One of the primary tenets of democracy is the right of constituents to know how their elected officials vote on issues that, not only, affect their well being, but their very survival.
In that spirit of democracy, The Ol' Dog figured you have a right to know how your elected SAG board members voted on issues that may very well determine your future as SAG members. and the very survival of the great Screen Actors Guild.
Before showing you how your elected officials voted on imperative issues regarding SAG's Negotiations, I would first like to post a resolution made by the USAN New York dominated board.
NY SAG BOARD MEMBERS DEMAND ACTION
The NY Division Board of the Screen Actors Guild issued the following resolution today:
Every day the members of Screen Actors Guild are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in unrealized wage increases while working under an expired TV/Theatrical contract. Every day our pension and health plans are losing the additional contributions these wage increases would supply. We hear from National Executive Director Doug Allen that, "Discussions through alternative channels are ongoing," and from President Alan Rosenberg that, "We're doing a phenomenal job!" But nothing is happening and we are no closer to a deal than we were six weeks ago.
In failing to bargain realistically with the AMPTP and remove unattainable items from the table, our negotiating team, controlled by the current Hollywood leadership, has pursued an agenda that has more to do with politics than with securing a beneficial contract and has betrayed the trust of the membership. It seems, as industry press has reported, that they intend to simply sit still until the upcoming elections are concluded, rather than make the "unpopular" moves necessary to make a deal. In short, the willful inaction of our negotiators is costing our members money, every day.
The New York members of the National Board of Screen Actors Guild insist that our negotiators signal to the AMPTP SAG's willingness to bargain in good faith and remove any impediments to the achievement of a deal. If there is no clear and obvious movement forward in the negotiating process by August 25th, we demand that our negotiators request a federal mediator be brought in to facilitate the negotiating process and finally get our members a contract. Our members are losing over $1.7 million every week that we continue to work under the expired TV/Theatrical agreement. This must not continue.
NY President and second National Vice-President, Sam Freed, also issued the following comment: "All of us in NY, Hollywood and across the country should be concerned about how this failure to reach an agreement is impacting our members. They have already suffered significantly as a result of the WGA strike, and now they are experiencing an additional loss of work, made worse when they can find a job, by having to work without a contract under old terms and conditions. There are some who feel we have all the time in the world to make this deal. We on the NY Board do not."
Okay, now let's see how these stalwart USAN NY board members voted on three motions in the SAG Board Room where they were not quite so demanding as they were in their PUBLIC pronouncements concerning making a deal with the AMPTP. In fact THEY abstained!
You'll, also, notice that on the second motion on whether to let SAG members be allowed a voice in negotiations, THEY VOTED NO! You see, they were afraid that members views might not coincide with the AFTRA deal that THEY championed.
And finally, although they later went public criticizing our negotiators when it came to voting in private they voted to support them.
From reading the above, one might get the idea that those New York USAN members weren't exactly being upfront with the membership. Especially, if you consider the discrepancy between their votes in the board room and their public pronouncements.
In fact, in light of all their PUBLIC pronouncements, one might even get the idea that they do not have Screen Actors' Guild members best interest at heart.
Hell, one might even get the idea that they are AFTRA First members in SAG clothing.
Statement from New York members of the SAG Board
The New York members of the Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors unanimously disavow the decision of SAG's National Executive Committee (NEC) to mount a campaign to persuade AFTRA/SAG dual-card holders to vote "no" on the AFTRA Primetime TV Contract.
This unprecedented action should only have been considered by the full National Board of Directors, which is charged with the responsibility of setting policy for the Guild.
We are amazed that the National Executive Director and the President chose, instead, to bring this proposal to the much smaller and less representative NEC, over the objections of nearly half of the NEC members present.
There was absolutely no reason that a full Board meeting could not have been called. More importantly, the NY Board opposes this unconscionable attempt to interfere with the internal business of a sister union because it has no strategic value for our negotiations, because it will waste $150,000 of the members' dues money, because it may result in costly legal battles for the Guild and because it will forever tarnish our image as a union.
We feel strongly that AFTRA members have the right to decide for themselves whether this contract is acceptable, without interference from any outside organization, and we believe it is imperative that SAG leadership focus on our on-going negotiations with the AMPTP and not divert any more time, energy or dues money to attacking a union upon which 45,000 of its own members depend.
Today, Wednesday September 17th, we should know how members responded on whether to accept the AMPTP deal or not. The Ol' Dog believes THAT if they actually read the information concerning the AMPTP's proposals, they will overwhelmingly reject them, and support our Hollywood negotiators--who are trying to get a fair deal for actors.
In the meantime, it seems apparent that our SAG Hollywood negotiators will have their hands full trying to battle not only the AFTRA First USAN contingent on our negotiating team, but.also, the AMPTP.
Perhaps, it's time for our SAG membership in New York and the branches, who want to make a living as actors, to tell those NY SAG negotiators, who have deleveraged our Hollywood negotiations with their PUBLIC statements empowering our employers, to shut the 
up!
A.L. Miller SW Editor & Chief 
All formatting is the SAG Watchdogs
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How your National Board Voted on accepting the AMPTP deal, letting members have a voice in negotiations, and supporting SAG’s negotiators 
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