SAG: The Strike Watch Thread

[Lighthouse]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988095.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

SAG says offer's inferior
Guild says studios are playing favorites
By DAVE MCNARY
After spending recent weeks blasting AFTRA's deal, SAG's turned its ire back on the majors and accused them of playing favorites.

With negligible progress at the bargaining table and a Tuesday contract expiration approaching, Screen Actors Guild leaders are complaining publicly that the most recent offer from the congloms is less favorable than the AFTRA deal.

SAG national executive director Doug Allen told Daily Variety and other news outlets Wednesday that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers' current offer to SAG is worth "millions of dollars" less than the deal the majors struck with rival thesp union AFTRA late last month.

Allen did not elaborate as to where the AMPTP's offer falls short, but he took issue with the majors' assertion that SAG is stalling until July 8 -- when AFTRA is expected to announce its ratification vote results. SAG has said previously that the AMPTP wasn't budging on bargaining positions, so it's the congloms' fault that negotiations aren't progressing.

"I question how much urgency there is in a negotiating position that doesn't use the AFTRA deal as a starting place," Allen added.

In response, the AMPTP put the blame squarely on SAG for stalling.

"The AMPTP has made four labor deals this year, and we are ready to make a fifth," said spokesman Jesse Hiestand. "We have negotiated with SAG for 38 days -- and counting -- far more formal negotiating time than was required to make deals with the DGA (eight days), the WGA (23 days), AFTRA Network Code (14 days) and AFTRA primetime (17 days). It is now clear that SAG is stalling for time until the results of the AFTRA vote are known in July, stalling that is shutting down our industry and putting many people out of work."

SAG and the companies were expected to move into their 39th day today.

Allen's complaint echoes a SAG lament two weeks ago that the AMPTP had not offered SAG the same terms as in the deals it made with AFTRA, DGA and WGA. His comments are a strong indication that the companies haven't yet put a "last, best, final" offer on the table.

"Clearly, the AMPTP is attempting to exploit its leverage having completed this deal with AFTRA for terms for the exact same type of programs covered by our contract," said Allen and SAG president Alan Rosenberg in a June 9 message to members.

AFTRA has defended its deal vocifierously, with more than 600 announced supporters including Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Morgan Fairchild, Sally Field, James Cromwell, Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Spacey, Loretta Swit, Jeffrey Tambor and Treat Williams. The union, which has 70,000 members, including 44,000 SAG members, has stressed gains in minimums, protection of online clip consent and union jurisdiction and residuals in new media.

For its part, SAG placed an ad in today's edition of Daily Variety with the names of about 70 supporters of the negotiators. Signers include Josh Brolin, Louis Gossett Jr., Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Amy Madigan, Viggo Mortensen, Jack Nicholson, Nick Nolte, Edward James Olmos, Sandra Oh, Rob Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, Ben Stiller, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Rainn Wilson.

Harris, Mortensen and Sheen have also lent their support to SAG by participating in videos urging a no vote. The ad complains that AFTRA's deal falls short in minimums, new-media residuals and jurisdiction, force majeuere protections and DVD residuals.

"We believe there are issues that are at the heart of every actor's acareer that remain unresolved by AFTRA," the signers said. "We believe AFTRA should go back to the bargaining table with SAG and fight for a better contract."

AFTRA leaders have already asserted that they won't bargain again with SAG. AFTRA walked away from joint negotiations with the guild in March following a bitter dispute over jurisdiction.

AFTRA belittled SAG's strategy Wednesday, noting that the guild's leadership has always been expected to take talks down to expiration despite little prospect of improving on terms of the WGA, DGA and AFTRA deals -- even with a strike.

"The great majority of the current dramatic TV schedule is made up of SAG shows," AFTRA said. "That is the source of SAG's bargaining leverage and will not change just because the AFTRA deal is ratified. SAG has the same leverage today that it had in March, and it will have that same leverage on June 30 or July 8, no matter what is the outcome of our ratification vote."

SAG still has not scheduled a strike authorization vote, which would take about three weeks and require 75% approval from those voting.

"Every informed person knew going into negotiations that it would take a strike to change the pattern on new media or to achieve an advance on DVD residuals (with no assurance of success even with a strike)," AFTRA noted. "If anyone reduced or affected SAG's leverage, it was SAG and the WGA in their timing. Once the WGA settled, the die was cast."

 

[Lighthouse]

SAG says they aren't going to strike, but production is going to be shutting down on a lot of productions. Only 24 hours till the contract expires.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988288.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

SAG strike not imminent
Guild says strike talk is simply scare tactic
By DAVE MCNARY
The Screen Actors Guild's feature-primetime contract expires at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, but SAG has attempted to reassure the town by proclaiming it's not going on strike any time soon.

"We have taken no steps to initiate a strike authorization vote by the members of Screen Actors Guild," Alan Rosenberg said in a statement Sunday. "Any talk about a strike or a management lockout at this point is simply a distraction. The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee is coming to the bargaining table every day in good faith to negotiate a fair contract for actors."

SAG also told members some reports have implied incorrectly that a strike's looming this week, adding, "Don't let these scare tactics fool you."

For their part, the majors weren't impressed and accused SAG of stalling so their leaders can fight the ratification of AFTRA's primetime deal -- while production grinds to a halt. AFTRA is expected to announce those results July 8.

SAG's vehement opposition is widely perceived as a way for SAG to gauge whether guild members have the stomach for a strike -- without the potential embarrassment of losing an actual strike authorization vote, which would require 75% approval.

"The industry is shutting down because SAG's Hollywood leadership insisted on 11th-hour negotiations and dragging these talks into July so they can continue attacking AFTRA," the AMPTP said. "The AMPTP has made four major guild agreements so far this year, and there is no reason we can't make a fifth and final one with SAG and get the town back to working at full speed."

The SAG announcement came with the guild in the 41st day of contract talks with the majors. The two sides were meeting in rare weekend sessions -- but no serious moves expected were by either side until after AFTRA unveils the results of its vote.

Talks are expected to resume today.

AFTRA's touting the gains in its deal on minimums, pension and health and new media -- with the latter matching terms in the WGA and DGA pacts -- along with preservation of clip consent. SAG has insisted that those terms fall well short of acceptable and accused the AMPTP of stalling last week, asserting that the congloms' offer had not yet matched the AFTRA deal.

Should the deal be voted down, AFTRA leaders would be authorized to strike. SAG has insisted such a result would merely mean AFTRA and SAG would go back to the table, despite AFTRA's denials that it would jointly negotiate with SAG.

"Don't be fooled," AFTRA said in an ad in today's Daily Variety. "The people who claim you can win a better deal without a real commitment to strike are not telling you the truth."

If the AFTRA contract is ratified by a wide margin, it will weaken SAG's efforts at securing better terms after going all out to persuade the 44,000 actors who belong to both unions to vote against the AFTRA deal.

In a display ad placed in today's Daily Variety, the AMPTP blasted the prospect of a SAG strike as "harmful and unnecessary." It also cited stats from a recent Milken Institute report as to the impact of the WGA strike, including a projected 37,700 jobs lost, $2.3 billion in lost wages, a $3 billion decline in personal income and retail sales losses of $830 million.

"Let's get the fifth done," the AMPTP said. "Let's keep working."

Asked to respond, Rosenberg said, "Our national negotiating committee is working hard every day to bargain a fair contract for SAG members as soon as possible."

The SAG contract expiration eliminates the no-strike, no-lockout provisions of the pact along with the grievance-arbitration provisions, but its other terms and conditions will continue to apply.

Production won't stop completely, with some TV shooting expected to continue and SAG having signed more than 355 indie waiver deals under which a production company agrees to adhere to whatever terms SAG negotiates in its new deal with the AMPTP. Only non-AMPTP companies are allowed to sign such deals.

The SAG-AFTRA brawl stems from years of jurisdictional disputes that exploded in March when AFTRA refused to negotiate jointly with SAG. That's resulted in actors picking sides, with James Cromwell, Sally Field, Tom Hanks and Susan Sarandon backing the AFTRA deal while Viggo Mortensen, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and Ben Stiller endorse SAG's stance.

In addition, the Intl. Cinematographers Guild has blasted SAG's leadership -- and SAG has hit back hard. ICG president Stephen Poster, in a letter to his members sent Friday, said SAG should have made a deal by now and criticized the guild for attacking AFTRA's primetime pact.

"SAG has not brought anything new or promising to the bargaining table, and a factional rift within SAG's membership is threatening to not only damage the union itself but the industry as a whole," he said. Poster denounced the guild leadership as "dysfunctional" in describing what he termed "the sad state" of SAG's negotiations.

Rosenberg said in response that Poster's comments were "shocking and anti-union" and accused Poster of making "threats" against SAG members. And he said he was not surprised by the attack on SAG since the ICG is part of the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees -- which has a year-old strategic alliance with AFTRA.

"We are in critical negotiations for a contract for SAG actors," Rosenberg said. "It would be irresponsible not to educate our members about the impact of AFTRA's tentative deal on our talks."

Poster pointed out that a bargaining pattern has already been established by the DGA, WGA and AFTRA in contract agreements reached earlier this year with the AMPTP.

"This movie has to end soon," Poster added. "The paltry gains for which SAG continues to fight do not justify the pain a strike or continued slowdown will bring to those who work in this industry, who fight to pay their mortgages, feed their families and keep their health coverage intact."

The ICG has about 6,000 members, covering camera crews and publicists. It operates as IATSE Local 600 and is one of IATSE's largest and most influential locals.

Rosenberg concluded his letter by accusing Poster of making threats against SAG members.

"I assure you, despite your threats against our 120,000 proud members, Screen Actors Guild will always stand solidly behind Local 600 and other IATSE locals that need our solidarity," he said. "If you are interested in knowing the facts of our negotiation, please feel free to contact me directly."

Within SAG, the internal bickering between Hollywood and New York continued over the weekend as New York directors -- who have gone on record as supporting the AFTRA deal -- said they were "outraged" over the refusal of the guild to send a statement from New York president Sam Freed that expressed opposition to automated anti-AFTRA phone calls to members from Ed Asner and Sandra Oh.

"It is important that you know that the New York board and I did not have any knowledge that these messages were being sent," Freed said in the message. "And we had nothing to do with the content of the messages. Fact is that the New York board is on the record objecting to this official guild interference in the internal processes of another union."

SAG responded Sunday by saying that New York reps had been notified prior to the calls. It also indicated that Freed's message wasn't sent out because Rosenberg and national exec director Doug Allen have been designated since March as the only official spokesmen for SAG regarding negotiations.

 

[RonStoppablefan]

So wait they are not striking? Than why are they shutting down a lot of productions? Does that go for series too?

 

[Lighthouse]

Well ladies and gents, tonights the night. At 12:01 a.m., the contract will officially be expired. Things are about to get interesting.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988306.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

SAG, majors play beat the clock
Studios make their 'final' offer
By DAVE MCNARY
With SAG's feature-primetime contract expiring, the majors have turned up the pressure by making the guild a final offer with increases valued at over $250 million over the three-year terms of the deal.

The "final offer" move -- a tactic never used during the WGA strike -- came Monday afternoon in the 42nd day of negotiations following five weeks of highly unproductive talks. But the moguls also said they won't lock out SAG while the guild toppers ponder the deal.

"As SAG's leadership considers our final offer, we will continue for now to work under the terms of the old contract as current productions wind down," the AMPTP said.

SAG had no immediate response.

The AMPTP's disclosure of its offer -- and the tone of its announcement -- signaled that the congloms are running out of patience with what they perceive as SAG's intransigence at the bargaining table. SAG's asserted that the stalemate stems from the companies' refusal to budge from the position that SAG needs to accept the same terms as those contained in the WGA, DGA and AFTRA deals. Still, the majors have given no signs that they are moving toward a lock out after the contract expiration.

"Our industry is now in a de facto strike, with film production virtually shut down and television production now seriously threatened," the AMPTP said. "In an effort to put everyone back to work, the AMPTP today presented SAG our final offer -- a comprehensive proposal worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to SAG members, with significant economic gains and groundbreaking new media rights for all performers."

The AMPTP also said that if SAG doesn't make deal, SAG members will lose $2.5 million each day in wages while other guilds and unions would lose $13.5 million each day and the California economy will be harmed at the rate of $23 million each day.

SAG's deal expires at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. The passage of that deadline means the contract's no-strike, no-lockout provisions are no longer in effect, but SAG's been asserting that it hasn't taken any steps toward a strike authorization vote -- a move that would take about three weeks to complete and would require a 75% approval.

The companies are also unlikely to take the step of locking out actors -- a move that would be fairly symbolic since most production has stopped or is nearly completed due to the uncertainty over SAG's willingness to make a deal. The majors have repeatedly accused SAG of stalling so their leaders can fight the ratification of AFTRA's primetime deal, with AFTRA expected to announce those results on July 8.

SAG advised its members Monday that they should keep working after the expiration.

"All members should continue to report to work and to audition for new work past the expiration date until further notice from the guild," SAG said. "Such work will be covered under the terms of the expired television and theatrical agreements."

SAG's blamed the AMPTP for the lack of progress at the negotiating table, but its opposition to the AFTRA deal has been widely perceived as a way for SAG leaders to take the temperature of its members and their willingness to strike -- without the downside of taking a strike authorization vote.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national exec director Doug Allen have insisted that SAG can't follow the pattern set by the other guilds.

It's believed that the majors would be most willing to concede in two actor-specific areas for the sake of closing the SAG deal -- maintaining force majeure protections, which would involving settling claims for payments when TV shows went dark during the WGA strike, and including language giving thesps some control over product placement.

However, a deal's highly unlikely to satisfy SAG's demands for a hike in DVD residuals and sweeter terms for new-media residuals than those achieved earlier this year by the DGA, WGA and AFTRA.

Studios and nets have been pressuring SAG by publicly highlighting the financial damage from the production slowdown and the 100-day WGA strike. That effort has included making use of the recent Milken Institute study showing that the writers strike will cost California $2.3 billion in lost wages this year and 37,000 jobs.

For its part, AFTRA's trumpeting gains in its deal on minimums, pension and health and new media along with preservation of clip consent and maintaining that a no vote is equivalent to a strike authorization. SAG, which is trying to persuade its 44,000 members who also belong to AFTRA to vote against ratification of that union's deal, has insisted the AFTRA terms are unacceptable and that turning down the deal will mean AFTRA and SAG would go back to the table -- despite AFTRA's denials that it will jointly negotiate with SAG.

SAG also said the commercials contract, plus agreements for basic cable live action, basic cable animation, television animation, interactive media, Internet and Industrial & Educational Contract are unaffected by the negotiations.

Both unions have been aggressively campaigning for support from the 70,000 AFTRA members. AFTRA's stressing the financial issues such as in recent emails titled "It's not about politics -- it's about your paycheck. Don't be suckered into a strike."

 

[Lighthouse]

AFTRA deal was finalized today. Looks like SAG's lost their leverage.

http://www.variety.com/VR1117988635.html

AFTRA accepts deal
Union members ratify primetime deal
By DAVE MCNARY
Despite the Screen Actors Guild's avid campaign, members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists have ratified the union's primetime deal by 62.4% -- a tally strong enough to send a rebuke to SAG, but not so strong that Hollywood's immediate future is clear-cut.

The three-year agreement received support well below the usual level in such tallies, following a month of unprecedented battling between the thesp unions.

"SAG ran a well-funded and ferocious disinformation campaign that created a lot of confusion," said AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said at a news conference Tuesday evening after the results were announced. "We are the ones who won the moral victory."

The ratification was not a surprise, due to the faltering economy and the lingering impact of the 100-day WGA strike. Terms in the AFTRA pact mirror those in the contracts signed by the WGA and DGA, along with the majors' final offer to SAG.

The Screen Actors Guild was hoping for a defeat of the AFTRA pact, which would have given the guild more leverage as it resumes talks Thursday on its own feature-primetime deal.

The AFTRA victory signals that there's not enough support among SAG's 120,000 members to vote for a strike authorization, which would require 75% approval. Still to be decided is whether the 37.6% support for SAG in the AFTRA vote shows that the guild has enough clout to persuade the Alliance of Motion Picture & TV Producers to include a sweetener or two to close the deal with SAG.

SAG and the producers meet again on Thursday and that meeting will provide the key clue of how long talks can be expected to last. TV and film productions want to know as soon as possible how quickly they can resume a normal work schedule.

The AMPTP issued a statement Tuesday telling SAG it should take AFTRA's deal. "We appreciate today's vote of confidence by actors in the agreement we reached with AFTRA, and hope that it demonstrates to SAG's Hollywood leadership that there is support for the new economic relationships we have built with writers, directors and actors -- and not much support for a strike, whether de facto or real," it said.

Ballots went out to all 70,000 AFTRA members. AFTRA did not disclose how many thesps voted.

SAG's effort was enough to lower the approval rate below the usual 90% given to guild contract votes. But producers and AFTRA expected a result around the 60%-70% level.

Screen Actors Guild had lobbied hard for defeat of this pact and, in a statement Tuesday evening, complained about AFTRA but significantly stopped short of declaring this a triumph for their side.

However, SAG president Alan Rosenberg attempted to portray the 37.6% "no" vote as a moral victory after SAG spent a month urging its 44,000 members who also belong to AFTRA to turn down the deal so that SAG could negotiate better terms. "We will continue to address the issues of importance to actors that AFTRA left on the table and we remain committed to achieving a fair contract for SAG actors," he added.

Rosenberg said AFTRA had taken advantage of non-actors, such as news people, sportscasters and DJs. "In its materials, AFTRA focused that appeal on the importance of actor members' increased contributions to help fund its broadcast members' pension and health benefits," he added.

Reardon blasted Rosenberg's contention, asserting that 74% of AFTRA members are actors and more than 90% are entertainers such as singers, dancers, comedians and musicians.

"Today's vote reflects the ability of AFTRA members to recognize a solid contract when they see it," Reardon said. "Despite an unprecedented disinformation campaign aimed at interfering with our ratification process, a majority of members ultimately focused on what mattered -- the obvious merits of a labor agreement that contains substantial gains for every category of performer in both traditional and new media."

The flap created a battle between the two actors unions, with many high-profile members choosing sides. Alec Baldwin, Sally Field, Tom Hanks and Susan Sarandon backed the AFTRA deal while Viggo Mortensen, Jack Nicholson, Nick Nolte and Martin Sheen endorsed SAG's anti-AFTRA stance.

Reardon belittled SAG for using member dues to attack another union and said that the Membership First faction that controls SAG's national board should be replaced at upcoming elections.

AFTRA ditched its joint bargaining partnership with SAG in March following a heated jurisdictional dispute over "The Bold and the Beautiful."

"Clearly, this was not a typical ratification process, and it would be disingenuous to pretend otherwise," Reardon said. "To those of us for whom labor solidarity is more than just a slogan, the idea that politically-motivated leaders of one union would use their members' dues to attack another union is unconscionable. Working people do not benefit when their union is under attack."

The results of the AFTRA vote came nine days after the AMPTP broke off negotiations by delivering the final offer on June 30, a few hours before SAG's feature-primetime contract expired. Actors have been working since on some TV programs under terms of the expired deal; SAG's also granted waivers to more than 355 indie features.

SAG had contended that actors deserve sweeter terms in areas such as new media, DVD residuals and salary minimums. AFTRA argued that approval will put the industry back to work and that the deal includes gains in salaries and new media without rollbacks or concessions.

Reardon said she'd be surprised if the SAG deal wasn't resolved by September but refused to comment further, noting that she hasn't been in the room with SAG and the AMPTP. "I have a hard enough time reading the tea leaves in AFTRA," she added.

SAG now faces the unsavory prospect of AFTRA signing up new shows shot on digital -- an area of shared jurisdiction -- with the new contract.

Reardon also indicated AFTRA is planning another run at a merger with SAG, though details haven't been hammered out, by seeking to organize a summit meeting in coming weeks. "For the sake of our members, organized labor must be united, especially in a world of ever-increasing corporate consolidation," she said.

Rosenberg has indicated he doesn't necessarily oppose a merger, but the notion hasn't been particularly popular in recent years among the Membership First faction in Hollywood -- mostly due to suspicions that the terms would favor AFTRA.

A 2003 merger vote received support from three-quarters of AFTRA members but voting among SAG members fell 2% short of the required 60%. Pro-merger forces, led by then-SAG president Melissa Gilbert and topper Robert Pisano, were at the forefront of that campaign and asserted that combining SAG and AFTRA would lead to greater bargaining clout and operating efficiencies, along with resolving jurisdictional disputes.

The merger backers received extensive help from the AFL-CIO, which strongly favors combining unions that have similar jurisdictions. But opponents were able to persuade voters that SAG would be a shell under the new structure; that the org would be less responsive to the unique needs of actors; and that plans to subsequently merge the SAG and AFTRA health plans would be damaging to SAG participants.

Reardon also plans to offer SAG an olive branch by reviewing the possibility of renewing joint bargaining for the upcoming commercials contract, which expires in October. AFTRA leaders angrily ditched the Phase I bargaining pact with SAG in March over accusations that SAG was attempting to poach "The Bold and the Beautiful" from AFTRA.

Additionally, Reardon has worked up an ambitious proposal for all the town's major unions -- the DGA, WGA, IATSE. SAG and AFTRA -- to come together together prior to the next round of negotiations to maximize their leverage. The WGA would be first up with a deal that expires in May 2011.

SAG placed a full-page ad in the Ketchum-based Idaho Mountain Express today from the guild's national negotiating committee to the entertainment industry leaders attending the Allen & Co. Sun Valley Media Conference.

"This media conference is the place where significant deals get made," Rosenberg said. "We wanted to remind the entertainment media leaders in attendance that there is another important deal to be made. Actors are the creative heart of the entertainment business, and our Screen Actors Guild members want to partner with our industry to invest in and share the rewards of our mutual digital future. Let's keep talking and let's make a fair deal."