SAG-AFTRA Receives AFL-CIO Charter...

SAG-AFTRA Receives AFL-CIO Charter...

The move represents formal acknowledgement of the new union by the country's largest labor federation.

SAG-AFTRA received a national charter Wednesday from the AFL-CIO, the union announced. The charter was presented at the morning session of the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Washington, D.C.

"We are delighted to join with workers across the nation, and reaffirm the mission we share with the AFL-CIO: to ensure workers are treated fairly," said SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon in a statement.
Fellow Co-President Ken Howard called the charter "a terrific capstone to the historic merger of SAG and AFTRA."
Said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, "Today the AFL-CIO celebrates a new charter for a newly created union, SAG-AFTRA, that brings together two great unions committed to changing to meet the needs of the future."

SAG-AFTRA joins 55 other unions, comprising more than 12 million workers, under the AFL-CIO banner. National executive director David White drew a connection to the larger labor movement, saying that the union's "main focus is to ensure that middle-class working performers are provided fair compensation and safe working conditions. As workers in any other industry, they deserve the rights and protections that only a labor union provides."

"Only a small fraction of our 165,000 members are high-profile stars," he added. "The rest are dedicated professionals who work hard to feed their families and pay their mortgages."
SAG and AFTRA received their first charters in the mid-1930s through the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, which today exists primarily on paper as an umbrella group for SAG-AFTRA, Actors Equity and several smaller performers' unions. AFTRA received its direct charter from the AFL-CIO on February 3, 2008.

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SAG-AFTRA Moves Toward Halting Music Video Work

2:43 PM PDT 4/25/2012 by Jonathan Handel

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Like a steamy music video, the fight to unionize dancers in that often sweat-infused art form is heating up. Looking to up the tempo of negotiations from 17th century minuet to something a little more cha-cha-cha, SAG-AFTRA on Wednesday advised members that the national board might issue a “Do Not Work Notice” at its May 19-20 meeting.

The new union says it may issue a Do Not Work order next month, days before talks with the labels resume. The decision on an order will send a signal to studios, commercial producers and even talent agents.

Although the member advisory didn’t name the targeted employers, the negotiations have been with Sony Music, UMG, Warner, EMI, Disney and their subsidiary labels. A notice, if issued, would not apply to music work by recording artists -- i.e., major pop stars and other singers -- or to recording artists already contractually obligated to do music videos.

The advisory said that the labels “have failed to agree to some of the most basic contract terms,” among them guaranteed access to water and toilet facilities, proper safety protections for hard surface dancing, overtime provisions, health and retirement contributions and standardized rates of pay.

The goal, said the advisory, is “safety and dignity on the job.”

The advisory came as a result of a unanimous recommendation by the union’s executive committee at a meeting during the weekend in New York. Negotiations began in June. Bargaining sessions have been intermittent, with the most recent sessions Jan. 11-12. The next talks are scheduled for May 30-31, a union spokesperson confirmed.

The national board is scheduled to meet and consider the executive committee’s recommendation next month. That timing puts pressure on the board to issue a Do Not Work order. Without one, the union negotiators would walk into talks 10 days later against a backdrop of their own board failing to follow through on the positioning suggested by Wednesday’s notice.

That would risk sending a signal of weakness not only to the record labels but also to the commercial producers -- with whom negotiation start in the fall -- and also the studios and networks. Even talent agents will be watching because of the possibility that their own relationship with the new union will be renegotiated at some point. That prospect arises from the fact that SAG’s deal with the talent agents ended in 2002 while AFTRA’s is still in effect.

All of this means that the newness of the union raises the stakes in negotiations over what will be a small contract if one is achieved.

A middle ground between issuing an immediate Do Not Work order and none at all might be an order with an effective date several weeks in the future, and contingent on failure to reach a deal by that date. That’s an approach that might light a fire under the talks without immediately disrupting work.

In any event, if the national board authorizes an order, it would amount to a music video strike against the labels. According to the member advisory, the order would apply to SAG-AFTRA members working as dancers, singers, choreographers, cameo performers, models, actors and most other talent. Violating a Do Not Work order can lead to discipline, up to and including expulsion from the union.

The executive committee’s recommendation came about a month after the AFTRA national board, meeting March 24, authorized a Do Not Work order. More colorfully, on Jan. 6, dancers picketed in three cities, with a flash mob-style dance-in and rally at Sony Music in Beverly Hills drawing about 150 people.

That action was sponsored by AFTRA and the Dancers’ Alliance, described as “a grass-roots organization dedicated to educating dancers and building solidarity in the dance community.”

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Canadian Union Takes Bite Out of U.S. Actors' Residuals (Exclusive)...

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists charges American actors and other non-members a 25 percent processing fee, while members of the Canadians-only organization pay a fraction of that amount. The union blames "U.S. actors coming up and taking Canadian jobs."

An Arctic blast swept in from Canada last week as that country's largest performers union rebuffed efforts by American actors seeking refunds of a 25 percent "service charge" the union withholds from their residuals checks, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The fee, which applies to non-members only, is as much as 11 times higher than what members pay, but according to the union – the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists – membership is only open to Canadian citizens or residents.

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The size of the fee appears to be unprecedented. A source close to SAG – which charges no service fee on residuals – indicated that the guild will be looking into the matter. AFTRA declined to comment.
The 25 percent service charge is "grossly unfair," said Vincent Spano, who starred in Alive, a 1993 film shot in British Columbia. "It feels like a penalty for working in the country and being an American," he added, while noting that he loved Canada and its people.
An official of ACTRA's Vancouver-based branch, the Union of British Columbia Performers, left a voicemail for another performer on Alive, saying "you guys signed a contract, there was a statement in there about what the residual fees would be when you're a non-member." However, the official – UBCP's chief financial officer, Connie Brown – wouldn't explain what contract she was referring to, despite THR's requests.
ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell told THR in a statement that "the provision for a service charge for non-members can be found in the ACTRA Constitution." Left unexplained was how non-members could be bound by the constitution of an organization they weren't permitted to join.
David Marciano, who appeared in the Toronto-shot series Due South, told THR he had contacted ACTRA about five years ago and was told that the 25 percent fee was charged on all residuals checks that were sent outside the country.
UBCP and ACTRA offered a series of shifting and inconsistent explanations for the size of the fee, and for a 2008 hike from a prior level of 5 percent. Initially, Brown told at least one performer that the increase was due to rollbacks imposed by producers in 2007, and that the fee was set by ACTRA's national head office, leaving UBCP powerless to change it.
In response, an ACTRA national spokeswoman in Toronto told THR that the fee had been 25 percent since the mid-1990's. Informed by a reporter that this was not the case – THR had reviewed a series of payments made by UBCP to Alive actors – the spokeswoman had no explanation. She suggested calling UBCP – and also said that UBCP operates its own residuals processing department and was free to set its fee at whatever level it chose, contrary to Brown's explanation.
Told of this, Brown changed course, saying that the fee had indeed been 25 percent for many years and was set at the same level as ACTRA national's out of "solidarity with our parent union." Solidarity has its limits though: ACTRA national charges members a 5 percent service fee on residuals in addition to 2.25 percent dues, while UBCP charges members the same dues but no service fee.
Brown added in an email that "I did misinterpret one of my colleagues when they said that `we can no longer charge admin fees' as being related to the 25 percent change." That's apparently a reference to administration fees that producers pay – on top of residuals – in order to support the residuals department. It's unclear why Brown's colleague described them as a thing of the past, since such fees (at a 1 percent level) are in fact mandated by UBCP's 2009-2012 agreement.
As for why Alive actors saw their "service charges" leap from 5 percent to 25 percent, Brown now ascribes this to a procedural change, telling THR that residuals for the 1993 film had been processed manually until a new database system was implemented in 2008. The 5 percent level was erroneous, she said, and should have been 25 percent all along.
Missing from Brown's explanation was why the Alive residuals had been processed manually for a decade and a half, whether other projects had been processed in this way as well, how the 5 percent figure had come about, why the union hadn't notified the actors of the mistake and how or whether the union decided not to retroactively correct its error by recouping the undercharges from future residuals.
"They easily grabbed thousands of dollars from the recent Alive residuals we received," said Christian Meoli, a veteran SAG member who first brought the situation to THR's attention. "That's just one movie," he added. "Can you imagine how much they take from actors annually like this?"
When asked whether the 25 percent figure – or the eleven-fold differential between members and non-members – was fair or reasonable, UBCP's Brown suggested that it was appropriate, because "there are lots of U.S. actors coming up and taking Canadian jobs." The British Columbia Film Commission's statistics suggest otherwise, however: over 75 percent of film and TV production expenditures in the province in 2010 came from foreign productions.
Indeed, Alive was a Paramount film, and Due South a CBS series. Both were produced under ACTRA contracts prior to SAG's 2002 imposition of Global Rule 1, which requires SAG members to work under a SAG contract even on foreign productions.
In a conversation with this reporter, Brown proposed to put UBCP president Alvin Sanders on the line to discuss the matter further. The offer was unexpected, since Brown, in her voicemail message to actor Ele Keats, had said that Sanders "thought it would be better if I called back and gave you the position, because he not might be as diplomatic" as Brown. In any case, Brown returned a couple of minutes later and said that Sanders was not willing to speak about the issue after all.
Ironically, Sanders himself is a U.S. import: he was born in California, and moved to Vancouver when he was 32, according to his IMDb biography.
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SAG members earn more in movies and commercials, less in TV...

Screen Actors Guild members were better off last year than in 2009, reporting overall higher earnings thanks to increases in movies and commercials, even as they reported less income from work on television shows, according to a guild survey.

SAG members reported $589 million in movie-related earnings, up 8% from the prior year. Earnings from commercials jumped 13% to $818 million, according to the Screen Actors Guild survey.

The higher earnings "reflect a rebound in production levels from the downturn of 2008-2009," Ray Rodriguez, deputy national executive director for contracts, said in a statement published in the union's magazine, where the findings were reported. Rodriguez also attributed the higher commercials earnings to contract gains negotiated in 2009.

TV earnings for SAG members, however, continued to slide, falling 8% last year to $565 million. TV earnings have fallen 24% since 2007, when SAG members reported income of $746 million.

SAG officials attributed the decline to a "loss of coverage." SAG, which once dominated prime-time TV, has ceded significant ground to its smaller sister union, the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, in recent years, in part because of the perception among networks and studios that the union was more stable and easier to deal with. SAG's loss of market share in prime-time television has helped to fuel a movement to merge the two unions, which has gathered steam this year.

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New York SAG Election Becoming a Tinderbox (Analysis)

Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin endorse USAN, while OSU issues a bill of particulars and personal attacks fly in all directions. With both factions pro-merger, members wonder why they're fighting.

United Screen Actors Nationwide, the group that has controlled the New York SAG boardroom for a number of years, announced endorsements Wednesday from Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin.

The move came a half-day after One.Strong.Union, the breakaway SAG group challenging USAN in the guild's New York elections, issued a detailed statement accusing USAN of incompetence, indifference, conflict of interest and exclusionary practices.

In response, USAN provided THR with a statement from SAG board member Nancy Giles, a USAN member, which said in part "Campaigning is a lot easier if you are willing to simply lie outright about your opponents."

Some SAG members assert that the two groups are simply pre-positioning themselves for power in a single, post-merger union. On that subject, OSU candidate and incumbent New York board member Justin Barrett told THR, "When it comes to positions in the new union? That's the sort of thing USAN folks worry about."

In other words, it's getting personal.
Very personal, in fact: Barrett was previously a "USAN folk" himself. Indeed, OSU's slate is comprised of five formerly-USAN incumbents (and five newcomers), headed by Sam Robards, who is running for New York board president against USAN incumbent Mike Hodge.

Another of the group's key organizers is board member Sue-Anne Morrow, also formerly aligned with USAN. It's essentially an internecine split within what was previously a tightly unified group.
Both factions describe themselves as favoring merger between SAG and AFTRA, but the OSU statement raises objections to USAN's approach to that issue and such other matters as new media, videogame work, the pension and health plans, and inclusiveness.
Meanwhile, as USAN's announcement Wednesday reflects, endorsements have become a key part in the race. With about 30,000 SAG members in New York and a typical voting rate of about 20% - 25%, every vote counts.

In his endorsement statement, Hanks said, "I support the people who have guided SAG during these last months of huge changes in our art and industry. USAN has been vital in leadership positions and has worked ceaselessly to bring SAG and AFTRA together."
Baldwin stated, "I strongly endorse the direction the union is going in now and I encourage all NY SAG members to continue to support USAN."

USAN also pointed to support from such other noted actors as Melissa Leo and S. Epatha Merkerson, as well as Lewis Black, who is running on USAN's slate, and SAG's national, Hollywood-based leaders including president Ken Howard and secretary-treasurer Amy Aquino.
OSU has previously showcased its support from Holter Graham, president of AFTRA's New York Local (who made the endorsement in his individual capacity) and a host of others listed on its website. Its latest statement marks the first time the group has explained its objections and objectives in detail.

The statement lays out a range of issues:
• Merger. OSU describes USAN's position as "any merger will do," while saying that OSU will not "take merger for granted" nor allow it "to fail because of tunnel vision, a lack of due diligence, or personal agenda."

Similarly, OSU's Robards said in an email Monday, "I am 100% committed to merger for all members of both unions. But after hearing some of the language coming from New York SAG Board leaders, I had grave concerns about whether this merger would succeed. I believe our members deserve something better than the `any merger' USAN might be willing to accept."
USAN's Giles responded angrily, "`Any merger will do?' Really? That must be why USAN leaders spent months hearing from members in listening tour meetings throughout the country, and why they are engaged – right now – in an exhaustive process to get every detail right."
The merger plan is still being worked on by a joint SAG/AFTRA group, called G1. The plan is expected to be presented to the unions' national boards in January.

• Videogames. The OSU statement charges that "the USAN Candidate who was the NY chair of the last Interactive Negotiations botched the negotiation of this contract, causing SAG to completely lose jurisdiction in this growing field." The statement then describes videogames as a $70 billion business, and asks "what's 1% of $70 billion?"
The significance of those numbers is unclear. In a statement to THR, OSU cited a New York Times report of a Gartner study for the $70 billion figure. However, the figure includes hardware as well as games themselves, and appears to be worldwide. (Reuters quotes DFC Intelligence as forecasting the 2011 worldwide market for videogame hardware and software at $65 billion.) Domestically, games alone generated about $16 billion in retail sales in 2010, according to NPD Group data.

Part of that sum is retained by the retailer. Game publishers receive a lesser, unknown portion, out of which they pay programmers, designers, writers, actors and others.
The source of the 1% figure is also unclear.
In any case, SAG's data shows that its members' revenue under the guild's interactive agreement ranged from $5 million to $6 million mid-decade, then dropped to $3.1m to $3.5m, and slid most recently to $2.4m in 2010, a $1.1m decline from the year before.
That $2.4m figure is about one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of SAG members' total reported earnings last year, which amounted to almost $2 billion. Even the industrial/educational contract is five times larger than the interactive deal.
SAG lost jurisdiction over interactive work in 2009 when members voted to reject a contract with the videogame industry. Only 115 members voted, since the voting was held via in-person meetings open only to members who had worked under the contract. SAGWatch reported at the time that the vote was unanimous in favor outside of Los Angeles, but the contract failed 42 to 73 overall, due to opposition in the guild's Hollywood Division.
AFTRA, in contrast, ratified an agreement that year, as well as a renewal last month. But even before the SAG action in 2009, total union coverage (SAG plus AFTRA) was estimated to account for only 20% of videogame acting work.
An OSU spokesperson told THR, "The USAN-NY chair was unimpressive . . . he never took a strong position on the contract he was responsible for negotiating and openly and repeatedly dismissed the value of the contract. No jurisdiction, especially jurisdiction over an exploding area of the industry, should be squandered."

• New Media. The OSU statement characterizes USAN's position on new media as "it's not that important" and says that a USAN leader (not named) "insisted that the only priority (in the 2010 studio contract negotiations) was increasing Pension & Health contributions from employers."
OSU emphasizes the growing importance of new media and argues that, for instance, the "free streaming windows" for ad-supported streaming of television shows should be shortened. "In other words," says the statement, "twenty-eight days of free usage for Lost is just too much."
That's apparently a reference to the new media residuals formula that provides for a non-residual bearing window of 17 days, or 24 days for episodes in a series' first season (or one-shot programs such a TV movies). It's unclear where OSU's 28 day figure comes from.
In his email earlier this week, OSU's Robards charged, "There was no effort to reduce streaming windows; no serious consideration given to alternate models for residuals payments, such as percentage-based residuals." He added, "I do not believe these concerns have been taken seriously by USAN leadership."
SAG and AFTRA did obtain a slight improvement in a different aspect of new media, managing to narrow the definition of experimental new projects, which are essentially outside the unions' jurisdiction.
It's not known whether SAG/AFTRA negotiators sought other new media improvements, though it seems likely that they did. How hard they pressed these issues, and whether they could have or should have held out for more, is something that members debate.

• Pension and Health Plan. The OSU statement says that USAN elected one of its leaders as a trustee of the guild's Pension and Health Plans despite the fact that his spouse was already a trustee. "While both are qualified to serve," the statement says, "a married couple serving simultaneously presents conflicted interest, inhibits debate, and unfairly limits New York representation."
Although not named in the statement, the trustee is understood to be board member and former SAG national president Richard Masur, whose wife, Eileen Henry, is also a trustee.
According to OSU, the New York Division is allotted four seats on the P&H board, which makes it understandable that the group would claim that the appointment of an existing trustee's spouse inhibits debate and limits representation.
What's less clear is how the move "presents conflicted interest," let alone what OSU headlines as an "UNPRECEDENTED CONFLICT OF INTEREST."
In response to a THR question, OSU candidate and incumbent New York board member Andrew Dolan responded, "A conflict of interest lies is having two interests present at one time – no trustee should be wondering how their position on a difficult P&H issue might affect their relationship. And no member should wonder where their trustee's loyalties lie."

• Inclusion. OSU asserts that board members who voted against the P&H trustee's appointment "were subsequently marginalized by the USAN-led board, and kept from serving on committees for which they were qualified." The group also opposes the New York Division's use of a nominating committee to recommend candidates for election to board seats – a system which OSU labels "flawed (and) self-serving . . . promoting entrenchment, not accountability."
The group promises that "unhealthy practices (will) not find their way into the new union." It also criticizes USAN alleged support for a rule change that "(now allows) national board members to resign and choose as their permanent replacement anyone from their division's membership, bypassing the large pool of member-elected alternates."
OSU charges that this rule "promotes institutionalized cronyism."
USAN leader Hodge sees things differently. "What's happening here is that a group of board members are upset that some votes didn't go their way," he said in an email to THR. "Each board member is free – I would say obligated – to vote his or her conscience and the best ideas win majority support," he added.
Robards says otherwise. "When I joined the New York board there was a lot of talk about `voting your conscience,'" he said. "The reality was something quite different. USAN representatives seem to enter every discussion with a predetermined agenda and an entrenched and immovable perspective. There is no possibility of changing minds or seeking out better solutions."
OSU's Joe Narciso added, "if you read our candidate statements and other writings it's clear our concerns are a whole lot bigger than just a few votes."
Hodge counters that the proof is in the pudding. "Our discussions in the New York Boardroom have produced terrific results," he told THR, "and I stand behind them. More important, the members support the direction we've taken. I'm sorry Sam Robards disagrees."

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SAG TV Session Fees Plummet 11.1% in 2010...

The drop continues a trend that began in 2005 but accelerated after the writers strike – but the picture is more complex than a single number may suggest.
SAG principal session fees for television work slid 11.1% from 2009 to 2010 according to figures released by the guild. That number is bad enough, but consider this: SAG, like all the above the line unions, received a 3.5% wage increase in 2010. If SAG's market share had held firm, session fees should have increased by 3.5%, not dropped by 11.1%. That's a swing for the worse of over 14%.

The union attributed the drop to "lost coverage," an indirect reference, at least in part, to AFTRA's heavy share of new series for the past several seasons.
SAG's share of new series has dropped each year from 2009 onwards, and AFTRA's has increased. The number of hours of scripted programming may also have changed over that period, which would affect both unions, although AFTRA could recoup a small amount of its losses, since it often covers the hosts or judges of reality programs.

However, contrary to popular belief, the drop may not be entirely attributable to SAG's failure to sign a studio contract in 2008, which triggered a stalemate that lasted until mid-2009 and resulted in AFTRA achieving a roughly 90% share of primetime pilots and new primetime series in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons.

On the contrary, the slide started in 2005 and accelerated after the WGA strike that ran from Nov. 2007 until Feb. 2008 – i.e., even before the SAG stalemate that began in mid-2008. That suggests that other factors may also be at work, such as the recession and AFTRA's increasing share of basic cable series, a phenomenon that began mid-decade.
Still, the drop since 2005 has been a punishing 37%. Over that same time period, SAG minimums increased by more than 16%. Had SAG retained market share, it would be seeing a healthy increase over that period, not a calamitous drop.
A comparison with AFTRA is impossible because the latter doesn't release earnings figures.
As old series end their runs and new series take their place, the bad news for SAG may continue – unless SAG and AFTRA merge. Merger advocates point to this as one reason among many for merger.

Some opponents, on the other hand, look at the same figures and allege a conspiracy between AFTRA, the studios, networks and producers, and some elements of SAG's leadership to weaken the guild by sending work to AFTRA, precisely in order to drive merger.
Despite the claim, merger opponents do not seem ever to have publicly explained how the conspiracy was effected, and when and by whom.

When residuals and background fees (extras) are added in, last year's drop was smaller, 8.2% rather than 11.1%. Residuals themselves dropped only 1.9%. Residuals don't track session fees, because many residuals formulas don't relate to session fees. Also, changing reuse patterns affect total residuals.

SAG's grand total earnings – session fees, residuals and background from television, theatrical, commercials and smaller agreements – has hovered between $1.9 billion to $2.2 billion since 2004, with no particular trend up or down. Total session fees have declined since 2007, but residuals show no clear trend over that period.
The earnings report appears in the current issue of SAG's member magazine and is also available on the union's website.

All the figures reflect capped wages: for instance, earnings above $15,000 for a half-hour episode or $24,500 for a one-hour are not included. There are higher ceilings for television long-form and significantly higher ones ($200,000 or $232,000) for theatrical motion pictures.
The earnings caps are a result of the data source, which is the SAG pension and health plans. Earnings above certain levels are not subject to p&h, and so the excess is not reported to the plans.

As a result, economic class differences within the union are obscured in the reports. For instance, if producers decide to spend more of their cast budget on a small number of stars, and force other actors to accept salaries below their quotes, the guild's earnings report could show a drop in total earnings even if producers' total cast expenditures remained unchanged or even increased.

Whether that's part of the picture is unclear. Middle-class actors do report "salary compression" – i.e., being driven down from their quotes. However, whether television salaries at the very top of the thespian food chain have increased is unknown.

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SAG Election is Drawing Surprising Battle Lines in New York..

oth factions favor merger with AFTRA, but deploy dueling endorsements.
In SAG's New York elections this year, there's a fight between two pro-merger slates: as previously reported, the long-dominant United Screen Actors Nationwide is being challenged by a breakaway group, One.Strong.Union. That challenge apparently came as a surprise.

"When I noticed who it was, I was extremely disappointed," said New York board president and USAN incumbent Mike Hodge. "I had not been given a heads up by anyone in the boardroom that there was any kind of discontent, let alone discontent of that level." As for the motivation for this challenge, Hodge said it had occurred to him that the OSU candidates "may be positioning themselves to be the leaders of the new organization" that would emerge post-merger, but he added he was not certain if that was the case.
Hodge also said he has heard OSU candidates refer to "dead wood" on the USAN slate. "It strikes me that the people that they're referring to are the people that are background actors. I notice that they don't have background actors on their slate. We do. It is important to me that we represent our entire membership."
When asked whether he saw any difference between OSU and USAN on merger and other issues, Hodge responded, "In terms of policy, I see no differences."
OSU's candidate for New York board president is Sam Robards, who described himself and his fellow OSU candidates as "absolutely 100 percent pro-merger." He said his group and USAN "have different perspectives, different approaches" on the issue. "The main thing is that who is elected to the board will have a direct effect on the shape and the success of the merger effort," Robards said. When asked how the New York board would differ under OSU leadership, he made several references to increased "transparency" but did not offer specifics.
"There are specific ideas, and I'll talk about that in the coming weeks," Robards said. "But basically I want to make the work of the board transparent. I want give the membership more opportunities to be directly involved in the work of the guild. Inclusion is really important."
Robards also pointed to his group's website and the massive number of endorsements gathered there. Although Hodge and USAN have received the official backing of SAG national president Ken Howard and secretary-treasurer Amy Aquino, OSU lists among its supporters former New York division president and USAN member Paul Christie and current AFTRA New York local president and first national vice president Holter Graham. Does Hodge feel that the endorsement by one of AFTRA's top officers of a challenger to New York's division president could undermine the merger effort?
"I can't say whether it undermines the merger process," he said. "That depends on how members respond, I suspect. It's regrettable that the sitting AFTRA New York local president would openly oppose the sitting New York SAG president and the board candidates with whom he's running, especially since we are endorsed by the sitting national president and secretary-treasurer."
Graham, for his part, confirmed his endorsement of Robards and OSU to Back Stage. He emphasized he is offering his support as an individual and that it does not reflect any official position of AFTRA. "The reason I got into union work in the first place is to do the best for the members, and I think that that's what [OSU] is looking to do, especially as we go looking to build a new union," Graham said. "The most open minds and the people most energized toward finding the best solutions are the ones that are going to help us the most, and that's who I think these people are."

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SAG, AFTRA Inch Closer to Merger...

The next big step will be committee formation in May.
Efforts to merge the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are moving ahead, though not quite so fast as some have suggested. The next big step in the process will take place in May, when SAG and AFTRA hold their respective national board meetings. According to sources close to and directly involved in talks between the two unions, those meetings will likely see the creation of committees charged with drafting a formal merger plan.
RELATED TOPICS
•Labor
"What will come out, hopefully, from the AFTRA plenary is an order from the national board to go forward and seat the official committee that will do the official work of combining the unions," said AFTRA president Roberta Reardon, whose board meets May 14. "[The committee] will create the plan."
A report Friday in Variety claimed that a formal plan to marry the two unions "will probably emerge when SAG's national board holds its plenary meeting on April 30 and May 1." Reardon and other sources who spoke to Back Stage emphasized that no formal plan has been drafted or will be introduced at or around the May meetings.
Reardon and SAG president Ken Howard have for the last few months been participating in a "listening tour" to gain member feedback on merger. Reardon characterized the work being done at those events and by the joint Presidents' Forum for One Union—on which both she and Howard sit—as "a very high-level, informal" process. She also said that the time frame for merger will likely be discussed at the April 2–3 meeting of the President's Forum in New York, but added, "I certainly don't expect it [the merger plan] to be done this year."
One source close to talks between the unions shed light on what the next step will be once the merger committees are seated.
"The plan will be developed by the full merger committee, which cannot even be formed until both unions meet at their spring plenaries," the source said. "Assuming the two boards decide to proceed and form their respective committees, then the combined committee will meet, and whatever plan is agreed to will be brought back to the two national boards for their approval."
Once any plan gains approval from the national board, it will be sent out to the full memberships of both unions for ratification. The last attempt to merge the two unions failed in 2003, when AFTRA members voted in favor of merger, but the SAG vote fell just short of the 60 percent needed to ratify the plan.

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Unions Speak Out Against Piracy...

Joining federal lawmakers at a piracy press conference, the labor organizations denounced "profiteers" who traffic in illegally obtained content.
Representatives from the DGA, AFTRA, IATSE and SAG joined Congressional lawmakers at a press conference today on Capitol Hill to discuss fighting copyright infringement and Internet theft.
RELATED TOPICS
•Labor
The unions released a statement decrying "Illegal downloading and streaming of the content made by our members" and stating that those practices "pose a devastating threat to the future of the hundreds of thousands of working men and women who make up the American entertainment industry."
The release noted that those guilds and unions represent 300,000 creators, performers and craftspeople who create films, television programs and sound recordings. The Writers Guild was not part of the press conference, but both the WGA West and East have spoken out against piracy as well.
The union statement argued that "Professional content is a driving force behind the massive popularity of the Internet" and blasted "profiteers who knowingly traffic in content they have obtained illegally and played no role at all in creating or financing."
The press conference did not appear to be connected to any new legislative efforts to address unauthorized downloading or streaming.

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Actors Join L.A. Labor Protesters...

Actors joined thousands of other workers marching over the weekend to preserve collective bargaining rights.

March 26 was dubbed "Solidarity Saturday" in Los Angeles, as thousands of area union workers marched the streets of downtown L.A. and rallied in Pershing Square to protest efforts to weaken public-employee unions. Among those marchers were members of the Screen Actors Guild.

MOVE Hollywood, a SAG committee whose mission includes promoting union solidarity, helped organize the members. Originally called Members on the Move, the committee was formed during the SAG commercials strike of 2000 to organize the picketing and rallies and provide other support. Later its mission broadened; MOVE now stands for "members organizing volunteer efforts."
"Besides our volunteer programs, a very big part of what we do is organize labor unions in support of our members and our sisters and brothers in other labor unions," said Ellen Crawford, a SAG member and the chair of MOVE Hollywood.
As bills that many consider to be anti-labor make their way through state legislatures around the country, union members have taken notice and taken to the streets. Though most of the legislation prompting protests in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana targets public-sector unions, many at the L.A. rally believe that the current political atmosphere represents a threat to all union workers, including performers.
"We're workers. Most people don't think of performers as workers," Crawford said. "A lot of people think all SAG members are like George Clooney, but most of us are middle-class workers. I make my living as an actor and I'm middle-class. I realize it's very different from being a miner or a factory worker or even some of our service unions like IATSE, but we share something in that we all need a safe workplace and we all need a living wage."
Crawford thought it significant that the rally occurred on the day after the 100th anniversary of New York's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 mostly female employees died—some jumping from the building's windows—due to unsafe workplace conditions. "That tragedy spurred on safety standards," said Crawford. "No matter what your profession is, you cannot let an entire century of worker protection be thrown out the window like the women of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. We cannot allow that to happen."
SAG Hollywood board member Patrick Fabian also attended the rally. He was concerned about efforts by some state governments to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights.
"I'm here supporting workers' rights throughout all of America," Fabian said. "I've got three union cards—my Equity card, my SAG card, and my AFTRA card—and when anybody's threatening to take away the collective bargaining rights of the union, I think it's threatening to take away the middle class that makes this country great. I'm here to support all the unions and their right to exist and their right to bargain for their workers."
But it wasn't just solidarity with public employees that brought Fabian downtown on Saturday. He believes that unions provide him with protection as an artist. "I think your highest quality, most talented workers in the industry are union workers," he said. "You need protection in a business that is freelance and artistic. It's the only thing that can actually give you a living wage. We can't all be Tom Cruise; we can't all be the superstars. A middle-class existence is hard enough as an artist, and a union helps ensure that."

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Industry News: Why the SAG-AFTRA Merger Might Not Happen...

The current issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine explores how combining the two actors guilds sounds like a win -- until you hit the hurdles.

All signs point to a merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The boards of the dominant actors unions have held preliminary votes, committees are meeting, and at January's SAG Awards, such members as Melissa Leo and Julianna Margulies declared themselves in favor of a combination. Inside L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium that night, SAG president Ken Howard drew applause when he predicted a merger by 2012.

The case for a single "successor guild" seems obvious. SAG and AFTRA share awkward overlapping jurisdictions over television and new-media work, and about 45,000 performers are members of both. These dual cardholders pay two sets of initiation fees and dues, but with work split between the unions, many don't earn enough under either jurisdiction to qualify for vital pension and health benefits.
Still, there remain several reasons a merger might not happen:
Different Structures
SAG's constitution gives its Hollywood division the ability to control the union, whereas AFTRA is decentralized — and its leaders want the merged organization decentralized. The unions' boards also differ: SAG's is elected directly by members, and AFTRA's is selected by delegates at a convention. The two will have to be merged, restructured or replaced.
Integrating the staffs will mean myriad decisions and possible layoffs. Another touchy matter: Who gets to be national executive director?
The Cultures
SAG membership is aspirational -- actors flock to Los Angeles in search of a SAG card -- but few make the journey seeking AFTRA membership. The latter requires only payment of an initiation fee, whereas joining the former is more difficult. SAG's jurisdiction includes motion picture work; AFTRA's does not. AFTRA represents newscasters and sound-recording artists; SAG does not.
Those differences have deep roots. Both unions were formed in the 1930s: SAG by movie actors and AFTRA's predecessor by radio performers. With the film industry in Los Angeles and radio in New York, each union jealously guarded its jurisdiction. Still, by the late '40s, some thought the rise of TV would bring a merger.
That proved naive. Instead, TV became the cause of six decades of tension. Sporadic merger efforts failed — most recently in 2003, when AFTRA members approved but SAG fell just shy of the requisite 60% supermajority.
Soon thereafter, control of SAG shifted to a bitterly anti-AFTRA faction, whose attempts to marginalize its rival led to open conflict. In 2008, AFTRA surged ahead, reaching a separate deal with the studios. Meanwhile, SAG dithered, resulting in forgone wages, diminished TV market share and lower contractual wage rates than its rival.
Producers say SAG is harder to work with. Agents think so, too: SAG hasn't had a deal with talent-agent associations in nearly a decade.
Legal Hurdles
Equalizing wage rates and combining contracts is yet another task that poses "many complex issues," labor lawyer Scott Witlin says. In addition, AFTRA approves case-by-case contract modifications in television — arguing that this keeps work in the U.S. and under union jurisdiction — whereas SAG usually doesn't. Likewise, producers generally say SAG is harder to work with. Agents think so, too: SAG hasn't had a deal with the talent-agent associations in nearly a decade, unlike AFTRA.
Benefit Plans
Even more tricky might be merging the unions' pension and health plans. The intricate legal issues — and the fact that plans are jointly controlled by the studios and the respective unions — have led advocates to defer those tasks.
What It Would Be Called
Howard says he favors SAG-AFTRA, adding that he'd accept "anything that works," including AFTRA-SAG. AFTRA president Roberta Reardon declines to offer specifics, and media scholar Vincent Mosco says merged unions usually do best with an entirely new name. No matter what happens, they'll also need a new logo.
And what about the other major guild, Actors' Equity? Howard predicts it might quickly join a merged SAG/AFTRA. The name of that superunion? Let's not even go there.

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Industry News: SAG's David White to Speak on Digital Issues...

February 8, 2011

The Feb. 17 talk is hosted by Town Hall Los Angeles.
David White, SAG's national executive director, will speak next week at Town Hall Los Angeles on "Challenges and Opportunities: Actors in the Digital Age."

Related Topics
•Labor"We are living in a time of sweeping change," said White in a statement. "With change comes uncertainty, but with smart responses, we've always adapted to ensure that this change also expands opportunities for our members."

White cited digital theft as one of the guild's concerns.

Town Hall Los Angeles, now in its 75th year, hosts public forums on a range of events. Past entertainment industry speakers include Richard Parsons, then chairman and CEO of Time Warner; Rob Friedman, co-chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment; and Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.

The presentation is on Thursday, Feb. 17 at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel with an 11:30 a.m. networking reception, noon lunch and a 12:30 program (including a Q&A). Tickets are $49-65. Info at www.townhall-la.org/events.

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Industry News: AFTRA board gives two thumbs up on merger talks with SAG...

January 24, 2011

Momentum continues to build toward the creation of a single actors union in Hollywood. The board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Saturday night voted to continue a series of meetings with the leadership of the Screen Actors Guild about forming a joint union.

The board also set a May 14 deadline for a union committee to make a series of recommendations on a formal process for establishing a successor union that would represent actors and other performers.

Although no details have yet been agreed upon, the concept of merging has the backing of both union presidents, who have been holding a series of meetings with members around the country to discuss the topic.

"Our world of work is very different than it was the last time we tried to bring our unions together, so any new, successor union we hope to create must also be different, and to do that successfully, we must be guided by a clear vision for the future,'' AFTRA President Roberta Reardon said in a statement. "As we continue and advance this ambitious project in partnership with the Screen Actors Guild, I urge all AFTRA members -- performers, recording artists and broadcasters -- to imagine not just how good, but how much better we can be together."

SAG represents 125,000 actors while AFTRA has a more diverse membership of 70,000 members, which includes not only actors but also news broadcasters and recording artists. About 40,000 actors belong to both unions.

Previous attempts to merge the unions in 1998 and 2003 failed amid concerns over how their health and pension plans would merge and whether SAG would lose its identity. And they have often sparred over turf and bargaining strategy, triggering a suspension of their longstanding joint bargaining agreement in 2008.

But the unions have since made peace, paving the way for the current talks. Merging the unions is a top priority of Screen Actors Guild President Ken Howard and his supporters, who won a clean sweep in board elections in September. They argue that merging the unions would give actors more clout at the bargaining table and improve health and pension benefits.

-- Richard Verrier

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Industry News: AFTRA Vote Moves Union Closer to Merger With SAG...

January 23, 2011

For the first time, the union's national board votes on the current merger attempt, passing a key resolution "overwhelmingly"; the measure includes a statement that AFTRA leadership is "encouraged by the renewed interest expressed by SAG's current leadership."
AFTRA's national board Saturday continued down the path towards merger with SAG, "overwhelmingly pass(ing) a resolution formally authorizing AFTRA leadership to continue working with Screen Actors Guild in the Presidents' Forum for One Union and its `Listening Tour,'" according to an AFTRA statement.

The "Listening Tour" is series of meetings the two unions have been jointly conducting around the country to canvass members on issues related to merger – or, in AFTRA's terminology, creation of "a new, successor union."
The language also includes an end date for the peripatetic process: at AFTRA's next board meeting, on May 14, the board will receive a recommendation as to whether to "whether or not to create a committee to engage in formal discussions with SAG" regarding merger.
That recommendation will come from the union president's National Strategy Cabinet, an AFTRA advisory group, based in part on input from the union's Presidents' Forum members.
SAG's process has not yet been announced, but may be discussed at tomorrow's SAG national board meeting. In any case, merger is clearly a journey that will involve many steps – and many committee meetings – for both unions. AFTRA president Roberta Reardon referred to it as an "ambitious project."
The AFTRA vote marks the first time AFTRA's board has weighed in on the current efforts towards merger. Previous steps were taken under Reardon's discretionary authority.
Saturday's's resolution includes some strong signals of support for merger, reciting that "the overwhelming majority of AFTRA's past and present elected leadership and AFTRA's general membership have long supported the concept of combining (the two unions)" and that in past merger attempts in 1998 and in 2003, AFTRA "successfully delivered a resounding `yes' vote" on the issue.
Those attempts failed on the SAG side. Notably, in the 2003 process, SAG members voted Yes by just a couple percentage points shy of the 60% that each union requires in order to approve the merger.
The resolution also includes a statement that "AFTRA's current elected leadership is encouraged by the renewed interest expressed by SAG's current leadership in bringing AFTRA and SAG together into a new successor union."
The reference to SAG's "current" leadership is a reminder that just a few years ago, SAG leadership was controlled by MembershipFirst, a group vehemently opposed to merger and often contemptuous of AFTRA itself. SAG's leadership, and political climate, has changed dramatically in the last three annual election cycles, with MembershipFirst essentially reduced to a small splinter group.
Several MembershipFirst members are on the AFTRA board as well, but one of them, Los Angeles member Alan Ruck, resigned today from the national board. The Los Angeles local board has elected actor Matt Kimbrough, not a MembershipFirst member, to replace Ruck.
The Listening Tour meetings have or will encompass the major AFTRA Locals – Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington/Baltimore – and in as many of the other locals as feasible, according to the statement.
In a related action, the AFTRA board approved "an unusual expenditure of a (limited-time) stipend" for Reardon to offset her loss of income from missed work opportunities due to time spent on the Listening Tour. The AFTRA presidency is normally an unpaid position.
Pension and health was also a topic at what appears to have been a busy meeting. Shelby Scott, Union Chair of the Trustees of the AFTRA Health & Retirement Funds and past AFTRA National President, reported that the Retirement Fund gained 11% in the last fiscal year and continues to operate in the "green zone," while the AFTRA Health Fund has more than a year's assets in reserve.
The board also received updates on the union's Interactive Media Agreement, an AFTRA-only contract which expires on March 31 (SAG failed to ratify its Interactive Media contract in 2009) and on AFTRA Non-Broadcast/Industrial/Educational Recorded Material Code, which expires on April 30 and which will be renegotiated jointly with SAG. No bargaining dates have yet been set for either agreement.
In addition, the board was told by national executive director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth that ratification is underway on an 18-month extension to the AFTRA Sound Recordings Code, with votes due back on Feb. 8. If ratified, the extension will expire on Dec. 31, 2011, according to the AFTRA statement.
Hedgpeth also reported that during the first six months of the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the union has collected more than $7 million on behalf of AFTRA members through claims, grievances, arbitrations, legal action and legal settlements.

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