SAG-AFTRA merger means some union dues will rise as others fall

The proposed merger between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists will bring higher dues for some actors and lower dues for others, depending on which labor group they already belong to before the marriage.

SAG members will see as much as a 15% decrease in so-called working dues, which are calculated as a percentage of a member's earnings. AFTRA-only members will see their working dues increase by up to 6%, according to a board member who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential.

Additionally, base dues -- the dues that actors pay for simply being a member of the union -- will increase substantially, to nearly $200 from about $120 a year. However, the nearly 50,000 members who already belong to both unions will see a decline in total fees after the merger, because they will be paying dues to one organization instead of two.

Currently, SAG members pay higher percentages and have higher caps on their incomes than their counterparts at AFTRA. The proposed dues change is intended to reduce the gap.

SAG has about 125,000 members while AFTRA claims 70,000 members. The proposed dues changes are part of a merger agreement reached last week and reviewed by board members from SAG and AFTRA on Sunday. The boards of SAG and AFTRA are scheduled to vote on the proposed merger of the unions next weekend.

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SAG and AFTRA craft merger plan

Hollywood's two main actors unions, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, early Monday morning took a historic step toward combining their two unions.

The Group for One Union, which is made up of leaders of SAG and AFTRA, hammered out an agreement to merge the unions after nine days of intensive talks -- held out of the public view at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

Neither of the unions would publicly comment on the agreement, but people familiar with the matter said it contains a proposed constitution, governance structure, and dues-payment plan for what would be the largest labor group in Hollywood.

The proposed merger plan comes after nearly two years of negotiations between leaders of both groups to join forces in a bid to gain more leverage in contract negotiations with employers and to end a long history of feuding over bargaining strategy and other matters.

While SAG represents about 125,000 actors, AFTRA claims more than 70,000 members, including actors, broadcasters, disc jockeys, singers and dancers. At least 40,000 people are members of both unions.

The plan is to be recommended later this month to SAG's and AFTRA's respective boards, which are expected to formally endorse the merger document before it is sent to members for a ratification vote, possibly in April. The merger will take effect only if at least 60% of those who vote endorse the plan.

As expected, the proposed constitution represents an attempt to combine the different cultures of the two groups, said one person who was involved in the confidential talks but asked not to be identified. For example, national officers, including the president and secretary-treasurer, would be elected directly by members. However, some other positions, including that of an executive vice president, would be elected by delegates at a convention held every two years, a nod to AFTRA's tradition of using conventions and delegates. SAG elects its officers directly by a vote of members.

A previous attempt at merging the unions narrowly failed in 2003, partly out of fears that SAG would lose its autonomy.

Support for the idea, however, appears to have grown on both sides in the aftermath of an ugly and highly public fight that erupted in 2008, when AFTRA suspended its longtime bargaining partnership with SAG and negotiated a separate prime-time TV contract with the studios. The split hurt SAG's bargaining leverage and its coffers, as producers swung most new prime-time TV shows to AFTRA because it was perceived as the more stable union.

The splintering of work between the unions has taken a toll on actors as well. Many have complained that it is tougher for them to earn the minimum pay necessary to maintain or qualify for health and pension benefits because their work is increasingly divided between SAG and AFTRA.

The merger plan, however, does not address how the unions' separate health and pension plans will be combined, a key question for many. That issue is expected to be addressed with trustees of the plans once a merger deal is finalized.

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Actors unions to huddle for nine days of merger talks

Hollywood's two actors unions will begin nine days of intensive talks on Saturday toward merging their two organizations, in part to strengthen their clout at the bargaining table.

Representatives of the Group for One Union, which comprises elected officers from the Screen ActorsGuild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, will begin a series of meetings at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel to hash out a merger agreement that would include a proposed constitution and dues payments for a combined union.

The plan will be presented to the boards of SAG and AFTRA later this month. If the boards accept it, the proposed merger agreement would be sent to members for a vote. The merger would be ratified only if it was approved by at least a 60% vote margin. A merger referendum could be held as early as April.

SAG, the entertainment industry's largest union, represents about 125,000 actors, while AFTRA has 77,000 members, including not only actors but also broadcasters, dancers and talk show hosts. About 40,000 members belong to SAG and AFTRA.

Two previous attempts at a merger failed, most recently in 2003. But this time there is strong support on both sides. SAG and AFTRA want to avoid a repeat of the destabilizing turf war that erupted in 2008, when AFTRA suspended its longtime bargaining partnership with SAG and negotiated a separate prime-time TV contract with the studios. The split severely weakened SAG's bargaining position with the studios.

This marks the fifth and most important gathering for the so-called G-1 group since it was established this summer after nearly two years of negotiations between the leaders of both organizations.

Neither SAG nor AFTRA would comment on the proceedings, which are confidential. In a recent interview with The Times, however, SAG President Ken Howard said the sides had made considerable progress in talks and that he was optimistic an agreement would be reached by the end this month.

While the sides have reached agreement in some areas, such as how members and officers should be elected, several vexing matters have yet to be agreed upon. Among them: what to name the new union.

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Writers Guild restores screenplay credit to Trumbo for 'Roman Holiday'

Calling it a "gift of justice for the holiday," the Writers Guild of America, West has restored Dalton Trumbo's screenplay credit to "Roman Holiday."

The iconic 1953 movie, in which Audrey Hepburn plays a cloistered princess who falls for an American journalist in Rome played by Gregory Peck, was co-written by guild writers Trumbo and his friend Ian McLellan Hunter.

But Trumbo never got a credit for his work on the film because he was blacklisted as part of the Hollywood 10 after refusing to give testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities about communist influence in the industry. He was cited for contempt of Congress and imprisoned.

To continue writing, he had to falsely accuse colleagues of "anti-Americanism" or write using fronts or pseudonyms.

Before McLellan Hunter was himself blacklisted, he volunteered to act as Trumbo's "front," accepting payments for "Roman Holiday" and other films and then secretly passing the money to Dalton, according to the guild.

Dalton's son, the late screenwriter Chris Trumbo, joined with his friend Tim Hunter Jr. -- the son of McLelllan Hunter -- to petition the guild to restore Trumbo's credit for "Roman Holiday." 

After investigating the matter, the guild's board, which had given a story credit to Trumbo in 1991, voted to posthumously give Trumbo a full screenplay credit for "Roman Holiday," sharing the honor with McLellan and John Dighton.

"It's not in our power to erase the mistakes or the suffering of the past,'' WGA, West President Chris Keyser said in a statement. "But we can make amends, we can pledge not to fall prey again to the dangerous power of fear or to the impulse to censor, even if that pledge is only a hope. And, in the end, we can give credit where credit is due."

The story of how the sons of the famous screenwriters worked behind the scenes to get Trumbo credit is told in the January edition of the guild's "Written By" magazine. 

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Actors unions move closer to reaching merger agreement

Hollywood's actors unions are on track to complete a merger agreement by the end of next month, Screen Actors Guild President Ken Howard said.

Emerging from a two-day meeting with representatives of SAG and its smaller sister union, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Howard said Tuesday that the labor groups have made considerable progress and expected to meet a Jan. 22 deadline for completing a merger agreement, a proposed constitution and a dues plan for a joint union.

The plan would then be subject to a ratification vote by members of each organization.

Two previous attempts at a merger of the two unions failed, most recently in 2003. But this time momentum appears to be building on both sides in support of a consolidation that would give the groups more leverage at the bargaining table with studios and end a history of rivalry that has divided the ranks of actors.

Howard declined to discuss details of the meeting held Sunday and Monday in Los Angeles -- one of several held this year to lay ground work for a merger -- but added: "I'm optimistic that it's going to get done." Howard has made merging the unions his top priority.

Although the sides have reached broad agreement in some areas, such as how members and officers should be elected, a number of thorny issues have yet to be agreed upon, including what to name the new union and eliminating duplicative branches or divisions in cities across the country. Much of the legwork will be done in a series of meetings Jan. 6-15.

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Photo: Screen Actors Guild President Ken Howard. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

 

Performers' union negotiates new TV contract

Actors and other performers who appear on such shows as "Saturday Night Live," "Days of Our Lives" and "Dancing with the Stars" would get modest pay raises under a new contract secured by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

AFTRA said Friday night it had negotiated a television contract that provides a 6% increase in wages over three years and a 1% increase in employer contributions to the union's health and retirement funds. The contract covers actors, talk show hosts, singers, dancers and others who work on soap operas, sports programs, talk shows, non prime-time dramas and variety shows.

The agreement with the major broadcast networks and producers replaces a contract that expired last month and had been extended for one year. If ratified by AFTRA members, the new contract would run through Nov. 15, 2014.

The so-called network code is the union’s largest national collective bargaining agreement and accounts for more than $250 million a year in member earnings. AFTRA represents more than 70,000 performers, recording artists and broadcast journalists.

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Photo: Lady Antebellum performs with Oksana Dmytrenko and Sasha Farber in "Dancing with the Stars." Credit: ABC/Adam Taylor.

 

 

Cates' passing marks a blow to Directors Guild of America

The Directors Guild of America has lost one of its stalwarts.

The passing of Gil Cates on Tuesday hit home for the Directors Guild of America, where Cates was an instrumental figure in helping shape the powerful union and its relationship with the studios.

A member of the guild's board since 1975, Cates led the union's negotiations on four occasions, most recently as chair of the negotiating committee that secured a new film and TV contract that took effect July 1. He also led pivotal negotiations during the 2007-2008 writers' strike that helped establish the framework for payment of residuals in new media.

Cates was the union's secretary-treasurer and previously served as its president from 1983 to 1987, where he led the guild's one and only strike in 1987. He helped land the union's first pay-TV contract with HBO and created an agreement covering work in low-budget contracts.

In a recent interview with the DGA magazine, Cates talked about strength of the union: "I know a lot of my friends became involved because they had been really screwed over by a producer or a studio, and the Guild came in and saved them or gave them their cutting rights or something. But for me it was more than that. Every group has a spirit,and the DGA has a certain culture to it."

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Photo: Gil Cates is filmed by a camera crew from the Oprah show backstage at the 77th Academy Awards in Feb. 2005, which he produced. Credit: Al Seib.

 

Hollywood unions, networks and studios mount anti-piracy offensive

Hollywood is launching one of its largest-ever get-out-the-vote campaigns.

A broad coalition of film studios, TV networks and entertainment industry labor groups has launched an education campaign to teach the public about the evils of piracy and prod their employees and union members to support an anti-piracy bill in Washington.

Through internal videos, newsletters, emails and booths set up in company commissaries , media giants such as NBCUniversal, CBS, Viacom, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. are encouraging their employees to join a newly formed group called Creative America, a grass-roots organization launched this summer to muster support in the creative community for tougher anti-piracy legislation.

The group operates a website where visitors can learn more about the effect of content theft on jobs and email letters to their representatives in Congress.

Hollywood has been rallying behind a bill called the Protect IP Act that would give law enforcement more tools to crack down on websites that offer pirated movies and TV shows. The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously supported the bill, which has yet to come up for a full vote.

NBC this week began airing on its various broadcast and cable channels a public service announcement starring stand-up comedian and television writer Tom Papa.

“The message is that Internet theft is simply wrong,” said Rick Cotton, executive vice president and general counsel for NBCUniversal. “It hurts people and has real consequences.”

Labor unions also are heavily involved in the campaign.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents technical workers on film and TV shows, and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists have been sending representatives to visit sets across the country to mobilize cast and crew members to support the Protect IP Act.

“It’s happening in all major production centers across the country,” said Scott Harbinson, international representative for the IATSE. “This is a high priority for us because we really believe piracy is an existential threat to our business. It affects middle-class workers who are earning a middle-class living.”

The Screen Actors Guild also has been distributing Creative America materials to its members, including videotaped messages from board members. "SAG is passionately committed to this grassroots organization...which has brought together a diverse group of entertainment workers to educate the public and our legislators about the serious threat to our livelihood and creativity," former SAG President Richard Masur said.

Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Viacom Inc., said the campaign has united employers and unions in a common cause.

“This is an area where we can come together to protect one of America’s greatest industries that has a trade surplus in every area of the world,” Dauman said in an interview. “We need to do a better job informing our own employees and suppliers as well as the general public about our industry and the really good jobs it supports. We bring a lot of value to communities that we operate in.”

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Photo: Tom Papa in a commercial running on NBC's broadcast network and cable channels. Credit: NBCUniversal

Former SAG pension exec steered fund money to spouse's firm

Trustees for the Screen Actors Guild-Producers Pension and Health Plans are now grappling with another scandal involving a former executive. 

Craig Simmons, the former human resources director at SAG-Producers Pension and Health Plans who was fired in March and accused his boss of steering business to family members, was himself involved in directing money to his spouse's marketing company, Fortress Communications, fund records show.

The payments are likely to draw more scrutiny from federal Labor Department officials, who have been investigating claims that another former senior executive in the plans allegedly embezzled millions of dollars by receiving kickbacks from several companies that did business with the funds. The alleged embezzlement scheme surfaced in a complaint Simmons filed with the U.S. Department of Labor last month charging wrongful termination and other claims.

Fund officials declined to comment on the payments to Fortress, citing a pending investigation of its own into Simmons' allegations.

In an interview, Simmons acknowledged that the payments may not have been appropriate, but he said it was "part of the culture of the organization" and that his bosses were fully aware of the Fortress work.

Read more on the story in today's business section.

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AFTRA and music labels fail to make headway on a new contract

 
After more than a month of negotiations, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists remains in a standoff with the major record labels over a new contract for recording artists.

“Despite more than a month and a half of good faith bargaining with the record labels, the AFTRA Sound Recordings Negotiating Committee has not been able to reach a fair agreement with the record labels that addresses key issues for recording  artists, including health care and pension security and transparency of accounting,'' the union said in a statement. "No further bargaining sessions are scheduled at this time."

Negotiations among AFTRA and representatives from Sony, Universal Music Group, Warner, EMI, Disney and most of their subsidiary labels began Aug. 15, but the sides remain sharply at odds over terms of a new three-year contract to replace one that expires Dec. 31.

Although AFTRA is not on strike, the union's national board has unanimously authorized its negotiating committee to take all actions necessary, including seeking a strike authorization vote from members.

"The AFTRA Negotiating Committee stands ready, willing and able to meet and receive a fair proposal from the major labels in order to resolve a fair contract for the session singers and royalty artists whose talents provide the music that keeps these multibillion dollar corporations in business," the union said.

The contract covers about 14,000 performers, including famous singers like Eminem, background singers, comedians who work on sound recordings and actors who perform for audio books. 

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Photo: Eminem, right and Rihanna are shown during the filming of their music video, "Love the Way You Lie" which is nominated in the new category Best Video with a Message at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 28, 2011. Credit: AP Photo/Interscope Records.