The O’ Dog Unmasks Armin Shimerman & Bruce French, The Breakfast boys, while debunking their bogus charges in their article in Actor’s Ink. 
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Without revealing their political affiliation with Campaign For Unity, our two Disingenuous Breakfast Boys try to fork Membership First’s slate in the guise of unbiased observation and analysis!
First, these two politically savvy gentlemen seem to miss the point when they down play the importance of SAG’s President. The president of our guild is not only our designated leader, but also our spokesperson to the world. If our president is not imbued with strength and integrity, it will not bode well for our guild, especially in difficult times when those characteristics need to be on display to our adversaries.
For instance, Melissa Gilbert and Restore Respect came to power on the premise that a union does not need to strike to get good contracts. By going public with such a foolhardy, impotent statement, they alerted our employers that our union would not employ our most potent negotiating tool, and accordingly, all of our members have paid the consequences. In accusing Membership First of advocating a strike in every contract, Shimerman and French (S&F) have not only misstated the facts, but have indicated their ignorance of how to negotiate a successful contract. By arbitrarily taking strike off the negotiating table as Restore Respect/USAN/Campaign for Unity have done the last four years, it is little wonder that they have saddled our membership with the worst contracts in SAG’s history..
For instance, The 2005 TV/Theatrical contract featured the worst minimums in recent SAG history:
<>(1989-1992: 4-4-4,) (1992-1995: 4-4-4) (1995-1998: 3.5-3.5-3.5) (1998–2001:3-3.5-3.5), (2001-2004: 3-3-3.5 (2004-2005 Extension: 2.5) (2005-2008: 2.25--3-3.)
Restore Respect/USAN board members extolled this 2.25 increase in the privacy of the boardroom by proclaiming that we lived in a 2% world. I wonder if they would now be willing to face the membership with their 2% theory in light of the ever-increasing cost of living, where gas prices alone have doubled in the last year. Apparently not! Many of them have disappeared back into the woodwork, and those like Morgan ain’t talking. At least to the membership in a public debate.
Oh, and let’s not forget that The TV/Theatrical contract also featured for the first time in SAG History a rollback in residuals. A rollback that allowed producers to rerun the first THREE episodes of a new series without paying series contract players.
All of this was done according to Melissa, Morgan and the rest of their crowd to stem the tide of reality shows. Here’s the kicker. These two who pushed members to give up their residuals were themselves cashing in on the Reality show craze. Melissa Gilbert and Morgan Fairchild were both involved in Reality Shows. Melissa “Reunion” and Morgan “He’s a Lady.”
Hey, if the M&M girls really want to stem the tide of reality shows why don’t they STOP DOING THEM!
In their breakfast “hit” piece, the boys blame the strike on Membership First while proclaiming that there is a strong connection between the over-long Commercial strike and the P&H instituting the recent Insurance premiums.
Shimerman/French’s claim that the strike was advocated by Membership First is either the result of too much latte or failing memories--and does not stand up to factual examination. Three months into the negotiations, SAG’s Chief negotiator John McGuire recommended to the 26-member Negotiating team, only seven of which have any relationship to Membership First that we go on strike. The negotiating teams unanimous recommendation was made to the Joint boards and was also passed unanimously. Five months into the strike, the vote to remain on strike was again passed unanimously. And the vote to end the strike was virtually unanimous. As to the boy’s bogus allegation that one particular group was the driving force in the unanimously advocated 2000 strike, some might call it lying by omission. I prefer to blame it on the latte!
In regards to S&F’s charge that the strike offered few benefits, that doesn’t hold water either. Not only did we stave off a cutback in Class A spots, but we also achieved an unprecedented 140% increase in cable residuals from a $1014 per cycle maximum to $2460 maximum!
I wonder if the boys bothered to do the math on where our P&H would be right know if we hadn’t have stood firm against the producers--and instead had caved into their demands! Last year our commercial contract brought in 800 Million dollars. Our P&H contributions are based on the revenue we earn! Deduct lost income of class A spots and that 140% bump in cable residuals and our members would be stuck with even higher premiums on health insurance.
Contrary to election hyperbole of those, who for political gain shamelessly blame the strike for the increase in SAG’s insurance premiums, informed members know that those increases are not a result of the strike! In blaming the strike for SAG’s increased premiums, the boys ignore SAG’s own experts on this subject, one of whom clearly states that those increases were a “reflection of the national crisis that we face as Americans. It’s not just the entertainment industry.” (Simon Abou-Fadel, manager of the Actors Fund--BSW 10/6/04).
In excusing the current leaderships anemic contracts, the Breakfast Boys proclaim “Rest assured everything SAG asks for remains on the negotiation table even if its not achieved.” The boys have got that right. We were assured that if we gave the producers a one-year extension on the TV/Theatrical contract, it would give us time to gear up--and aggressively go after an increase in DVD. Well, after getting their gear-up extension, CEO Pisano, Melissa, Morgan and the rest of the USAN/Restore Respect/Campaign For Unity crowd shuffled away from the negotiations Five Months Early with No Increase in DVD. But, I guess we can all take solace in the fact that right now that request for a mere 12-cent increase per DVD remains on a table somewhere. (An increase by the way that would have put millions upon millions of dollars in members pockets --and gone a long way toward eliminating the need for co-pay on insurance premiums.)
On this same subject, Morgan had this to say, "At some point, you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them for the long-term benefit of your members."(Variety 9/19/05)
How about this, Morgan. “When you tell them in advance that you don’t hold them, you’re always gonna have to fold them.” (Watchdog 9/19/05)
According to our Morning Munchers, when, Alan Rosenberg misses board meetings, his absences “speaks poorly for a presidential job,” but when Morgan Fairchild misses meetings it’s excused because she’s working. One thing, we can be sure of however: when Alan Rosenberg missed a meeting, it was not because he was working on a Reality Show!
The boys claim Ms. Fairchild “wants to bring peace and trust” into the board room and end “the name calling and vendettas that lesser minds have so often resorted to.”
Hmmm, lesser minds. Let’s see. Mike Farrell used The SAG actor magazine to label his opponents as “Craven” and “Misanthropes!” Campaign For Unity’s Trista Delamere, a Restore Respect loser in the last election denounced those who voted for Membership first as “Underemployed and Uneducated”(Variety 9/24/04)
And we would be in the Lesser Mind Mode if we failed to point out that Morgan Fairchild and Lee Garlington appeared in a USAN flyer that played East against West by referring to those members on the West Coast as divisive Hollywood Extremist! (USAN Website)
Our blatant, breakfasters lament Connie Steven’s candidacy for Secretary/Treasure because of her lack of experience in guild matters, and then laud Lee Garlington who “has been the face of the Union at Orientation meetings where young actors are welcomed into SAG and where Lee expertly answers countless questions.”
Hmmm, I would suggest to S&F that perhaps a woman who for the last 14 years has owned and operated a successful 
100 Million dollar company may be better qualified to be SAG’s treasurer than a woman who has spent “many years” answering young actors questions...ah, unless, of course, she had been answering their questions about bookkeeping and accounting.
Shimerman/French say "Don’t be manipulated by half truths…educate yourself in these matters.”
Okay, good idea, boys. Let's start the education right now.
The boys say in their article that Membership First advocated hiring of Greg Hessinger. However, the minutes of the board meeting tell a different story! They voted overwhelmingly NOT to hire him. Actually, Mr. Shimerman and Mr. French’s comment is not actually a half-truth, but instead a No-truth.
As for former SAG CEO, “Netflix Bob Pisano”, he cashed in to the tune of 2.4 million with Netflix! It was only when it was revealed in a lawsuit by Scott Wilson and Tom Bower that he set up a secret revenue sharing “deal” with our employers that he decided to “resign”
As recently pointed out to the Ol’ Dog, Contrary to the revisionist rant that Netflix Bob was forced out of office because “He wouldn’t dance with the people who brought him to the party,”--in reality he left because he realized that “The Jig was up!”
Okay, now let’s take a gander at some more of the distortions being circulated by Campaign For Unity. A CFU flyer proclaims that Morgan “has NEVER proposed expanding Qualified Voting.” Now, I’m not exactly sure what Ms. Fairchild means about that expanding part. But it sounds like she’s stretching the truth to me. Or in the case of the following distortion, shrinking it.
“Federal labor Law does not allow a union to take away the right of its members to vote for its officers and board members, and Membership First knows it.” (Morgan Fairchild email)
What Mrs. Fairchild shrinks from stating is that although Federal Labor Law does not allow members votes to be taken away in elections, it DOES ALLOW their vote to be TAKEN AWAY in referendums such as Collective Bargaining agreements and Agency relations’ agreements. (ATA/NATR)
Here’s a couple of quotes From Ms. Fairchild on “working in the Trade,” stipulation, a fancy way of saying they can take away your vote. These two quotes from a July, 21st 2005 Variety Magazine article:
“We need to come to grips that no other union in the world has so many people who don’t make a living in the trade voting..” (Variety}
“Fairchild also called for a more open discussion about the union’s most hot-button issue a “work in trade” stipulation that would require members to work on contracts they vote on.” (Variety)
Now either Ms. Fairchild is being disingenuous when she says she’s against Qualified Voting—or she just likes to talk about it.
Here’s a thought! If Morgan is really against qualified voting why doesn’t she actually come out and say it, like Alan Rosenberg who says, “You pay your dues! You vote!”
Let’s squeeze in one more Campaign For Unity/Restore Respect half-truth for your inspection.
Morgan took great pride in her support for the Background Points system that allowed entry into SAG for doing non-union work. But, she changed the tone of her tune once she realized that members were against it.
Morgan Fairchild, “Unfortunately, Membership First turned down the funding” of the plan. (BSW 8/19/05)
Subsequent CFU email stated, “Thus at the last national board meeting in July, Morgan Fairchild and other Campaign For Unity supporters voted not to fund the plan.”
Hey, maybe the Ol’ Dog could buy the boys breakfast and get them to explain that one to me. And while they were at it, I could wipe the egg off their faces.
In fact, the Ol’ Dog suspects if one wiped hard enough it would remove enough of the façade to reveal whose voices were really speaking in that one-sided, propaganda piece. 
A.L. Miller SW Editor & Chief 
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