFTRA and start building a united front of actors to fight for more working opportunities and better pay." While Lewis Black declared, "Enough is enough is enough. Membership First has the divide and conquer strategy all wrong – the idea is for us to be united and them to be divided so we do the conquering, not the other way around." And Patricia Heaton said, "SAG's ongoing battle with AFTRA and the fighting within our own union is weakening us at the bargaining table," said Patricia Heaton. "We obviously need to chart a different course, and this election gives members the chance to do it." Also on the list of supporters of Unite For Strength are: Alec Baldwin, Ed Begley Jr, Kate Burton, Stephen Collins, Peter Coyote, Marcia Cross, Jon Cryer, Tim Daly, Jeff Daniels, Tate Donovan, Victor Garber, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Tom Hanks, Patricia Heaton, Felicity Huffman, Melina Kanakaredes, Anthony LaPaglia, Rob Lowe, Peter MacNicol, William H. Macy, Camryn Manheim, Alfred Molina, Ron Perlman, Freddie Prinze Jr, Amy Ryan, Tony Shalhoub, Elisabeth Shue, Gary Sinise, Eric Stoltz, Meshach Taylor, John Turturro, Nia Vardalos, Kerry Washington and Steven Weber.
I checked and MembershipFirst has not yet, and may not, issue a counterpoint press release naming the high-profile actors in its camp. So who among the names on the 2008 Solidarity Statement here are MF supporters -- Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, Ben Stiller, Kevin Costner, Viggo Mortensen, Patricia Arquette, Rosanna Arquette, Ed Asner, Susan Blakely, Powers Boothe, Tom Bosley, Josh Brolin, Dixie Carter, Dave Clennon, Beverly D'Angelo, Bill Daniels, Laura Dern, Sharon Gless, Andy Griffith, Louis Gossett Jr, Ed Harris, John Heard, Marg Helgenberger, Holly Hunter, Sally Kirkland, Sheryl Lee, Ron Livingston, Tony Lo Bianco, Peter MacNicol, Amy Madigan, Debi Mazar, Anne Meara, Laraine Newman, Nick Nolte, Edward James Olmos, Alexandra Paul, William Petersen, Patricia Richardson, Rob Schneider, Martin Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton, Connie Stevens, Jerry Stiller, George Takei, Lea Thompson, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Rainn Wilson, and Daphne Zuniga?
Loading ...
I can’t wait to see what the comments will be here.
Uhhh, isn’t there a contract to negoiate?
Patrica Heaton–Loved the endless stream of Albertson’s commercials you pumped out DURING the COMMERCIAL STRIKE. Now tell me again about “weakening” UNION contract negotiations.
I have always thought the “Unite for Strength” team was a bunch of self propelled, “we are the ONLY working actors”, producers first (like Hanks) or in bed with producers (you-know-who), Anti-UNION, self-serving blow hards.
And now they’ve been joined by Heaton who talks about “weakening us at the bargaining table.”–LAUGHABLE! Since I’m sure you remember Patricia did and endless stream of new Albertson’s commercials through the duration the commercial strike. Yes, you could say that weakened us. So, Patricia, how should I vote?”
It shouldn’t go without notice that both sides have celebrity “juice” if you will, but those whose work you really respect all seem to on the Membership First list.
But don’t be a “rude little pig.” Vote on the issues, the qualifications of the candidates, and their philosophy. I would argue a philosophy that starts with “WE’RE THE ONES WORK WE KNOW BETTER!!!” seems to ignore all the others who work as well AND definitely excludes those who they feel don’t work enough to count in a UNION. And the very people they care abot the least are the ones who need the protection of the UNION–a UNION about ALL IT’S MEMBERS!
Clean up on Aisle “Unite For Strength.”
this is all about the contract. If mf does well they will take it as sign to get a strike vote. I don’t think they will win and if they don’t they should give up their positions on the neg comm. Why draw this out.
As Ms. Finke suggests, real issues in this election could be obscured by opposing endorsements from actors who are better-known than the rank-and-file.
For thirteen years I was a loyal follower of the party
which now calls itself “Unite for Strength.” In a series of elections, we were defeated by the more militant “Membership First” faction. In the most high-profile election, Alan Rosenberg won more votes than Melissa Gilbert, in a free and fair contest
for president.
Because I wasn’t paying attention to the issues facing S.A.G., I followed the guidance of Mike Farrell, Melissa Gilbert and others whose opinions I trusted. I learned to hate and fear MembershipFirst, without ever knowing what they stood for.
The Writers’ Guild strike opened my eyes. I hope I have a more informed, and more balanced, view today.
My own translation of”Unite for Strength” would go
like this: “Divide and Weaken S.A.G., Force it to Merge with AFTRA.”
As the Divide and Weaken strategy plays out, S.A.G.’s
bargaining position with the AMPTP crumbles, and we get a contract as bad, or worse, than AFTRA’s. The next three years will be hard for us, and the AMPTP will give NOTHING more in the next contract negotiation.
“Unite for Strength” has a program, a platform. It has two goals.
– Merger with AFTRA.
– The termination of labor militancy in S.A.G.
Let me try to explain why I oppose “Unite for Strength” and ALL its candidates including seven colleagues and friends. (And please keep in mind that I have never voted for a Membership First candidate or referendum position. And please excuse my long-windedness; I know I’m badly in need of an editor.
In my biased opinion . . .
. . . Merger would be a good idea, but not the kind of merger “Unite for Strength” has in mind.
The only way actors will ever achieve the clout they deserve and need is for the actors of AFTRA to extricate themselves from that sinking ship and to make S.A.G. their sole collective bargaining unit.
We AFTRA actors are hamstrung by the fact that our “Federation” represents news anchors, sportscasters, recording artists, weather report readers, station announcers, talk-show hosts, and on and on. Over the years, AFTRA has done a poor job of representing us on-camera actors — because AFTRA is too weak, too poor and too understaffed to do a good job of negotiating for all these differing constituencies and their widely varying contractual needs.
Let AFTRA represent those other constituencies. I wish them well.
Once upon a time, before the age of television, AFRA (minus the “T” for “Television”) may have done a good job representing radio actors, as well as all the other categories of voice performers in the medium of radio. But, since I joined AFTRA around 1975, my deals under their contracts have been consistently inferior to my SAG deals.
I plan not to vote for any of the “Unite for Strength” candidates. I reject them and their platform for two reasons, both compelling, in my prejudiced view:
(1) If “Unite for Strength” wins more than 8 or 10 seats in this election, it could be seen as a VALIDATION of the opportunistic, sell-out behavior of AFTRA’s leadership in the current round of negotiations. After all, these AFTRA leaders are the very people SAG’s “Unite for Strength” wants to bond with. “Unite for Strength” sees Reardon, Hedgpeth-Roberts, Kimbrough and the rest of that faction as their allies.
If you vote for “Unite for Strength,” you will be voting for the same AFTRA/SAG faction that gave us the defective, disastrous AFTRA sweetheart contract “model” which SAG is now trying desperately to repair.
(By the bye, if you don’t work as often as “Unite for Strength” actors do, they might take away your vote. These are the same people who tried to splinter SAG, at the worst possible time, by aggressively and publicly pushing their “Affected Member Voting” scheme. Ned Vaughn is the lead organizer of both campaigns.)
#2 Compelling reason: If “Unite for Strength” achieves its ultimate goal, actors will NOT be represented by one strong union with greatly increased “leverage.” They will continue to be represented by two unions — WEAK and WEAKER — under one leaky umbrella, the AFTRA/SAG merged “ENTITY.”
“Unite for Strength” could borrow the rationale of a military official during the Viet Nam war: “We had to destroy the village, in order to save it.”
Unite for Strength: WE MUST DESTROY S.A.G., IN ORDER TO SAVE IT. (SAVE IT from the evildoers of MembershipFirst.)
I sincerely believe I’ll be choosing a better future — for myself and the next generation — by voting for Membership First. Which will be a “first” for me.
Dave Clennon
Exactly Redd Golde. Exactly.
Dear Hollywood,
Are the actors waiting for Christmas?
You have lost whatever advantage you had by not getting more PUBLIC SUPPORT on this SAG/AFTRA/AMPTP debacle a couple of months ago. Then it was a slow news time, people were on vacation, the kids were out of school.
Do you think that anyone is going to pay attention to you now?
The Olympics are here, then the Presidental election conventions, football and the TV seasons start, then the World Series. That small war in Russia. I know that I’ve missed a few events, but maybe you get the idea.
Not to mention that you’re going to have union elections in the middle of all of this?
IF you had done something in the past months to get some publicity, then the studios/producers might have come to the table with a different attitude.
YOU DIDN’T MESS UP THEIR VACATIONS WITH FRANTIC CALLS FROM THEIR PR PEOPLE, BEGGING FOR GUIDANCE ON HOW TO COUNTERACT YOUR LATEST PUBLICITY COUP. THEY DIDN’T SPEND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, WONDERING WHAT TO DO NEXT.
YOU DID.
Now their kids will be going off to school, the studios will be coming off a record-breaking box office summer, DVD sales are up. You and your kids will be wondering if they’re gonna be wearing their cousin’s clothes, if they get to go to school at all.
About a month ago, I suggested that you have a parade, do anything to get support from the film and TV audiences. Get the audiences to put pressure on the studios/producers. Get some air time. YOU DID NOTHING BUT SIGN PETITIONS! Oh, wait, you did some interviews. Where you whined about the divisions between the two actors’ guilds.
IF the parade idea doesn’t appeal to you, there’s another, more subtle way…
Call a SEX STRIKE.
No signs needed, no picket lines.
Just good, clean fun.
NOBODY GETS ANY UNTIL THE ACTORS GET SOME!
NO ORGASMS FOR ANYONE!
You might have to enlist some of the other pros in Hollywood to make this happen, but think of all the snarky comments: “Hey, is that a scab or you just got some nasty disease?”
I can see the headlines now;
HOLLYWOOD SEX STRIKE, ACTORS DEMAND MONEY SHOT!
or
WILL SEX STRIKE CLOSE HOLES IN CONTRACT TALKS?
Right now, you’re more divided than united. That’s no way to win the war.
But you are doing a great job of SCREWING EACH OTHER OVER!
I love how most of the names who support Membership First are above the line actors who, for the most part, don’t work television and don’t work for scale contracts. We all know that the film world is like Wild West when it comes to money. Most of the people who support Unity for Strength are not above the line performers and do mostly television or are on television now, what some may consider the middle class actor. See why folks choose their sides…
I know it was just AMPTP-funded union bashing, but naysayers, this is why the WGA walked out the minute their contract expired. “Temporarily working without a contract” always becomes “working under the terms of your old crappy contract for a long time and imploding your union while you’re at it” because you’re essentially telling your employers that you don’t have the balls to strike. So they stonewall and eventually the union starts to eat itself alive because nothing is happening. If you’re going to strike you do it immediately – otherwise when’s a good time for “working without a contract” to become “oh NOW it’s time to strike?” The answer is never and that’s why SAG is going to get a crappy deal.
There are two potential outcomes here: 1) Existing leadership barely holds on but the AMPTP now knows that SAG will never muster the votes to actually strike. AMPTP exploits this by continuing to stonewall – after all, the current terms that actors are working under are quite favorable to them. Working without a contract continues for a few weeks. Then SAG accepts crap deal. Or 2) new leadership comes in. In an effort to prove that electing them was the right move and that golly, we’re reasonable, it’s just that those other assholes were assholes, they bend over backwards to be “fair and reasonable”. AMPTP smiles big and says lots of complimentary things in the press. Boy these new people are reasonable, golly gee if only those silly actors had sent them from the start! Behind closed doors they commence laughing their asses off. New leadership accepts pats on the head and smiles big. In the back of their mind they know they’re being laughed at but the bully is praising them – that’s what they want to hear. They choose to intentionally ignore this. Cognitive dissonance reigns. SAG accepts crap deal.
This is what happens when you send actors and writers in to negotiate against lawyers. Being here in Hollywood we should know a little something about specialization – we can’t even negotiate our own basically boilerplate performance contracts. So why do we send sitcom writers and dayplayers in to play point on union contracts? Chernin doesn’t act in one-hour dramas and Counter isn’t writing the next Batman. For that matter Hoffa didn’t drive a frigging truck.
So who among the names on the 2008 Solidarity Statement here are MF supporters?
NONE OF THEM YET — at least not publicly.
Signing a solidarity statement in support of the negotiating committee (and you know a union is doing a great job when it needs to ask members to sign solidarity statements) is a FAR cry from supporting MembershipFirst’s overall leadership of SAG.
I’ll lay long odds that very few of the names you referenced will publicly endorse MembershipFirst.
U4S keeps talking about ending the feud with AFTRA, but I have yet to see one word on how they plan to accomplish it. The last 2 merger plans were defeated by membership (not Membership First) because they were bad plans that gave way too much power to AFTRA. It also appears they’re being dishonest with budget projections, painting MF as fiscally irresponsible when it’s not the case.
U4S have several good points that I agree with on their platform page, but now I don’t know how honest any of them are.
Oh, and Michael Moore is a fat retard and Obama and George Clooney need to come out of the closet. Zing!
I’m probably the only person in town who hopes* there is a strike (yeah, I support Members First–I wish my own Guild were more militant, maybe we would’ve actually stood up and fought for what we really deserve), but it’s only because then I’d have an excuse for not working.
So far this summer, I’ve had over 60 meetings and not one job. And I hear from many of my friends that they’re in the same boat. Makes me wonder why we sold out so easily.
Stand Up Or Get Stepped On, that’s my motto.
*Not really, but I do support Membership First, because they’re on the right side of this battle.
so tom hanks was on FOX last night saying how bad SAG leadership is now.
WHEN IS THE LAST TIME TOM WORKED A WEAK AFTRA CONTRACT WITH NO RESIDUALS?
WHEN IS THE LAST TIME TOM’S LIVELIHOOD WAS CONTINGENT UPON A FAIR DEAL BEING STRUCK BETWEEN SAG AND THE AMPTP?
why would tom come out in support of A DEAL THAT IS,
(even in the estimation of unite for strength),
NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND POTENTIALLY DAMAGING?
because now, TOM IS A PRODUCER. he’s a mogul now and he’s got things to do and he can’t be bothered with some pesky middle-class
actors gumming up the works with their labor struggles.
he did MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING in canada under some ACTRA
contract
and BAND OF BROTHERS was done in england with some sort of
one time buy out deal.
all right tom. best wishes for your continued success with playtone.
if you were to ask, say, sally field, what her actual plan is for u4s, besides generalities such as she and the others express in their statements? I would bet the farm she’d have no fucking clue.
they don’t understand u4s is not going to win control of the board unless they win every seat, and that’s not going to happen.
they don’t understand that u4s, whatever its numbers, will have to walk into the same room mf has been in, with the same leadership, alan rosenberg and doug allen, under sag election law, and face the amptp, and somehow make good on their pledge to “get everything sag is asking for – and more!”
that’s not going to happen. why? the amptp has no intention of significantly changing it’s “last and final offer” simply because members of a different faction of sag are sitting in front of it. naive is the kind word for that.
so, the contract will continue to be handled by rosenberg and allen, under sag rules.
if the membership gives mf a vote of confidence in this election, mf has the option of calling for a strike authorization. if they get it, they can walk back into the negotiating room and say to the amptp. “give us a percentage of new media from first dollar and first airing, we’ll give you dvd (they’ve already taken it off the table in their latest public statements. I disagree with that) we’ll tweak a couple other things, and you’ve got a deal.” the amptp can, of course, say “no.”
but, when sag then says “o.k. then, we strike,” believe me, the amptp is going to think long and hard about letting sag walk. they will lose billions of dollars. production will stop overnight. they can get somebody, a scab, to direct a sit-com. they can get somebody, a scab, to write an episode of “csi: miami,” but, they cannot survive without sag actors, especially the stars. sag walks. the stars walk. why? because, even though the stars, except for a brave few, have been curiously silent, or have endorsed aftra, like stout hearted tom hanks, any star that crosses a sag picket line? will be a pariah. and they know it. they’ll need armed fucking guards. and the business, starved of its actors, especially its stars? can’t survive. the producers know it. sag knows it.
if this all sounds unpleasant and radical to you? if you’re looking for a less confrontational alternative? I understand. but, what needs to be understood is: there isn’t one. not now. the amptp is ONE union away from setting a precedent that will allow them to push actors out of their fair share of money on the internet along with residuals – AND THEY KNOW IT – THAT’S why the producers are so pissed.
unfortunately, the time is NOW to confront them. and the only tool sag has in its box is – the threat of strike. otherwise? they roll over us, and set a precedent we’ll never overturn (dvd anyone?)
it’s scary, it’s a drag, it sucks, all that and more – but, contrary to the spin you hear from aftra and u4s, if sag started negotiating “early” as they were clamoring for, the amptp still wouldn’t have given us a fair deal on new media. no way. that’s their line in the sand. look what the dga got? after all their “research.”
why? because directors rely much, much less on residuals, so they agreed to this deal. and when residuals do come, they’re fat. 1 director.
the writers. much less reliance than sag. 1,2,3,4 writers split a residual. wga agreed to the deal,
because the dga swooped in, not for the first time, and undercut the wga.
actors? 30, 40, 50 split a residual payment? and actors MUST have strong residual protections or WE’RE OUT OF BUSINESS FOLKS. you think it’s hard NOW to eek out a living as a middle class actor?
imagine if, under this contract, you’re facing a sea of non-union actors, who will swarm in to fill that non-union space aftra already agreed to, where the amptp can “experiment” and where they need “flexibility” with a “new business model” – the EXACT same argument they made with vhs/dvd 24 years ago and they NEVER changed the residual rate, despite pledging to do so, “if business permitted.”
well folks, business sure permitted: “10.1 BILLION DOLLARS in DVD sales” (variety headline july 20th 2008)
actors lost HUNDREDS OF MILLION OF DOLLARS on that act of “trust” with the amptp. these are cold, bottom-line businessmen, whose sole mantra is “more profit – less cost” to think or “trust otherwise? is negotiation suicide.
so, sag members are beginning to wake up and pay attention. some, like the u4s supporters above, are not particularly informed. they just want to work. “stop the drama” they say. simple enough.
they want to “all get together, under one banner,” despite the fact that that option has been explored ad nauseum and voted down as unwise and unworkable and NOT IN SAG’s BEST INTEREST 16 TIMES since 1939(you read that right).
but, if they do some homework, they see this contract is THE seminal contract in recent sag history. why? because, unlike 3 years ago, the net is NOW a viable content delivery system for the suits. and in 3, 5 years, it will be THE delivery system for the suits. and the suits are trying to muscle actors, especially middle class actors, out of their fair share.
that’s what’s so ridiculous about this whole thing – what sag, led by mf, who were ELECTED “to take a harder line with the amptp” is asking for? is fair! it’s reasonable, and in some cases, overdue! the moon? the stars? nope. just a fair contract. that’s all mf wants. that’s all sag wants.
say, we get beyond the contract mess, in theory. u4s’s plan is to merge with aftra, although, as nikki reminds above, it was aftra that stabbed sag in the back by breaking its word to negotiate together, as we had for 28 years.
merger is not going to happen
it will be a multi-month, expensive, bitter process, which, if history is any guide will not produce a single union, for all the same reasons that have been gone over since 1939 until 2003. 16 merger attempts. 16 “no” votes by sag membership.
u4s wants, regardless of how they’ve renamed it, qualified voting. so, basically, their pitch is: “vote for us – so we can take away your right to vote!”
look folks, where the rubber meets the road in all this is THIS contract. is it helpful to have an opposing faction clamoring for change in the middle of a crucial contract negotiation? of course not. will this faction alter the negotiating dynamic and demands, even if they win every seat, which they won’t? of course not.
so, what are we talking about?
we’re talking about one thing: why won’t the amptp agree to a percentage deal from first dollar and first airing on the internet?
why is the amptp clinging to a relatively arbitrary series of “floors” (15k per minute, 330k, or 450k for series, whichever is lower) which are so much higher than the current average cost of one minute of original content for the internet – 2k?
the reason? the amptp, long before any of these negotiations began, with any of the creative unions, made a corporate decision that their goal going into these negotiations was to hold the line on new media. especially to muscle actors out of residuals.
producers HATE paying residuals. it is THE bane of their existence. they rue the day they agreed to it, in any form.
now, since middle class actors rely on residuals for anywhere from 20 to 50% of their yearly income, the current leadership , yes, mf leadership, understands that this is a MUST HAVE for sag.
why? because, in their own words, the producers know production is inexorably headed towards the internet. it is a “vastly cheaper delivery system.”
they say “3 to 5 years” (last sunday’s ny times, jeff bewkes, president, warner brothers)as their best guess as to when this will be standard.
they already have language in the aftra contract that allows all this to begin happening now. aftra is, and will be negotiating deals with the amptp that, if the content is made for the internet, and run and reused on the internet? there will be NO RESIDUALS FOR ACTORS. EVER.
the current aftra contract has language that, even if the production is union? the residuals will be non-existent, or so low as to be a non-factor. there is ONE very narrow exception for content made for a pay for play platform, such as itunes.
the current aftra contract says producers have to “ask” you if you will agree to, say, wear a budweiser hat in a scene in a movie for no apparent reason – but if you say “uh, no, if you don’t mind, I’d rather not – that feels a little exploitive – and I make most of my living in commercials, and since this movie could be running somewhere in perpetuity on the web? I would never be able to audition for any other beer commercial again. ”
to which, under the language in the aftra contract, there is NOTHING that prohibits the producer from saying “oh. o.k. – well, you’re fired. NEXT!”
u4s wants to merge with aftra. they want to “take a less adversarial stance” with the amptp. and they want qualified voting.
that’s it. that’s their platform.
sag faces nothing less than a neutered union in this contract. if we agree to the current terms now, how will we overturn the precedent set now in the next contract?
we’ll have to strike. the amptp is PISSED that sag is the one union standing between them an an open field on new media. dga has given them what they want. wga has given them what they want. now, aftra has betrayed sag, and given them what they want.
sag is the only union left. so, do we come together, and let our democratically elected leaders face the tough position they’re in, knowing the membership is behind them?
or, do we elect a whole slate of new candidates who profess an approach to the current negotiations that asks for exactly the same thing, which they won’t, by any rational understanding of the process and sag law, get?
Dear T-Rex,
My my, you certainly seem to have a lot of time on your hands. Sorry, too busy ( I work for a living) to read your lengthy rant. If their weren’t so many like minded people on this blog, you fit exactly the definition of an internet troll.
Hey T-rex – you could have said what you had to say in a sentence – you should learn to edit yourself – you’re not that interesting – i don’t give two shits what an overpaid movie star has to say about my unions – there is a contract that needs to be settled – rail on you assholes – there will be no strike – cause your leadership has failed you – and there about to pass up retro-money as they watch aug 15 pass them by…send all of ‘em to the moon, alice, and get some leadership who knows when to say, “…deal.”
Just so all SAG members know this:
Tom Hanks is a union busting producer(Playtone). Most, if not all of his projects are done out of the country and certainly out of Hollywood. He avoids unions at all costs. He does not pay his actors residuals if he can avoid them.
In a private meeting with SAG elected, Hanks responded to an invitation to participate in the wages and working conditions meetings prior to the start of negotiations:
“I don’t care if you guys want paper or plastic cups on the set, just take the DGA deal.” His words, exactly.
Hanks did HBO’s Band of Brother’s (with SAG actors) under contracts that did not provide coverage for the American Actors. He did it in Europe.
He did “John Adams” in eastern Europe.
He did “My Big Fat Wedding” in Canada.
He’s a union buster with a slate full of projects done outside of the states. But, he makes a shit load of money off of our blood sweat and tears.
Now, think about that, fellow SAG middle-class actors, hell, ANY SAG actors: “Band of Brothers” – a great, great show. It will sell, in it’s DVD box set, for decades. It has already sold millions and millions of copies.
And Tom Hanks, who is worth, what, conservatively? I won’t even hazard a guess – gives the SAG actors a one-time buy-out deal on residuals for the DVD box set?
And a paltry one at that?
Why? Does Hanks need the money? Could the producers not afford to give the SAG actors a fair cut of the DVD?
No. Come on. One reason: greed. Get a bunch of no-name actors, who MAKE the show work (well, Ron Livingston, but still – if you stop 100 people on the street in Davenport, Iowa and say “who’s Ron Livingston?” Every single one of them would say either “I don’t know,” or, “he owns the feed store down the block.” Not a “name” in the box office sense. Terrific, terrific actor (and supporter of MF, by the way).
Just to clear up any lingering doubt among SAG actors whose side Tom Hanks is on? TOM HANKS. He support U4s and the AFTRA deal, because he wants to avoid SAG wages, SAG residuals, SAG protections, in short – SAG.
And what union covered every single movie he’s EVER made – provided the wages, when he started out and desperately needed them, provided the workplace protections when it WAS an issue for him, provided residuals when that “Bosom Buddies” check actually paid his utilities bill?
The Screen Actors Guild. That’s who. Thanks Tom. You fucking rat.
Its fun to watch gaggles of leftists rip each other apart.
T-rex,
Nowhere has U4S said that they seek to take a less adversarial stance with the AMPTP. That claim is just not true. Ned Vaughn said that SAG and AFTRA need to take a less adversarial stance with EACH OTHER, not the AMPTP! In fact, Vaughn said that that they’re absolutely not afraid of a fight with the AMPTP and, according to their website, they seek seek for actors all that the current negotiation committee is seeking and MORE.
As for affected member voting, IT’S NOT PART OF THE U4S’s platform! Yes, many of their slate supported affected member voting, but Vaughn has gone on the record that it’s no longer being pursued. Actually, this “radical notion” of affected member voting (which is written into the SAG constitution, by the way) means that actors and background actors need only have worked one day on that particular contract to qualify to vote on that specific contract. That’s it. If I’ve never worked an animation contract, why should I vote on that contract? I’d STILL be able to vote on other matters which apply to me, including the general elections. Yes, you read that right. Actors would still be able to vote for the SAG board, president, etc. – just not for a contract on which they haven’t worked. The WGA, DGA and just about every other labor union out there have the EXACT SAME PROVISION in their contract voting. Does that make them elitist bastards? Letting the complete membership vote on contracts which only a few of them work only weakens SAG’s leverage when it comes to negotiating that particular contract. Besides, it doesn’t matter anymore. Affected Member voting on contracts isn’t part of the U4S slate.
Regardless of whether you love AFTRA, don’t mind them or think of them as a scumbag union (I personally resent that I’m a member of AFTRA and have to pay dues to both), it’s all just a big b.s. separation of actors. As any Economics 101 student can tell you, competition (i.e., SAG & AFTRA) inevitably leads to lower prices (translate – lower minimums for actors). Who cares who walked out first or who stabbed who in the back?? The AMPTP isn’t divided now, so why should actors be? Let’s put all the stupid, childish animosity between SAG and AFTRA behind us (what are we, 8 years old?) and finally merge the damn unions so that actors can have some REAL muscle and be able to push the AMPTP around for once.
58% of SAG members voted for the merger in 2003, only 2% shy of approval. 79% of SAG members polled afterwards said they wanted the merger but were nervous about their pensions vanishing into thin air. This was misinformation. Maybe it was fear-mongering stirred by the Studios but individual pensions are insured by the federal government, in a manner similar to how FDIC insures bank accounts up to $100,000.
U4S is made up of working actors, stunt performers, stand-ins and even a couple of actors with only a couple of credits. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about their stance. They’ve pledged to bring a real battle to the AMPTP and I think they’ll get more leverage if AMPTP doesn’t have a wussy competing union (AFTRA) against which to play SAG. When SAG and AFTRA do merge, the terms of that contract will be able to be stronger than either of what SAG or AFTRA would be able to get individually.
I have nothing against the members of MF. Many of them are wonderful actors and genuinely nice people, but it’s absolute lunacy to think that SAG actors are going to rip up their AFTRA cards and refuse any AFTRA acting gigs. Would you turn down a Series Regular job on DAMAGES? Hey kid, you seem like a nice waiter and you might be great for my AFTRA show. It would be $20,000 a week but your residuals and DVD would suck. Think that waiter will say, “Take your AFTRA series regular job and shove it! AFTRA’s a scumbag union!! I’m gonna’ stick with my waiter job!” If you’re a working schmo actor in L.A. like me, you’ll take that AFTRA job and you’ll be grateful for the work. Even if it does mean that your residuals and DVD checks will suck.
I believe in what Uniteforstrength is trying to do and I intend to vote for their slate. I’d recommend taking a look at their official website to learn more about them, instead of all the spin and lies (from MF moles?) on this board and others like it.
SG
bark-at-the-moon
“i don’t give two shits what an overpaid movie star has to say about my unions -”
“there about to pass up retro-money as they watch aug 15 pass them by”
what a bunch of pussies. I mean, seriously.
henry 5 at agincourt: “hey – there’s a shit-load of those fucking french motherfuckers. let’s go home.”
so the big bad producers are scaring you? you want to roll over for them? you want to “strike in three years” but, not now, if it’s necessary? (hint: it’s probably necessary)
you want to take the aftra contract, so we can all “get back to work?”
you want to set a precedent that gives away residuals on the internet?
o.k. we’ll do that. but first? nap time.
sally field does not understand or care that supporting u4s means she’s supporting a future in which actors will work, in perpetuity, for a couple hundred bucks a day and no residuals. NO RESIDUALS.
she wanted sag to accept the dga deal. what an idiot. she has no understanding whatsoever about how residuals work. and she probably couldn’t define the term “financial core” if a gun was pointed at her face. but she’ll learn what it means very quickly if u4s passes qualified voting.
tom hanks is a producer. patricia heaton is a scab. alec baldwin doesn’t give two shits about you and your residuals. these people are union-busters.
WAKE UP! your union needs you now. it’s balls to the wall time and, yeah, it’s unpleasant. this union was formed for a reason, and that reason was to PROTECT ACTORS.
tom hanks does not want to protect you. he wants to protect himself. sally field, bless her, is too dumb to understand what’s she’s doing. she’s getting very bad advice from very misinformed and ego-driven motherfuckers.
your fellow actors (u4s) are FUCKING YOU. and some of them have no idea, because they’re accepting the word of agenda-driven advisers without doing any independent fact-checking.
u4s are SHEEP. no, they’re worse. they’re PUPPETS. puppets of a defeated and divisive regime that would rather fuck their fellow actors so they can say they won than do what’s right for the future of the union and its members.
Who supports MeFirst?
Almost no one these days.
They’re the little engine that couldn’t.
Member of both unions here. Can’t stand anyone who’s running for office, at least not the slates. Signing the solidarity statement doesn’t mean one supports MF.
(Heaton did those spots during the grocery workers’ strike, didn’t she? Not that that makes her the labor solidarity poster girl.)
I hate the AFTRA “contract”. Troll or not, I don’t think Scott or Bark-at-the-Moon actually read what T-rex had to say. T-r makes a compelling (albeit long-winded) argument, and so far it’s the sanest I’ve heard.
I don’t want a strike. I also don’t want to lose out on residuals, or for the AMPTP to give my work to non-union actors. Too late for AFTRA. Not too late for SAG, not if we authorize a strike. It may be our last chance to maintain acting as a job instead of a hobby.
Unless we’re Hanks, of course. Oooh, I can see him grinning at the camera, holding up his first SAG card with pride.
The DGA are AMPTP ball washers. The WGA sold out. AFTRA is the AMPTP’s bitch. Roberta Reardon is satan. SAG is the only good union. With strong leadership. It’s time to STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE. I’m out of work anyway, (I got my SAG card at an “upgrade party” on Sex, Lies and Secrets”) so screw it. Let’s burn this town down.
“it’s balls to the wall time” …………. R e a l l y ! ………….. I thought it was
“Haven’t heard anything from the leadership in weeks, what the fuck is going on time”
But that’s just me. ………Leaders are suppose to lead. Not really happening. but I’m sure I’m the Douche’ in all this….. Right?
Does anyone beside me think that t-rex and kristy kreem are the same person. Just checking
One thing that is clear. MF supporters are the most violently vitriolic spewers of profanity that has ever defined a group.
All I need to do is look for profanity in their blog and I know they support MF.
Wow, SAG is imploding with infighting – what a suprise! Oh and those pesky contract talks are over? With features going back into production full bore in September no one else will care that SAG members are getting last cotract pay – the AMPTP must think that it’s Chrismas already with SAG’s lack of strrategy of game plan. So back to work now, see you at Crafty!
As a fan with no dog directly in this hunt (although my BA is in dramaturgy for live theater and thus, I keep wanting to scream, “Mommy! Daddy! Stop fighting! Uncle Jerry’s ass needs to be so kicked!”), I needed to point this out:
Sean Penn and Powers Boothe are on the same side in a union matter?! Holy Crap!
With those strange bedfellows against you, United For Weakness, you might want to rethink your strategery of siding with an organization that on the one hand is a union that represents so little of the movie and television industry and on the other hand is in general so disinterested in the welfare of journeymen actors who don’t work in daytime soaps.
In that context — and I remind you, I’m not in the industry, I’m an advanced fangeek who, okay, knows a bit about unions because I was once a dramaturge for a production of The Kentucky Cycle at a university within 3 hours of Hollywood (and don’t start me on the stupidity of the SAG voucher system, which frustrates college actors to no end, whose end MF smartly demands) — AFTRA comes off looking to me not as an actors’ union, but as a refuge for scabs doing nothing more than hiding behind the coattails of a union of radio performers and newspeople and soap opera hacks.
What you guys in United For Weakness need to understand is that us fangeeks have for quite a while now had access to a great number of reliable sources on the interwebs — sites like this here Deadline Hollywood Daily, The Huffington Post, certain personal industry blogs (such as but not limited to Mark Evanier’s http://www.newsfromme.com) and even Usenet posts by Babylon 5’s creator J. Michael Straczynski — and consequently, we were *well* informed about the progress of the Writers’ Strike all along. And we spread the word about these sites through blogs, comments sections and posts to Usenet (Hi, everybody on rec.arts.tv — yes, it’s me!)
We got the word out through fandom that the AMPTP were off their rockers, and were pretty much the sole reason that the strike lasted beyond Thanksgiving, much less all the way out to February. The majority of the public never sided with the AMPTP. Despite the pro-studio propaganda of Variety, THR and the Times, we evaluated the information and found the Studios’ side to be a crock.
When fans find out — and it’s very, very easy to explain to them — that AFTRA only represents a handful of prime time shows and among them is one of the (Rules) lamest (of) scripted shows on television (Engagement), their reaction is — “C’mon, you have got to be kidding me!”
That sentiment among us fans is really not going to change. We’ve already known for quite some time, years even, before the writers’ strike that one of the reasons that television series boxed sets are often sparse on commentary tracks is that many actors refuse to do them as a matter of principle regarding the poor DVD residuals formula. As a result, many of us are very appreciative of the actors whose participation in the commentary tracks is immense, because they have great affection for the show and/or the showrunners.
We also know through the grapevine — yes, we have connections, shocker, I know — that commentary tracks have been done for a variety of shows whose DVDs don’t have them and the actors have just chosen to hold back permission for them to be released.
We don’t begrudge the actors for doing so — they deserve the residuals and withholding such permissions when they can is a power that we recognize that they should use. I mean, we literally can’t argue with it. More of our money (not more money in absolute terms, just more of what we already pay. Hee.) should be going to the actors — to you — than to the studios.
So in that sense, those of you who are siding with AFTRA over SAG? Why are you cutting off your noses to spite your faces when the vast majority of the work that you get when you’re not in New York is through SAG and not AFTRA? Why are you pulling for the continuation of the inequality of base pay and base hires between SAG productions in LA and SAG productions in New York City? Why do you not want the support of the viewers like me (or even casual viewers who are very unlike me) who are actually eager to side with you, support you and want to help you do an end-run around through/against the irresponsible, biased corporate media? Especially when said media isn’t really all that hard to do an end-run around if you just make a minimal effort to do so?
to SG
the particulars of the whole ‘pensions being threatened thing’ are complex and it isn’t just a case of “don’t worry about it, your pension is insured by ERISA”
right now it’s damn hard for an actor to build up enough credits in aftra for a proper pension.
they have a cap of $200,000 per performer, per year and the pension accrues at 1.7%. that’s it.
SAG has a %200,000 cap per EMPLOYER per performer, per year.
so, if you made 200 grand at SONY and 200 grand at WARNERS
and 200 grand at DISNEY all in one year (damn good year, i know!)
it would all count toward your pension and that 600 grand
would be multiplied by 3.5% .
that’s right. SAG pensions are accrued at 3.5%. double the rate of aftra.
how to marry up the two systems should be figured out BEFORE any merger.
the last time serious questions were raised about the pension plan and whether the new actor’s portion of the union would retain autonomy and what was discovered was that AIMA would in effect own everything. no autonomy.
now what’s the point of having a mega union if all those members can’t unite to put pressure on the corporations that are trying to squeeze us?
if, like now, the actor’s were at an impasse with the amptp, the broadcasters would not be allowed to withold their services if we decided to strike. there are federal laws against that.
so how does that make us stronger?
a union with too many different
groups working in too many different fields is DILUTED.
aftra is a union with diluted strength and their one great power,
it seems, is undercutting SAG contracts.
do they even want to merge anymore and if so, why?
if they do, it’s not because of some idealistic notion of having all actors in one house.
it’s money and power.
how is U4S going to deal with aftra?
i do believe all actors should be in one union, but the proposal that was defeated in 2003 would have given us one big aftra.
god bless all the t.v and radio people, folks who aren’t SCREEN actors.
i wish them only prosperity. but our needs are different.
force majeure, for example, isn’t really something that would affect broadcasters and radio artists, even radio actors. there aren’t any series done on radio anymore. but for the actors who work on television series it’s an important protection and to lose it would be a serious rollback. and once it’s gone? good luck ever trying to get it back.
i’m happy to hear you say that you think some of the membership first
gang are good people. i have people on the U4S side that i know and love. i do think ultimately, MF or U4S,
we all want a strong union that protects
the wages and working conditions we need to make a decent living
as the middle-class independent contractors we are.
if you think that U4S is the answer, then absolutely, you should vote for them. vote your conscience.
there’s an old saying, “Never go to bed with a woman who has more troubles than you do.”
well aftra has got problems.
if U4S has a plan that allows all actors to
work UNDER ONE UNION BANNER, that doesn’t dilute actors power of
self- determination, and actually improves our leverage at the bargaining table, i am all ears.
if they get in and they get everything they want for us …AND MORE
i will bow down to them and say,”you were right and i couldn’t have been more wrong.”
but i don’t think it will be any different for them that it is right now for the current administration.
ironically, if aftra had been in the room with sag and they had negotiated together with a 50/50 split, we could very well be stuck with this very contract that U4S itself says is no good.
Dave Clennon wrote:
“I sincerely believe I’ll be choosing a better future — for myself and the next generation — by voting for Membership First.”
People, don’t you understand that MF is the only reason that our union is in such turmoil? Voting them in again will only continue this madness. Where is your common sense?
Hey Rob J.,
As a self-proclaimed fanboy with “no dog in the hunt”, WHO THE FUCK CARES WHAT YOU THINK!
SG, great, u4c wants MORE. The question is, how the hell are they going to get MORE?
Undercutting the current negotiating team and playing right into the AMPTP’s hands seems like a really poor strategy. Notice how all the SAG haters and union busters around here just luuuurrve u4c?
In addition, you act like AFTRA will just fold up its tent and go away after being absorbed by SAG. if that were the case, everyone would support it. But it isn’t. The same leaders who, as you yourself point out, happily undercut SAG and hurt actors just to hold on to their own personal power aren’t going anywhere and aren’t going to suddenly discover the concept of solidarity over self. AFTRA wants a 50-50 split now. Especially when they seem so cozy with u4c, you think u4c will change its stance and fight them, or a cut a deal with them to get control and keep control and good luck to anyone who isn’t a producer, works the contract and depends on residuals? Look at some of those names and what their interests are, there’s your answer. They don’t want to get rid of AFTRA, they want to remake SAG into AFTRA.
You guys have been ranting about Hanks. Let me ask you could band of brothers been done in los angeles. He did earth to the moon here. what’s the difference. Location , location, location. Just wait until the Pacific version of band of brothers comes out, I’ll bet you say that we could have done IWO JIMA on universals backlot. Leave Hanks out of the mix your all just jealous. he has brains you don’t.
just a thought,
dude or dudette,
we can’t leave hanks out of the mix.
he is high profile guy who has taken a hard stance against the cuurent SAG administration and has openly supported the opposing party.
this is politics and when people make bold and aggressive
statements their motives should be examined.
Scanning the comments here, I read that Ned Vaughn is “no longer interested” in pursuing affected member voting. There is a huge difference between that and actually changing your position. All but three of the Unite for Strength slate are on record publicly favoring AMV, and to my knowledge, not a single one of them has repudiated that position. Steve Tom recently wrote that he still favors AMV.
By not repudiating AMV and ignoring the issue on their website, it seems like UFS is hoping they can attract votes from actors opposed to AMV. There can be no mistake about this. As long as the UFS candidates don’t publicly repudiate AMV, they can and will pursue it again if they are elected.
Membership First is on record as firmly opposed to AMV.
The difference between the two slates on this vital issue is very significant, and should be carefully considered by SAG voters.
I’ve just really had it, said: “It may be our last chance to maintain acting as a job instead of a hobby.”
Well (and here’s a hand grenade to throw into the discussion), when you make less than the U.S. poverty level (as 90 %?) of SAG actors do, is acting then a hobby? After all, most members of SAG have to do something else to support themselves.
As I have opined here before: PolySci 101 stipulates that a well organized minority defeats a disorganized majority every time. Yes, there should be qualified voting and keep AFTRA out.
The producers want a bigger, more fragmented union. They are thrilled with what has happened in the past year. Get smaller and you get stronger.
Good Morning to All,
After reading the prior comments, I feel that the Working Actors need to take a look at what effect all thier philabustering has had on the entire industry.
Many of us who work crew are the children or grandchildren of other crew members, and a fair majority of us also carry SAG/AFTRA cards.
IN MY PERSONAL case I am a third generation, Gram was at Western Costume; Uncle was a Teamster at MGM; Mom a Bit Player, Photo-double/Stand-in (for a really famous Actress during the 40′-50’s); Me, commercials as a kid. Now I work on the crew side.
I was raised with the attitude that for every person in front of the camera, there are at least twenty people behind the camera making you look good.
Currently many of us are in a major financial crunch, and we need to get back to steady work. If not many experienced crew members may leave the industry permenantly, and where would you be with inexperienced crew, crappy lighting, lousy focus, ill-fitting wardrobe, bad make-up & hair, bad food, snotty PA’s.
Need I list more.
So PLEASE stop your insider bickering and finger pointing and do the right thing by joining forces.
Fight for a contract that protects all of us, that includes payment for past work being re-broadcast/distributed via new media and/or TV.
What really ticks me off, is when I find work that my mother did, commercials that I did as child, available on the net and being re-broadcast on retro TV station. Yet do any of us in the same situation see even a fraction of a cent in residuals? NADA
Thank you for reading my rant.
Sad truth. Doesn’t matter what happens in this shitmix. The future of entertainment won’t include unions. These union fights and strikes are turning Hollywood into Detroit. You can find English speaking actors the world over. Wave goodbye.
It’s all about getting a good contract negotiated and signed. “We can no longer affort leaders who sow division” – quote from a United for Strength leader. But that applies to both United for Strength and Membership First. The question is who will be more effective negotiators for SAG.
I just have to say that I worked on a film produced by Playtone, that was shot in los angeles. I am awaiting it’s release. It was made here IN TOWN. As someone who has shot films in europe over the years, I would like to point out my problems dealing with that.
I made nothing on something I starred in years ago, and I have friends who had the same problem.
Then they created Global Rule One. I spent a long time fighting to get that in a film contract in london so my fellow actors and myself would get residuals and be protected. It DID NOT EXIST when they did Band of Brothers.
I would be shocked if John Adams didn’t use Rule One, for actors of that stature which means they will get residuals.
Finally, Speilberg was heavily involved in Band of Brothers why are you only blaming Tom Hanks?
I could go through and show you where Sean Penn shot in Canada or this or that actor supporting various slates.
But the truth is, this is more infighting that makes the amptp wake up laughing. There are really excellent and smart actors supporting both slates, please let’s move on to worrying about the deal going away today that all of this nonsense.
T-rex,
NO ONE is going to do what your big plan is, all aftra/sag dual card holders simply WALK AWAY from AFTRA. That is our current leaderships genius strategy. I would really like to hear how they think they are going to accomplish that?
Right now we are in a race to the bottom. Most sag contracts a forced call is 1,000. on some Aftra Contracts a force call is paid 15.00 dollars. DO you really think producers are going to stop going to Aftra to get cheaper rates for us? Do you think they are going to stop trying to get contracts over SAG? No, they are using Sag’s formula for indy films to unionize cable and they think that is the best plan if SAG didn’t want them. This continued competition; actors struggling to make TWO dues, TWO insurance work qualifications, TWO pension credits, and a million different AFTRA contracts has got to stop for us to keep making a living in these times.
One union for all actors, gives us all the leverage and those bad AFTRA contracts and deals will expire.
It doesn’t who does or doesn’t support this as famous actors, I know logic when I see it. I know this is how I’m going to be able to continue making a decent wage if I book a show.
to andy
the amptp doesn’t want a bigger SAG.
they have made it clear that they would prefer SAG to adopt
Qualified Voting.
why?
because a smaller group is easier to intimidate and control.
if the only people who get to vote are series regulars,
( this isn’t so far-fetched. if any changes are made to the one member-one vote standard, the “qualifications” can be changed again and again to suit whomever is in power.)
if the only people who get to vote are series regulars, there is no issue that would compel them to strike and lose out on all that dough.
so any measures to protect minimums would go right out the window, the little guy would get screwed again and it would be the end of the union. the union is here to protect the rights of everyone, not just the monied few.qualified voting in no way makes the union stronger.
everyone counts or no one counts.
to sag member
one actor’s union. yeah.
but if we merge with aftra, the aftra leadership that authorised these undercutting contracts isn’t going anywhere.
it’s going to be the same people who sold you cheap now in leadership positions on the new team.
now how exactly is SAG supposed to make nice with these people and heal all wounds? do we beg them to join forces with us?
i’m not trying to be an asshole. i’m just asking how would this be done?
who has a plan?
the current administration is taking a lot of heat for it’s so-called war on aftra. well, some of that behaviour could be described as
frustration and outrage at aftra’s self serving moves that are good for aftra but screw actors in both unions.
the plan that was voted down in 2003 would have given us one big aftra. what makes you think this new union, serving many other
factions besides actors, will have rates and working conditions that are better than the aftra rates now?
aftra agrees to these weak contracts for actors because they need to keep us working. our salary based dues keep their whole machine running. in 2003 after the last merger failed, aftra was told that if it didn’t start bringing in more money , their union would go bust in 10 years.
so did they try to organize all the non-union cable news shows that are actually part of their traditional jurisdiction?
no. they won contracts for
scripted hour drama shows, traditionally SAG jurisdiction, by
undercutting and selling actors out. they’re using actors like ATMs.
and now those cheapo contracts are out there.
why didn’t aftra unionize cable news shows?
i guess it was easier to sell us out.
now, how do we merger with these people?
Seems to me no one really cares about the industry as a whole, all you care about yourselves.
Patricia Heaton- Is right though, and too bad none of you can see it, because you’re all blinded by the star power of Membersfirst. The inner fighting is weakening your stance with the studios. It’s really making you all look bad.
Can’t we all be adults, oh wait that would be too much to ask for..
*sighs*
TV viewers don’t want another strike. Besides if you strike you will cause a lot of people to lose money, homes, jobs and well everything. Again think about other people, not just yourselves.
Nice, SAGMEMBER
Leah sez “The future of entertainment won’t include unions. These union fights and strikes are turning Hollywood into Detroit.”
Leah perpetuates the right wing lie that is the unions that destroyed Detroit, rather than management with their ignoring of Japan, their building cars with built in obsolescence, and their overall hubris.
Harry98,
If I pay you, will you go away and promise to never come back?
So I have a couple of thoughts. u4s wanted qualified voting right? People that did not work a certan contract cant vote on it or something like that. But they don’t want that anymore? Now they want to invite DJs, Radio hosts and news casters to vote on the actors contracts.
This don’t make sense to me.
And why do they come out now in the middle of negotiations to show the producers that we are divided. That would be YOU showing weakness Patrica… Not SAG.
And another thought… AFTRA said “no thanks” to unite with SAG in the barganing…Why would they want to unite with SAG now? They did not seem to hyped about being strong and united.
And Sally is a sweet lady that probably did real good research for her part as a Union fighter but I am afraid thats all there is, a part to perfom.
And why do you always throw out the “lefty” coment when you are for a union.
To me union is protection in numbers and u4s is doing more harm then good here I think. But I am just thinking. I am going on there web site now to see what they really stand for.
went on u4s website. I have an idea…Lets make Desperate house wifes, brothers and sisters, Psych ( oh that one shoots in canada), Jerhico (if it was not canceled you might not be qualified to vote damn it).
What would you say about that Sally? Dough? Dule? Anyone?
Oh I did not think so.
I have never read or heard anything out of doug allen’s mouth that wasn’t professional and respectful.
I know someone running on the mf slate in l.a.
he contacted a friend of his from college who is an aftra leader in ny, to ask a few questions about specifics and background for his own personal information.
the friend forwarded the email to a number of aftra compatriots for some answers he couldn’t provide.
the head of the ny local, holter graham, responded to my friend with these gems:
————————————————
you are an idiot. MF are idiots.
That only happens when the people you are negotiating with are wearing diapers, either because they’re infants or because they’re vegetables
Congrats on the gig. Now shut up.
At least TRY to actually understand the issues. Just for fun.
It is not “just take what they are offering” you tool.
Shut up and work together
Just look at Membership First. Would you buy a used car from these people? Would you let them babysit your kids? I mean this in all seriousness. Would you leave Anne-Marie Johnson alone with your child and then go to the theatre without any concern? Would you set your cousin up on a date with David Joliffe? Answer those questions to yourself. And then come hang out with us. We’re very nice people, and were looking out for you.
-Holter Graham
NY AFTRA President
———————————————–
now, do any of you wonder why there are such doubts about u4s, aftra and the depressing prospect, should u4s win big, of another merger attempt?
I’m IN aftra – and this guy is the ny local PRESIDENT?
and you expect sag to merge with aftra, when they have leaders like this clown?
“what?” said:
“went on u4s website. I have an idea…Lets make Desperate house wifes, brothers and sisters, Psych ( oh that one shoots in canada), Jerhico (if it was not canceled you might not be qualified to vote damn it).
What would you say about that Sally? Dough? Dule? Anyone?
Oh I did not think so.”
Wow, what a clear, literate, sensible, well written statement! MF is so lucky to have you on their team.
oh, and another thing.
MFers killed the merger a few years back saying (among many other lies) that SAG and AFTRA were not in competition.
MFers hired Bob Pisano as CEO at a million bucks a year and then, when he rightly realized that the best thing for all was to merge, then the MFers turned on him and fired him at the cost of a million and a half dollars of our dues money.
When will this madness end?