Screen Actors Guild board fires Doug Allen -- again

Think of it as a repeat of the swearing-in of President Obama in "an excess of prudence."

The Screen Actors Guild board voted for a second time to oust former executive director Doug Allen and replace the union's negotiating committee with a newly appointed task force dominated by moderates.

The move was widely anticipated, given that the board had previously taken such a vote last month by means of a "written assent."

That action, however, was challenged in a lawsuit filed last week by SAG President Alan Rosenberg and three other directors. Rosenberg has been a staunch ally of Allen and had refused to accept the board's appointment of David White as interim executive director and John McGuire as SAG's new chief negotiator. Last week, a judge denied a request for a temporary restraining order, saying the board had acted within its rights.

Sunday's vote -- supported by 59% of the 71-member board -- delivers a further blow to Rosenberg's legal challenge, which had threatened to delay a resumption in long-stalled contract negotiations with the studios. Talks are expected to resume on Feb. 17.

-- Richard Verrier

Comments

[worker1]

SHAME ON ALL WHO CONTINUE TO KEEP THE BELOW THE LINE WORKERS OUT OF WORK. SHAME ON THOSE WHO THAT ONLY THINK OF THIER OVER INFLATED EGO'S. NOW YOU KNOW WHY THERE IS NO SYMPATHY TO YOUR CAUSE

[Jay]

These idiots need to leave.

[linda S.]

Somethin is seriously wrong here and in this bad economic times, no one cares if actors get a raise or gets their share of electronic media. Real people with real jobs have bigger issues. No one told you to become an actor, acting is a privlege, not a right. Not making enough money?, go out and get a real job guaranteed with a real paycheck. I think there is little sympathy here for you guys.

[Charlie]

I whole-heartedly agree with the first commenter, NOBODY cares about these cry=baby actors. They need to get back to work so that we can get back to work.

[Corey Fischer]

As a member of SAG, I'm perplexed -- not only by these hate-filled comments -- but the entire situation. As I understand it, the prior negotiating team's positions was to try to get management (the producers) to pay some meaningful residuals on the growing amount of "new media" projects. It's not about "raises" It's about paying the rent and buying groceries. New media is going to make a lot of money in the future and actors deserve to be paid for their labor. When similar negotiations took place around the issue of actors' residuals for DVDs, the union went along with the producers and didn't fight for decent residuals as a result of which the producers have been able to vastly increase their profits on what became one of the largest revenue streams they've got while the actors, and other SAG members get pennies. Why should be do the same thing now? But somehow, a majority of the board didn't approve of this position, I guess. All I've heard by way of explanation was something about not wanting a strike in these hard times. The now-ousted team was about to ask membership to vote on a strike authorization. Just that mention of the possibility of a strike was enough to throw a lot of us into panic, it seems. I 'm sure the producers were elated by that response. After all, if they know that the union won't strike, they can simply stonewall until they get their way.

Can anyone explain why 59% of the SAG board is giving the producers this free ride? What is really going on?

[Pissed off film tech]

First off, it's not the Actors who are to blame here-most of them just wanna get back to work;
It's the incompetent, greedy, money hungry, selfish a*holes they elected to represent them.

Thanks to SAG's greed, I have now lost my house, my car and my fiance' because they refuse to work in these sour economic times.
I'm sorry that $10,000 a week is not enough for you to live off of, get over it,. GET BACK TO WORK!

as far as I'm concerned SAG should be dissolved.