Candidates Speak Out about SAG Election !!

The following article is from Backstage magazine. As usual, the Ol' Dog interjects a few BOLD thoughts!

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Rosenberg Wins SAG Battle, But Can He Win Peace?

After all the votes were counted late last week in the Screen Actors Guild elections, the body politic of actors working in movies, television, and commercials remained the same: a fragile organism with fractures that have proved difficult to heal. SAG national president Alan Rosenberg survived an intraparty challenge to narrowly win re-election Sept. 20, then flew to Washington, D.C., hours later to try to prevent SAG's closest sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, from leaving Associated Actors and Artistes of America, a consortium of labor groups known as the 4A's.

In the Fifties the 4A’s issued AFTRA very limited jurisdictional rights over actors on live TV, and that limited jurisdiction TERMINATES when AFTRA leaves the 4A’s.

Article X11 Section 3 of the 4A’s Constitution states, "The rights and powers of each Branch shall continue unless lawfully withdrawn as herein previously provided, or until said Branch shall voluntarily withdraw from this Association."

So let them leave! And since they have already made clear their intention to do so, SAG should go to the 4A’s an, not only reassert its rights and powers mandated by an election of actors and issued by the 4A’s over all actors on filmed TV--but should, also, claim AFTRA’s, soon to be forfeited, 4A’s mandated jurisdiction over shows done in a live manner. Should the 4A’s fail to act then SAG should take this to NLRB and petition for elections on the matter, as was done in 1952 over filmed TV. Actors overwhelmingly chose SAG then, and would do it again.

Meanwhile, the guild's New York division elected a new president, Sam Freed, whose opinions on key issues mirror those of his predecessor, Paul Christie. Although Rosenberg has worked to improve relations between his Hollywood base and the political leadership in Gotham, the sides remain apart, particularly on matters concerning AFTRA.

The USAN leadership in New York, and the branches, are little more than AFTRA loyalist in SAG clothing. Why would any true SAG member want to give AFTRA equal say in our Primetime TV/Theatrical contract in which they never have more than a couple dramatic shows at any one time—and those fall under SAG’s rightful jurisdiction. (Basic cable shows are not negotiated under this contract)

All told, the president of the nation's largest actors union is fighting internecine battles on three fronts less than a year before talks begin with producers on a new film and television contract, which he called "one of the most significant negotiations in the history of entertainment." How can Rosenberg -- or any union official -- operate effectively in such a state? "I'm just trying to build unity," he told Back Stage. "We still seem to be at odds. Hopefully, we'll come to some kind of resolution."

It’s never gonna happen while you have the leaders of New York, and the branches--who encourage their members to threaten to scab in case of a strike. (More on that later)

Two years ago Freed was one of three signatories of a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor challenging the validity of Rosenberg's election. (The Labor Department did not intervene.) This year was different for Freed. "I'm happy to see him win, to continue," he said. "There's two years of work there, and I'm happy at this juncture not to be starting anew with a national president... . I can only remain confident, because we work better when we're united."

Others remain skeptical that Rosenberg can hold such a tentative alliance together. "Alan's got a big challenge in front of him," said Seymour Cassel, Rosenberg's fellow Membership First associate who lost the presidency by fewer than three percentage points. "We've forced him to alienate New York and AFTRA."

When those AFTRA loyalist, disguised as SAG board members, didn’t get their way at a recent plenary with an AFTRA friendly motion, all that so-called unity went down the tube. "

The difficulty will be how many promises or implied promises he has made," said a former member of the Hollywood board who requested anonymity. "If Alan can make the tough decisions, then fine. But if Alan just wants to have people like him, well, we could be in trouble."

One entertainment industry insider with significant experience on each side of the labor-management divide was "shocked" at how close the vote for president was. "That shows you how strong the support for Seymour was and that a lot of actors [in Los Angeles] are looking for an aggressive agenda," said the insider, who requested anonymity. "If I'm Alan, I'm pretty careful about how moderate I'm going to be."

Clearly Seymour, with his strong stances, speaks for a large segment of our membership. If I were Alan, I would apologize to him for all the insults that I made about him in the press—then I would invite him into my inner-circle, and work with him to try rally our members to stand up to AFTRA, the ATA, and our employers.

The biggest problem facing SAG is its relationship with AFTRA, with which it jointly bargains its most lucrative contracts: the TV/Theatrical and Commercials agreements. The two unions have had their relationship, known as Phase One, for almost three decades, but it is currently tenuous. Rosenberg, SAG national executive director Doug Allen, and other guild officials have objected to AFTRA organizing basic-cable programs, contending such work is beyond its jurisdiction. They also said the contracts pay performers less than comparable guild deals. AFTRA officials have said they have the right to organize any show shot digitally. As for pay rates, AFTRA has not addressed the issue specifically, but officials have said they have organized shows that previously were nonunion.

AFTRA has not addressed the issue specifically? Hello? They won’t even let their own members see the contracts. And, Hello, again! All shows are non-union until they sign a union contract. AFTRA is not organizing basic cable shows, they are poaching shows, that would have otherwise been produced under a SAG contracts, by undercutting them.

Ordinarily, the 4 A's would mediate such a dispute, but AFTRA might exit the group to directly affiliate with the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO executive council gave its president, John Sweeney, the authority to issue AFTRA a direct charter after details are finalized. Rosenberg, who sits on the executive council, opposed the move and said the granting of the charter is far from certain.

Sweeney may issue them a charter, but he can’t give them jurisdiction that is the prerogative of the Four A’s, and or, The NLRB

When asked what would have to happen to get the two unions back on the same page, Rosenberg responded, "I don't know. I don't know if we've even agreed on what we're working towards. We haven't agreed to what the endgame is."

Perhaps that’s the reason so many members voted for Seymour. He has agreed upon his end game. One that includes standing up to AFTRA, reclaiming our rightful jurisdictional rights, and ending the current AFTRA residuals giveaways that are screwing actors.

About 44,000 union performers have memberships in both unions. From Rosenberg's perspective, he wants either to get the contracts identical "so we're not involved in a fire sale to the bottom" or to develop a shared-services agreement in which each union would help the other with expenses and organizing. "They haven't been terribly receptive to that," he added. "I understand their point of view, but let's worry about our members." At present, he said, the two sides are "still involved in the stage of really listening."

Welcome to the club, that’s what members having been doing for several years now LISTENING--to how we are going to educate the members on the ATA, take care of the AFTRA problem, and get our fair share of DVD, etc. etc. In the meantime NOTHING HAS HAPPENED! Instead of listening, and talking, and listening some more, and talking some more, ad infinitum ah, ah, maybe its time to actually TAKE SOME ACTION! You think?

AFTRA national president Roberta Reardon and executive director Kim Roberts Hedgepeth were not available to comment.

The election results released by SAG do not break down the presidential tally by geographic region, so it is not clear how much support Rosenberg received from his home base, Los Angeles. However, Cassel was re-elected to his seat on the national board in the Hollywood division with 71.1 percent of the vote and received the most votes of any board candidate. With an agenda tailored almost exclusively to working actors in Los Angeles, one can assume his support in Southern California was broad-based. That he received so many votes while being a member of the incumbent's party raises questions of how strong Rosenberg is within the L.A.-based Membership First faction, which officially endorsed Rosenberg for president.

"I don't think he looks on Membership First as his own party," the former board member said of Rosenberg. "And a very big part of Membership First didn't support him. The 700 votes [roughly Rosenberg's margin of victory] came out of New York and the branches. He has to know it's a very, very thin line."

For his part, the SAG president is confident of his standing within his own party. "I don't know if Membership First is divided, but if it is divided, it's not divided in half," said Rosenberg, who was planning to meet with his political associates earlier this week before traveling to Hawaii. "I don't think I've done anything that should have upset them. As far as policy is concerned, I've asked them, 'What is pissing you off?' They don't seem to be able to articulate it."

Hmmm, well, gosh. You think that going to the press and labeling them racist because they didn’t vote for your choice for 1st Hollywood VP might have, you know, ah teed them off just a tad. Alan, who is no stranger to getting pissed off--in emails, restaurants, the boardroom and the press should be a little more introspective on this subject. Meanwhile,again, it's time to stop rehashing this in the media, and move on with the truly important issues that face our guild.

According to Cassel and the former board member, they fear if Rosenberg listens too much to New York and the regional branches, he will make deals with producers that will mean lower wages and inferior working conditions -- in part because New York and the branches have a more sympathetic view of AFTRA.

Next thing you know, we’ll return to offering SAG shows with AFTRA terms. Naw, they wouldn’t do that. Ah, would they

"If you want to live in Indiana and Idaho and work as an actor, I think that's great and God bless you," Cassel said. "But you can't expect to be unified with us unless you realize that…[a vast majority] of the work originates out of Los Angeles. I figure New York and the branches don't really work the contract like we do."

Rosenberg dismissed that argument. "This is not the time to be Hollywood-centric," he said. "Our employers don't care about a union split. They will simply wait for us to fall apart."

No, actually, they are waiting for us to become like AFTRA. A union best described by movie mogul Lew Wasserman in his quote, "A compliant union is a good union."

Having a fractured labor coalition would seem to benefit the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents producers and studios in union talks. However, that isn't necessarily so, according to one longtime observer of the negotiating process who is close to producers. "When you negotiate these things, you're not negotiating a divorce," said the source. "I always look at it like you're renegotiating your pre-nup."

Still, the source said, a full-blown split with AFTRA could provide producers with options: "If in fact there is a strike -- and AFTRA is not [aligned with] the guild -- that means people can produce [television], as long as you do it digitally."

Legal and jurisdictional issues aside,yes, people could produce shows digitally, or otherwise, if SAG is on strike. They just couldn’t do it with SAG members. Now, how many shows do you think they would produce if they could use AFTRA-only actors? Hello, again! About as many cable shows that they would produce right now, if they could only use AFTRA-only members.

Rosenberg does not quite understand how New York guild members could support AFTRA contracts, "but I suspect we're being punished for the failure of consolidation [in 2003]," he said. "That was then; this is now."

That’s an easy one. Like The Ol' Dog said: It is my opinion that they are AFTRA Loyalist. And they are more interested in supporting AFTRA--than standing up for SAG.

Freed said there is not a quid pro quo, but he has maintained that all of the divisiveness would have been avoided if the two unions had consolidated, a move many in L.A. opposed.

Right, and we would no longer have been SAG. Hell, we wouldn’t even have been actors anymore, but, rather, MEDIA ARTISTS. Nor would we have had owned our own name, The Screen Actor’s Guild. That would have belonged to AIMA which would have been under the leadership of CEO Robert “Whipsaw” Pisano, ah, who is now at the helm of MPAA, the Motion Picture Assn. of America! Oh, yeah, if consolidation had of passed, we’d be in great shape now. NOT!

According to the industry insider, who has worked with labor and management, Rosenberg cannot achieve total unity because Membership First and the ruling party in New York -- United Screen Actors Nationwide -- are diametrically opposed on the AFTRA issue. "There is no common ground," the insider said. The president's best hope, according to this source, is to bring "the more moderate elements in Hollywood" together with New York, a formidable but not impossible challenge.

Moderate? You know. The element that is willing to cave in to AFTRA, the ATA, and the AMPTP.

Rosenberg remains unfazed: "If I didn't think [these problems] were solvable, I wouldn't have run for president again."

Just a thought, Mr. President. The first step to solving our problems might be to stop doing interviews like this in which you seem to accept no responsibility for any of your actions--and instead look elsewhere to place blame! Then perhaps, all of us, who truly care about our great guild, can work together for the tough job ahead.