Update Below 
In checking out the actor bulletin boards, the general consensus was pretty well summed up by one poster responding to an LA Times Editorial referenced by Ms. Reardon in her message below.
The poster stated:
Yes, but the larger point is that Roberta Reardon is, seemingly, in agreement with the Times' position. Now that's scary. Hope we don't wind up taking it in the Reardon.
Here’s Ms. Reardon’s message to members. You decide.
May 25, 2008
Dear AFTRA Member:
For more than two weeks, your Primetime Negotiating Committee has been working hard to achieve significant gains in wages and working conditions for AFTRA members who work under our contract covering primetime network dramatic programs (Exhibit A of the AFTRA Network Television Code). Here is where things currently stand.
Our talks with the employers have been both constructive and productive, and your committee remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). To that end, I can report that we are prepared to bargain continuously, for as long as it takes, including working straight through the Memorial Day Weekend.
Based on our experience in this year’s AFTRA Network Code talks—as well as that of the DGA and WGA in their respective negotiations earlier in the year—we went into this round of collective bargaining knowing we would be confronted with some very challenging issues. This is why we felt it was so important for negotiations over actors’ contracts to begin sooner rather than later, and why we worked so hard to make that happen.
It’s also why we are taking a business-like approach to negotiations. We face a formidable adversary across the table. While we appreciate the challenges the companies face as a result of new technology and fragmenting audiences, our concern is performers' well-being. Your committee is smart and well-educated about both the issues we’re confronting and what we’re dealing with. So ignore the grandstanding rhetoric—your committee understands what is at stake. We all depend on these contracts for our livelihoods, and your committee is completely focused on improving them and the lives of all working performers.
Well, I’m certainly glad, AFTRA has finally decided to take a business-like approach to negotiations. Their game-show like approach to their Network Code negotiations, resulted in them giving away actors “right of consent" of clips for those shows covered. As to ignoring the grandstanding rhetoric, is Ms. Reardon suggesting that we ignore her messages?
In this spirit, I want to note that the AFTRA Negotiating Committee is grateful for the input of SAG staff observers, and the other union observers, all of whom were extended the same invitation and courtesy that the SAG Negotiating Committee extended to the AFTRA observers during the SAG talks. We also intend to brief SAG on our talks with the AMPTP before SAG resumes its negotiations with employers.
Your committee’s priority is to get the best possible contract that protects actors. As I’ve mentioned in previous updates, in addition to seeking improvements in compensation, coverage, and health and retirement benefits, we are also confronting a number of tough challenges involving New Media. Because many of the issues we face in this area are completely unprecedented—most notably, the knotty problem of clip consent—we are trying to think out of the box in order to reach pragmatic resolutions. An editorial in Friday’s Los Angeles Times noted that rather than recoiling from new technology, the entire industry must seize the opportunities presented by the Internet.
The Times suggested that performers need to ”focus as much on protecting income streams as images, because the latter is simply beyond their control in the Internet era. That doesn’t mean giving carte blanche to any use of clips. But it does mean shifting from a self-protective crouch into a more market-oriented stance.” To this end, AFTRA is focused on working with employers to find a creative solution that will protect our members' images while at the same time encouraging the growth of the new market.
Gosh, I know that Dear Roberta is our AFTRA Leader, but I gotta tell ya, when she starts quoting an editorial from the AMPTP’s ass kissing, mouthpiece the LA Times, as a source of guidance, you best forget about the above mentioned crouch, and look out for the Ol’ Crotch, or you most likely WILL be taking it in the Reardon.
On a final note, I want to report that AFTRA members ratified the Sound Recordings Code on Friday. This national contract covers royalty artists and session singers who work with more than 1,200 recording companies, including the four major labels—EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner—and most of their subsidiary labels. The agreement is a great step forward for AFTRA recording artists and singers as it provides increased compensation and benefits for recordings in both physical and digital formats.
I am hopeful that we will soon reach a similarly groundbreaking agreement for primetime that will once again include significant gains for working performers.
In solidarity,
ROBERTA REARDON
AFTRA National President
As of this writing, no deal has been finalized between AFTRA and the AMPTP, but a tentative agreement is reportedly near. Hey, do you know one thing that hasn't been mentioned?
Will the membership be given a chance to give their consent to whatever deal, Roberta and gang make with Nick and the boys, or will they be excluded, as they have been with all of AFTRA's basic cable agreements? You know, the ones with those residual giveaways, that Ms. Reardon and the current leadership have okayed without a referendum.
Look, I have made phone-calls and sent emails to AFTRA to find out how many members voted in the Network Code referendum. Ah, as of yet no answer.
But, but, but then, I am only a member, why should I get such privileged information. After all, I’d just go blab it to other members.
A.L. Miller SW Editor & Chief
I understand that SAG will be soon be issuing a negotiation update, alerting members that they’ll be back to the table tomorrow.
If you haven’t seen an example of unfettered Clip use, you might want to check this out—and then consider the possibilities of abuse.
TARGET="_blank"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic
A Message from SAG President Rosenberg.
May 27, 2008
Dear SAG Members,
Tomorrow we will resume TV/Theatrical contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). As you know, the AMPTP suspended our negotiations on May 6 to begin talks with AFTRA for its primetime Exhibit A contract.
Screen Actors Guild observers were present for only 6 of the 18 days that AFTRA has been meeting with the AMPTP. We were proud to invite AFTRA to attend every day of our bargaining sessions. In the event that our committee met in executive session with only senior staff present, or in sidebar with a handful of staff and members, we reported the discussions and results of the sessions and gave AFTRA every document. Unfortunately that level of transparency was not reciprocated. Observers were in fact told they could not attend 12 days of confidential sessions. As a result SAG has not had a representative there for the last week. We don’t have any details about the status of the talks except that AFTRA and the AMPTP are continuing to meet today, and we will resume our negotiations at 10 a.m. at the AMPTP tomorrow morning.
Your National Negotiating Committee remains committed to getting the best terms possible for actors. We have spent the entire 2 ½ weeks since talks were suspended reaching out to members around the country. We held Town Hall meetings in Los Angeles, New York and via videoconference in Chicago, Miami and San Francisco. We also visited numerous sets in Los Angeles and movie locations in New York. We met with high profile actors in groups and sought input from as many members as possible. We asked you to provide your thoughts via email, and thousands of you responded.
We are going back into these critical negotiations armed with your thoughts, observations, demands, and your blessings. Your leaders will do everything possible to get a fair contract. You and your families deserve nothing less.
The main outstanding issues remain the same as they were in early May:
Middle Class Actors: Actors and background actors are struggling to stay in the game. While management has said they have money to spend here, we want to make sure it’s spent in ways that make a real difference: increases in minimums, including major role, mileage, schedule and money breaks, and more coverage for background actors, for example.
Clips: We have said no to management’s demands of you to give up your right to consent to the use of clips containing your images.
DVD: We simply want the employers to pay your Pension & Health contributions on top of your residual, instead of taking it out of your share of DVD revenues. The entire eligible cast shares only 1% of that revenue. You shouldn’t have to pay your own P& H contributions out of that percentage.
Force Majeur: The SAG contract has longstanding provisions for down periods when a project goes out of production because of an Act of God or strike by another union. We have said no to management’s proposal to wipe away pending claims and to force you to negotiate these rights by yourself
New Media Jurisdiction: SAG wants to cover ALL new media projects, no matter how low the budget. We should not allow major studios and networks to produce non-union new media projects without SAG actors because they have low budgets.
I promise to keep you apprised of our progress over the coming days. Thank you for your support and please continue to provide input by emailing Contract2008@sag.org.
In unity,
Alan Rosenberg
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