SAG board turns down studio offer

The board of the Screen Actors Guild, as expected, rejected the "final offer" by the Hollywood studios for a new contract covering the union's 120,000 members, creating fresh uncertainty about whether and when the seven-month labor dispute will end.

The rejection was widely anticipated because the studios' proposal contained a provision that SAG negotiators viewed as a non-starter.  Nonetheless, the move is likely to deepen anxiety in the movie industry, where production activity has already slowed.

The studios and SAG appeared close to striking a deal earlier this week after the union's negotiators made what they said were key concessions, including accepting a framework for how actors will be paid for their work in content distributed on the Internet. That framework is modeled upon terms agreed to by three other Hollywood talent guilds.

But SAG negotiators balked at the studios' demand that the union's contract expire in three years, rather than two years. Studio executives insist that a three-year contract is necessary to ensure stability. A three-year deal, however, would mean SAG's contract would expire a year later than the labor contracts of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the writers and directors guilds.  SAG leaders believe that would weaken their bargaining clout by preventing them from joining forces with the other unions in the next round of contract negotiations.

In a statement, SAG accused the studios of inserting a "last-minute and surprise demand" that was not brought up in earlier negotiations, including during federal mediation talks in November.

"By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) intends to de-leverage our bargaining position from this point forward. ... The AMPTP has clearly stated their need and desire for financial certainty and industry peace.  This new proposal does the exact opposite, and will only result in constant negotiating cycles and continued labor unrest."

The AMPTP responded that its offer was “strong and fair” and that it had always sought a three year deal with SAG. "We have kept our offer on the table -- and even enhanced it -- despite the historically unprecedented economic crisis that has clobbered our nation and our industry." 

SAG's board stopped short of asking union members to approve a strike, fearing that the deep recession makes this the wrong time for such action. People close to the union, who did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the record, say the next logical step for SAG representatives is to initiate back-channel contacts with some senior studio executives to see if a showdown can be averted (typically, negotiations are conducted through the studios' negotiating arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).

Meanwhile, SAG is preparing to begin negotiations Monday with producers of commercials, which are covered under a separate contract.

-- Richard Verrier

Comments

[Cornelius Taylor]

Message to all the apes at SAG,

Given the state of the economy what makes actors so much more special than the others union members who have settled and agreed on their contracts?

Settle this now!!!

Stop the BS and get back to the discussion table.

What comes to mind at this time is a memorable line uttered by Charlton Heston in the 1968 movie Planet of the Apes "Damn them all to hell".

Cornelius Taylor

[Paul]

I'm tired of being out of work because of these dunces. So very, very tired.

[dclogang]

".... despite the historically unprecedented economic crisis that has clobbered our nation and our industry."

CLOBBERED OUR INDUSTRY???

HAHAHAHAHAHAA! WHAT A JOKE!

$1 BILLION box office records, Disney's CEO gets an 11% INCREASE and sends letters to stock holders saying how GREAT last year was (which paid dividends to it's stock holders..I'm one of them) and last but not least President of Warner Brothers home video in December of 08' even said their sales were BLOWING by all their internal Projections.

I'm not making this stuff up folks. IATSE members are mad about their contract too just look up 400 hours iatse amptp in google and you'll see all the articles relating to how "CLOBBERED" the film industry has been.

What a LIE!

[AngelWest]

ahahahhahahahahaaaaa.....

(just kidding)

[pitbullstew]

so? They firde the former hard line negotiator severl weeks ago when the nw guard assumed a conciliatory posture and the final reult here is a No vote anyways?
Sounds like some one owes some one an apology and a re-hire?

[JohnRJ08]

http://johnrj08.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/why-sag-should-strike/

SAG had no choice but to strike. It's either that, or the union is dead in 5 years.

[Rocco]

Thanks, Allen and Rosenberg. We're in this mess today because of your stupidity. Even though you're gone, your ghosts will haunt us for the forseeable future.

[Paul]

As long as they focus on a two year contract, versus the three year contract on the table, SAG has my support. If it comes down to increased income (I am under a salary freeze in my work) they will loose my interest. Don't end up like the LAUSD teachers union, an increase in income isn't going to find many sympathy votes.

[charlie]

When oh when are you gonna pull your head out SAG? You too producers? Have you both not had enough dealing misery and hardship to all the below-the-line film workers? Between you ,SAG, and the Screen Writers, your unions have caused MANY workers to lose their livelyhood. Yes, Screenwriters we haven't forgoten about you.
All parties involved need to cast away their greed AND egos and sign a deal so that the REAL workers can get back to work before all of you destroy it all.

[Larry]

What is SAG talking about - all the other unions signed a 3 year deal - they just signed there's a year before. If SAG would have signed with the WGA and or DGA then this 'weakening' of their position would not have been an issue. SAG needs to sign a contract or this town needs to start moving on without SAG. That's right - move on without SAG. There are millions of actors in the world who needs SAG anymore?

[HUNGRY EDITOR]

Please SAG, Go back to work. I am an IATSE member. I have been out of work for 6 months. Due to this contract. There is no end in site. It will only be a few months more before I loose my house. My family will have no place to go. And during this economic down turn, I cant get a job anywhere else.

SAG, this effects more people than your own. Everyone is hurting in all avenues. Make a deal and fight for the internet rights in three years. By that time the internet will have more content on it and hold more for all of us.

[jeffsd]

monkeys could act better than anyone at the oscars tonight so i say let them strike, fire them all and rehire anyone who wants to work, non-union. there are plenty of actors out there to fill the gaps.

[Scytherius]

As they should. The offer is a joke. it's union busting at it's best. Everyone knows that SAG really doesn't want to strike, but it looks like the Producers don't care.

[Roger]

SAG, if you're rejecting the new offer from the AMPTP just vote to STRIKE ALREADY! The longer you wait and stay away from negotiations, more and more people keep getting hurt as everyday goes by. Please don't wait until the sixty days expire that the AMPTP has offered. Whatever you're going to do, DO IT NOW!!!!

[rob]

to charlie the REAL worker. Since you hate the writers and actors who have stood up against the producers so much why don't you take Larry, Jeff, Paul and Moe and go dig ditches, oh nevermind any monkey could do that.

[charlie]

To rob. You and everyone else knows that SAG's Allen and Rosenberg initially enterd their NEGOTIATIONS with the idea of walking out of same no matter what was offered. Oh I see. you are either WGA or SAG. Well, su[[orted bpth onions in the past. NEVER AGAIN. Also, you [robably haven't got sense enough to get a job in the REAL world. How sad

[charlie]

to rob the poor lost soul. Can't you see that you are in the minority? Can't you see the hurt that this is causing (by BOTH sides) ? I dare say that the majority of us REAL workers have the knowledge and skill to preform the task you so eloquently ordered. We just want to get back to our jobs.

[Greg]

Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors Rejects AMPTP Last, Best and Final Offer

Los Angeles, (February 21, 2009) – The Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors today voted 73% to 27% to “reject the AMPTPs last, best and final offer dated February 19, 2009.”

We entered this round of negotiations sending an unmistakably clear message that we were ready to make a deal. In an effort to put the town back to work, our negotiator agreed to modify the Guild’s bargaining position to bring the Guild in line with the deals made by our sister unions.

The AMPTPs last-minute, surprise demand for a new term of agreement extending to 2012 is regressive and damaging and clearly signals the employers’ unwillingness to agree to the deal they established with other entertainment unions. The demand for a new term of agreement was not part of their final offer of June 30, 2008; it was not part of the federally mediated talks of November 2008, and should not have been inserted into the discussions when we returned to negotiations on February 17, 2009.

What management presented as a compromise is, in fact, an attempt to separate Screen Actors Guild from other industry unions. By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP intends to deleverage our bargaining position from this point forward.

Screen Actors Guild’s goal is to successfully complete these negotiations and get the industry back to work as soon as possible. The AMPTP has clearly stated their need and desire for financial certainty and industry peace. This new proposal does the exact opposite, and will only result in constant negotiating cycles and continued labor unrest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That is directly off the s.a.g. site and i want everyone to know i agree that all of us need to get back to work and i am tired of both sides acting worse then 3 year old children just because of new media which is still so new it can be put off until the new contract from what i have heard because of this lovely delay in negotiations alone there are over 170 FEATURE FILMS on hold waiting for this to finish and over 70 PILOT SHOWS on hold. Quite frankly i am sick of this and so are other people from the other unions because the longer you wait this out the harder it makes it for everyone and do not forget it is not all about you wer make everything happen to without the other workers you would have nothing we are supposed to be in this together as brothers and sisters in these unions but you both are beginning to act like spoiled brats so go ahead and get the negotiations over with so we can all get back to work and the economoy will eventually fix itself but if we do not fic it the economy will just get worse because the entertainment industry is such i huge contributor to this economy

[SteveO]

Staggering contract lengths is nothing new, it happened to IATSE and the Teamsters several contracts ago.

The that the majority of the SAG rank and file are not actively employed. This makes it easier for them to make a stand, because most of them have nothing to lose.

What are they losing by not accepting the offer from the studio's?

Their opportunity to work, along with not only their own members, but brothers and sisters of every other aspect of the industry, and the local Los Angeles economy.

Please be part of the solution, not the problem. The entire world looks up to , or at least at Hollywood. Lets show them that we have the power to agree, even at some cost to ourselves in this time of crisis.

[JohnRJ08]

SAG is now a totally toothless and useless union. It can't even get its members paid for work they have done. The producers have effectively used the threat of going to AFTRA to turn SAG into a sniveling bunch of wimps who are more concerned about producers than actors. As for most SAG members being unemployed, that is a well-known fact of life for the vast majority of actors. A huge majority of the dues paying members work only two or three times a year. That's why they are so dependent on residual payments, which the union is currently unwilling to fight for on their behalf. The entire purpose of a union is to have collective bargaining that will benefit the majority of workers, not just those who are lucky enough to be working full-time. For some, the SAG membership and residuals are the only way that they can get health care. Alan Rosenberg has been demonized by the new union management as well as the wealthy actor/producers because he fought for the middle class of the union. William L. Petersen, who created CSI, has recently stated that SAG has foresaken its own middle class and that the union has negotiated its own demise. The way that SAG handled the recent vote on the new contract is a perfect example of a rigged process which eagerly promoted the acceptance of the contract and failed to give any time to opposing views. LIterature sent out by the union openly endorsed the contract, which is hardly part of any fair democratic vote. For decades, the presidents of SAG have been working actors who understood the needs of their fellow workers. Now, we have people running the union who have never acted in their life and they refuse to take on producers in non-payment of residuals. This entire process has been about as unAmerican as it could get, and if the public knew all the facts they would have whole-heartedly supported a SAG strike. This is a sad time for people in the entertainment industry.