Actors Rights

In exchange for receiving some DVD’s at reduced prices, Netflix shares some of the profits it earns on reduced-priced DVD’s with the studios. Also, Netflix gave some Netflix stock to the studios!
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–Ladies and gentlemen of the court be advised that the honorable judge acknowledges facts brought forth by Mr. Tom Bower and Mr. Scott Wilson, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit! Netflix was, in fact, kicking back monies and stock to the studios! A total of EIGHTY to date! In what appears to be a dereliction of duty, Mr. Pisano in his THREE YEARS as CEO has never bothered to inform the board, the membership or SAG’s residual department of this scheme. I contend it was because, Mr. Pisano, wasCONFLICTED! The SAG membership supported the decision to employ Pisano when they did not elect union executives who opposed Pisano based on his alleged conflicts of interest!
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Point of Odor! Point of Odor! Begging the courts pardon, but Judge you’re assertion Stinks! In Hollywood, the only area where Mr. Pisano’s Conflict of Interest was made and issue, informed SAG members overwhelmingly voted to boot out Bob’s derrire by overwhelming electing 34 out 35 seats to those who opposed him. Sir, I say your corporate mentality has clouded your judgment! And what do you say, sir?

Corporate directors and officers owe their corporation a duty of loyalty, which demands that they act in the best interests of the corporation!
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Exactly, Mr. Bower and Mr. Wilson’s argument! And I submit to you, sir, that as a member of the board of directors of Netflix, SAG CEO Pisano has a conflict of interest and cannot act in the best interest of both Netflix and SAG in the current negotiations! Sir, have you forgotten that Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, has stated publicly that a strike would hurt his company? So, I contend, sir, that Mr. Pisano is between a rock and a hard place. He sir is, dare I say CONFLICTED?
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Even if Pisano’s interests in Netflix were proven to constitute an actual conflict of interest, SAG effectively waived a 501 claim through its disinterested approval of Pisano’s ties to Netflix!
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Ah, ah, could, could, you, ah, you repeat that ah, ah, again, sir?
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Even if Pisano’s interests in Netflix were proven to constitute an actual conflict of interest, SAG effectively waived a 501 claim through its disinterested approval of Pisano’s ties to Netflix!
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Ah, Yeees, that’s what I thought you said, sir. To clarify for our Court of Public opinion, ah, even if Mr. Bower and Mr. Wilson had of proven their charges– they still would have lost!
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Even if Pisano’s interests in Netflix were proven to constitute an actual conflict of interests
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Ah, yes, thank you, your honor, I believe you’ve made yourself abundantly clear! So clear in fact that I’ve just put a small draft of two hundred dollars in an envelope and mailed it to Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bower at Actors Rights, P.O. Box 46539, LA, CA 90046-9998. For, it is imperative that this ruling of yours advance to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals! It must not be allowed to stand, sir! If it does it will be an open invitation for management to take over and waive SAG members’ rights! At this time, I will defer to SAG’s General Counsel David White who summarized it so eloquently on an NPR Broadcast!

The context of Title 5 goes back to a period in time in which union boards were held hostage to small groups of people who controlled the union. They controlled all decisions and they would have patsies sitting on the board with them. They would come in and state a position that in effect posed a conflict to the union. Their patsies on the board would say, `Yeah, we’re going to go along with that.’ Title 5 was created to prevent them.

Well said, sir! And I submit that thanks to Judge “Santa” Klausner’s summary judgment, we have once again reached the “Day of the Patsies” where conflicts of interest can be waived willy-nilly! Yes, unfortunately, the “go-along-to-get-along’s” are momentarily victorious and are jubilant.
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The court today gave working actors across the nation the best holiday
gift they could have received,
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Well, at least my dear, we both agree it was a gift!
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The individuals who brought this lawsuit put their own self-interest, bias and personal agenda ahead of the larger good of the union, wasting the Guild’s time and precious resources every step of the way.
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What the dear girl fails to mention in her Half-Pint assertion is that Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bower did not sue SAG– but rather Mr. Netflix Bob. It was he and his cronies, who without attaining approval from our elected leadership, INSERTED SAG into this lawsuit! If any of SAG’s money was wasted it was because of THEM. Ms. Melissa further fails to acknowledge that it is ONLY because of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bower’s efforts that SAG’s membership is now aware of Mr. Netflix Bob’s kickback deal– and can now go after owed monies that it otherwise might never have known about! You see before their revelations NOBODY at the guild appeared to have a clue about this kickback scheme that has denied actors a fair accounting of revenue owed to them! Ah, well actually there was one “conflicted” individual at SAG that knew about the “deal” but he was not coming forth with any information concerning the money or the Netflix stock. And that man I submit is SAG CEO Robert Pisano!

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Today the court stood up for the right of the national board to self-determine its chief negotiator
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Oh, butt out! You haven’t got a clue, sir! Judge Klausner; let’s turn our attention back to you! You quote labor law from Title V of the LMRDA! How did you put it?
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The plain text of 501..states that a union officer must ‘hold its money and property solely for the benefit of the organization and its members and to manage, invest, and expend the same in accordance with its constitution and bylaws and any resolutions of the governing bodies adopted thereunder,’ and ‘refrainfrom holding or acquiring any pecuniary or personal interest which conflicts with the interests of such organization..,

Ah, I see! Now there are those who might interpret that to mean that Netflix Bob shouldn’t have the aforementioned Netflix stock: A portion of which he recently cashed in for 2.4 MILLION DOLLARS
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The italicized portions of the statute indicate that Congress intended to allow the unions to continue to be able to define their own fiduciary polices. The unions remain free, through their constitution, bylaws, and resolutions; to determine what actions their executive officers must take.
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So, sir, your want us to believe that Congress originally passed the labor law, as SAG’s General Counsel so eloquently articulated earlier, to prevent union boards from being held hostage to small groups of people who controlled the union with patsies sitting on the board with them! They would come in and state a position that in effect posed a conflict of interest to the unionand, ah

.. Their patsies on the board would say, `Yeah, we’re going to go along with that.’ Title 5 was created to prevent them.
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Thank you Mr. White, ah rather, David! So Judge are you saying that our friend David is wrong in his assessment?
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The unions remain free to determine what their organizational interest shall be. Congress only provided a NARROW limitation!
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This was not passed as some kind of NARROW, precisely aimed legislation. This was to reach the whole range of MISUSE by union officers of their position to enrich themselves so that it covered an extremely wide range.
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Thank you, professor! A little sidebar Judge! That’s Professor Clyde Summers, ah, he helped write the labor law, which you are referencing. Any thing you’d like to say to him, ahJudge?
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Unions remain free to approve of a union officers potential CONFLICT OF INTEREST!
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Your response, professor?
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It’s not that the person has violated a fiduciary obligation in actually doing something wrong but the importance of the union members having the confidence that everything’s on the up and up so that fiduciary obligation is the obligation not to have any appearance of a conflict of interest. So it’s a rather demanding duty, shall we say, being, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion.

Thank you, sir! Any response, Judge Santa Klausner? Judge? Ahnow where on earth do you suppose the Dear boy disappeared too?
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