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2011

2011

Actors Who Lend Their Voices Are Now Lending Their Ears!

December 28, 2011

Apparently asking questions and getting real answers instead of evasive quips is catching on.

Due to the success of the first “Really Listening and Providing Answers Tour”, another meeting, specifically targeted to actors who provide the voices for animated projects, video games, and television shows and commercials, will be meeting on January 5th, 2012. As with the December 15th, 2011 meeting, members will be invited to ask questions, share concerns and provide suggestions regarding the upcoming merger plan with former and current SAG/AFTRA board members in attendance.

The meeting will take place in the 132 seat Beverly Garland Theatre. Arrive early to secure a seat.

REJ

The Beverly Garland 
4222 Vineland Avenue 
North Hollywood, CA 91602

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

7:30 p.m.

The meeting will take place in the 132 seat Beverly Garland Theatre. Arrive early to secure a seat.

 

The above from a great new site  ru4sagmerger.com/

Arl

More On White Extension!!!

Posted: Wed., Dec. 28, 2011, 3:35pm PT

SAG extends exec director’s deal thru 2014

David White to remain in post as union pushes AFTRA merger

By Dave McNary

David White, the top exec at the Screen Actors Guild for the past three years, is signed to remain in that post until at least 2014 — whether or not SAG merges with the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.

A SAG spokesperson had said Wednesday that its national board had voted earlier this year to extend White’s contract as national exec director into 2015 but later revised that information to say that the extension would be into 2014. The guild had not disclosed previously the extension and did not reveal salary terms.

SAG leaders are in the midst of hammering out a merger plan with AFTRA and have not yet decided on the role that White — and his AFTRA counterpart Kim Roberts Hedgpeth — would play in a combined union. Reps of the performer unions have scheduled eight days of meetings starting Jan. 7 to sort out details of a possible final proposal that’s scheduled to be submitted to the national boards at the end of January.

Other details of the merger proposal haven’t been revealed yet including the name of the new union, constitution, financing, entry requirements and dues. But it appears White’s likely to play some kind of leadership role in a merger, given that he’s managed to forge a solid relationship with the guild’s national board, in contrast to his immediate predecessors.

White was tapped as interim national exec director in early 2009 when the national board’s self-styled moderates ousted Doug Allen amid frustration over Allen’s failure to reach a deal with the majors on a primetime-feature master contract. Allen, a longtime exec with the National Football League Players Assn., had been tapped for the SAG post in the wake of the 2005 ouster of Greg Hessinger by the SAG board, when the self-styled progressives of the Membership First coalition came to power.

In October 2009, the SAG moderates removed White’s interim tag and gave him a two-year deal as he closed agreements on a half a dozen contracts and operated in a low-key manner that contrasted sharply with Allen’s brash approach. White’s initial contract, which ran through February 2012, elevated him into the chief negotiator post; he headed the SAG bargaining team for seven weeks in the fall of 2010, leading to a three-year successor deal on the feature-primetime contract.

In his nine months as interim SAG chief, White oversaw cuts of about 35 staff slots as a result of a budgetary deficit. Since then, in addition to pushing for merger, he’s also moved to heighten SAG’s commitment to upgrading its technology.

White served as the guild’s general counsel from 2002-06 before becoming managing principal of Los Angeles-based Entertainment Strategies Group. He was a labor and employment attorney at O’Melveny & Myers before joining SAG in 2002.More

White gets Extended!

The guild’s board approved the move last spring, keeping David White in the fold as the merger process unfolds.

The Screen Actor Guild’s board has voted to extend National Executive Director David White’s contract, which was due to expire at the end of February 2012.

However, THRhas learned that move to re-up White came in April or May, i.e., at least seven months ago, and the extension is through February 2014 – not 2015, as has been reported elsewhere.

February 2012 would have been an awkward time for the guild’s executive director to leave, to put it mildly: if the SAG/AFTRA merger process proceeds according to the two unions’ plans, members will be receiving their merger ballots at the same time White would have been saying his goodbyes.

Indeed, the SAG board’s April 30 meeting is the same one during which the board approved formation of a Merger Taskforce – and announced January 2012 as the target date for receiving a merger plan. That timetable no doubt influenced the decision to extend the contract.

A SAG spokeswoman acknowledged that White’s contract had been extended, but had no other comment.

 

——

Hmmmm!   Arl

This was sent to the Ol’ Watchdog!

 Protect your SAG Pension and Health Plan… Read, Understand, Sign.

Hi,

We are demanding SAG PPHP Trustees to fully investigate the troubling allegations that have recently come to light against current and former executive officers of the Plans as reported by the LA Times.  Immediate action is necessary. To make sure your voice is heard include your SAG membership # in the comment box.

That’s why I signed a petition to Screen Actors Guild -PPHP Board of Trustees, which says:

“December 11, 2011
SAG-PPHP
The Board of Trustees
PO Box 7830
Burbank, Ca. 91510-7830

Dear Board of Trustees of SAG – PPHP

We come to you as deeply concerned SAG members with a vested interest in our Health and Pension Plans. We want you to know that just because we have been sitting on the sidelines, it doesn’t mean we have not been paying attention.


Superficial Investigation

First, in just the last two months, it has come to our attention that an “independent investigator,” attorney Nancy Solomon, was hired by the Plans to investigate unlawful activity by Mr. Bruce Dow, CEO of SAG-PPHP. These alleged wrong doings were cited by former Executive Director of HR/Payroll at SAG-PPHP, Mr.Craig E.Simmons.

We put the term “independent investigator” in quotes because we have concerns about just how independent Ms. Solomon’s investigation was. 

It is our understanding that Ms. Solomon is not only a friend of Mr. David White (SAG National Executive Director) but also a past associate of Mr. White’s at the law firm of O’Melveny and Myers LLP.  Due to these close associations, we have serious concerns that Ms. Solomon’s objectivity and due diligence may have been compromised, resulting in the cherry-picking of certain people to interview while overlooking others who may not have been as supportive of Mr. Dow.

Ms. Solomon presented her report to the Trustees. We have been informed that her findings confirmed some of Mr. Simmons’ allegations. Likewise we’ve been told the report made several recommendations, including that Mr. Dow and his wife, Mrs. Sharman Dow, pay back some tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized moving expenses.

Merely returning the money is not sufficient to right this wrong. At what threshold of wrongdoing is punitive action taken?

We strongly feel that someone who had no relationship whatsoever with any of the players involved in this case should have been hired to conduct this investigation.

Second, in a complaint filed with SAG-PPHP on August 23, 2011, and reported in the business section of the Los Angeles Times on September 16,th 2011, Mr. Simmons alleges that Nader Karimi, who was Chief Information Officer with SAG-PPHP, was involved in a 5 to 10 million dollar embezzlement of the plans’ funds.

More

The Really Listening And Providing Answers Tour!


Did You Know that the 1983 Phase One Agreement between SAG and  AFTRA requires a Pension and Health feasibility study prior to a  merger vote BUT the current SAG/AFTRA leadership is refusing to do  one?

Did You Know the SAG and AFTRA boards COULD REFUSE to include  a  minority report in the upcoming merger referendum? A minority  report would list the negative impacts a merger could have on SAG  and it’s members.

Did You Know AFTRA’s President Roberta Reardon, for the past year,  has been receiving a monthly payment of $3,500 and will continue to  receive one until merger passes? These funds come from AFTRA  members’ pockets.

These are FACTS, not opinions… And there are many, many more!

Seasoned SAG members, with a strong understanding of merger issues, invite you to share your concerns, thoughts, suggestions and  questions regarding the upcoming SAG and AFTRA merger plan. We  guarantee you’ll receive honest answers and accurate information.  No sell-job. No spin.

When: December 15th, 2011
            7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Where: Avery Schreiber Theatre
             11050 Magnolia Blvd.
             North Hollywood, Ca 91606
             NoHo Arts District

Street meter parking. Limited Seating. First come, first seated.
Cash Donation at the door greatly appreciated.
Please be prepared to show your current SAG or AFTRA membership card.


Not A SAG/AFTRA sponsored event



 

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