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More Details on New SAG-AFTRA Commercials deal!

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The new SAG-AFTRA commercials contract, which the union’s board endorsed over the weekend, immediately increases wages by 7 percent and additionally increases use fees (residuals) for national broadcast and cable commercials and Internet commercials, The Hollywood Reporter has determined from an analysis of contract documents posted without fanfare on the union’s website Wednesday morning.

Those increases, along with increases in the contributions advertisers make to the union’s pension and health plans, will likely be welcome news to SAG-AFTRA members, who will soon be asked to ratify the new three-year contract. Ballot packets are expected to go out sometime next week.

The documents amend the previous commercials contracts. The agreements – likely worth over a billion dollars per year in earnings, although exact figures are not available – are among the union’s largest economically, rivaled only by the TV/theatrical contract. SAG-AFTRA and the bargaining unit representing advertisers and advertising agencies reached agreement on the deal April 3 after several weeks of negotiation.

Key points in the new deal include:

* A 7 percent upfront increase in minimum session fees, effective April 1 of this year. This wage increase will also have the effect of increasing residuals (use fees), but as noted below there are additional increases in some residuals beyond the general wage increase.

* A 1.2 percent increase in the contribution rates paid by management to the SAG pension & health plans and AFTRA health & retirement funds, bringing the rate to 18 percent.

* A 2 percent increase in residuals paid for national network broadcast commercials, so-called Class A spots, on top of the wage increase.

* A 6 percent increase in national cable residuals, again in addition to the wage increase.

* A new rate for stand-ins, which will be 10 percent higher than the rate paid to extras.

* Increases in residuals for Internet commercials and commercials on cell phones. The increases range up to 16.7 percent, and are in addition to the wage increase.

* Provisions that television commercials can be concurrently streamed on the Internet or via cell phones without owing additional compensation to the actors.

* Provisions that allow for Internet and cell phone commercials to be played on the basis of a four week use cycle in addition to the existing eight week and one year cycle options.

* An experimental “social media waiver,” providing special terms on a trial basis for commercials produced for social media platforms.

* A confidentiality clause, as part of the standard employment contracts for principal and extra performers.

* A provision that Veteran’s Day will be a recognized holiday.

David White, the union’s national executive director, served as its lead negotiator, while SAG-AFTRA’s then executive vp and now president Gabrielle Carteris and New York-based board member Sue Ann Morrow co-chaired the organization’s negotiating committee. Other union representatives included co-lead negotiators Ray Rodriguez and Mathis Dunn and senior advisor John McGuire. On the management side, Douglas J. Wood was lead negotiator for the ANA-4A’s Joint Policy Committee on Broadcast Talent Union Relations.

THR has reached out to SAG-AFTRA and the JPC, and will update with any comment. The complete contract documents are available on the union’s website and the JPC’s as well.!

Arl

The Ol’ SAG Watchdog

*Photo selected By Watchdog

SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard: ‘A Lack of Diversity Permeates Our Industry’

The Best Action Movie You’ve Ever Seen

February 10, 2016 | 10:27AM PT

Film Reporter@Variety_DMcNary

SAG-AFTRA president Ken Howard has called on Hollywood to address the industry’s diversity problem and said the performers union is committed to change.

SAG-AFTRA issued the comments three weeks after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences took steps to double the numbers of minorities in the Academy by 2020. The diversity issue has been at the forefront of Hollywood since the Jan. 14 announcement of Oscar nominations, which didn’t include any non-white actors.

“A lack of diversity permeates our industry and SAG-AFTRA as an organization is committed to affecting change,” Howard said. “Our Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity Department is solely dedicated to making change on the front line, but inclusivity is something we care deeply about throughout all facets of our union.”

The SAG-AFTRA president’s task force on education, outreach and engagement, and the SAG-AFTRA diversity advisory committee issued a statement Wednesday detailing the union’s position:

“It is a core value of SAG-AFTRA that our strength is in our diversity. We are committed to the broadest employment and involvement of our members, regardless of race, national origin, ancestry, color, creed, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, veteran status, gender identity or expression, age or disability. SAG-AFTRA strives to educate and engage members so that they may be full participants in the workings of their union. We are proud to be a model of inclusion, democratic organization and governance.”

SAG-AFTRA also said that it plans to continue the dialogue and suggest solutions.

“This moment isn’t only about race,” the union said. “This isn’t only about the lack of faces and voices of color. This is about disability. This is about age. This is about gender and gender identity. This is about sexual orientation. This is about the diversity of our stories, of our experiences, of our perspectives. So many of these are, right now, missing from our screens.”

SAG-AFTRA, which has about 165,000 members, said those members work in “the most visible workplace on the planet.” It said it will continue to use this visibility to shine a light on the inequity that still exists.

“Statistical representation is a helpful tool to measure progress but isn’t the ultimate goal,” the union added. “It’s about more and better jobs for all of our members; in particular those who have been historically and categorically denied opportunities to compete for these jobs. Greater inclusion is needed throughout every level: from executive suites, to writers’ rooms; from agencies to the cast and crew members on-set.”

The union also said that the industry needs to become more diverse because of the demands of audiences: “All the greenlighters and gatekeepers need to understand that this is a business imperative and not a politically correct luxury — audiences are choosing authenticity over platitudes and will continue to make those choices with their time and their money.”

“A lack of diversity permeates our industry and SAG-AFTRA as an organization is committed to affecting change,” Howard said. “Our equal employment opportunity & diversity department is solely dedicated to making change on the front line, but inclusivity is something we care deeply about throughout all facets of our union.”

“There does seem to be momentum now towards inclusiveness,” said SAG-AFTRA executive vice president Gabrielle Carteris. “But we won’t really see change happen until those in authority take responsibility and choose to make decisions based on authenticity. These decisions directly impact which stories and people are present and, more importantly, which are missing.”

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Good article!  But, but, but,  unfortunately, for most of the movie ads that I see advertised on TV,  the lack of diversity refers to the way,  they come up with to blow up stuff on screen.

Arl

The Ol’ SAG Watchdog

*Photo selected by SAG Watchdog

More SAG-AFTRA appointees come Aboard!!!!

 

 

Additional L.A.-Based SAG-AFTRA National Board Members to Be Appointed! (Exclusive)

7:37 AM PDT 9/28/2013 by Jonathan Handel

The selection of one expected board member was considered controversial.

Several new SAG-AFTRA board members from Los Angeles have been or are about to be appointed, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, with one of them an unexpected and controversial pick.

Some background: SAG-AFTRA rules differentiate between national board members and national officers (president, secretary/treasurer, executive vice president, and seven vice presidents). No one can serve simultaneously in two roles, so when national board members get elected to an officer position, they give up their national board seat. How does that vacancy get filled?

For board members from Los Angeles, the answer is that the board member chooses his or her own replacement. That’s also what happens if an L.A.-based national board member simply decides to resign his or her seat.

Several such replacements have been or are about to be made, but have not been announced. According to sources, these include the following:

* Union president Ken Howard has appointed William Charlton to fill his seat.

* In a surprise move, newly-elected executive vice president Gabrielle Carteris will be appointing David Jolliffe. Carteris is a leader of Unite for Strength, while Jolliffe is a long-time leader of the rival Membership 1st party. UFS championed merger, while Membership First (as it was then known) was bitterly opposed. Some sources view Carteris’s appointment of Jolliffe as a gracious reach across the aisle, while others term it a betrayal. One source said that there were “many other worthy UFS members” from whom Carteris should have chosen.

* Secretary/treasurer Amy Aquino has or will appoint Michelle Dunker. Aquino nominated Carteris for evp, and Dunker helped with Carteris’s campaign.

* L.A. local president (and national vp for LA) Clyde Kusatsu has or will appoint Assaf Cohen to fill his seat.

* Tony Shaloub will be resigning and appointing Allen Lulu to take his place.

It was not possible to reach the above individuals for comment.

As backdrop to all of the appointments, the union’s dominant Unite for Strength party has effectively fractured into two factions. One consists of Howard and various other board members, and is allied with New York’s Unite SAG-AFTRA Nationwide (USAN) party.

The other UFS faction is composed of Aquino, Carteris, and various other board members, and is allied with the New York Coalition 4 Unity, a group led by former AFTRA president and SAG-AFTRA co-president Roberta Reardon. This faction also has the support of many of the locals outside L.A. and New York – Exhibit A is Carteris’s 3 to 1 victory over USAN’s Mike Hodge  for evp (66.5 percent to 23.2 percent). And, with Carteris’s appointment of Jolliffe, the Aquino-Carteris faction may also have the support of M 1st.

That coalition means that Howard’s 2013-2015 term may see him somewhat isolated. Whether any of this inside baseball will have an effect on the TV/theatrical negotiations with the studios this spring remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the next battleground will be appointment of various SAG-AFTRA committees. The president appoints the members and chairs, but his appointments are subject to ratification by the national board, which meets Monday and Tuesday.

Bookmark The Hollywood Reporter’s Labor Page for the most in-depth coverage of entertainment unions and guilds.

Email: jhandel99 at gmail dot com
Twitter: @jhandel

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“* Tony Shaloub will be resigning and appointing Allen Lulu to take his place.”  Way to go Tony: 

Along with helping to negotiate one of the worst contracts in SAG History , Mr. Lulu has had an add soliciting V/O work on the notorious non-union friendly Voice123 Website. 

Mr. Lulu has had a solicitation on the site for almost TEN YEARS!!  When I confronted him on this over a year ago, his response was that he put it up on the site, but, but, but forgot about it…ah, then he continued to forget about it!   It’s still up! Check it out! 

http://voice123.com/allenlulu

I love the line that says,  “Jobs I’m Willing to Take (Union Wise) 

Here’s a thought!  How about, “Jobs I’m Willing to Take (Union Only)  Oh, by the Way, NO mention of his agent in his add!  What was that, again, Allen?  “But, but, but….” 

But to be fair, the last time I checked, there where over a dozen Board members who had similar adds on the same website.  Hell, at least one board member advertized that he wasn’t even a union member! 

Oh, yeah, board members have a great weekend, you hear!!

Arl

The Ol’ SAG Watchdog

*Photo by Watchdog

Carteris wins SAG-AFTRA VP Slot!!!

’90210′ Actress Gabrielle Carteris Wins SAG-AFTRA Exec VP Slot

September 26, 2013 | 01:15PM PT

Film Reporter@Variety_DMcNary

 Veteran union activist Gabrielle Carteris has won the SAG-AFTRA Executive VP post at the union’s first convention.

The slot is the second-highest elected post in the union, which represents 165,000 performers.

Carteris was elected Thursday during the opening session of the convention, attended by more than 350 delegates at the JW Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles. New York local president Mike Hodge, who had been endorsed by president Ken Howard, was also seeking the post.

Carteris, who played the role of Andrea Zuckerman on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” has been in the SAG and AFTRA unions for 26 years and served on five negotiating committees. She has been a leader of the moderate Unite For Strength faction that campaigned successfully for last year’s merger.

Carteris was first elected to office in 2005 and served simultaneously on both the SAG and AFTRA national boards. Following the merger, Carteris was chosen as SAG‑AFTRA’s first National VP of the LA Local.

Carteris received endorsements from Secretary‑Treasurer Amy Aquino; former co-president Roberta Reardon; David Hartley-Margolin, National VP for the Small Locals; Jim Kerr, VP of the New York Local; national board member Jason George; and former national board member Adam Arkin.

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Arl

The Ol’ SAG Watchdog

*Photo selected by Watchdog.

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