In SAG Poll, Members Reject AMPTP Offer

LOS ANGELES, September 18: Of the some 10,300 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) members who responded to a mail-in poll—less than 10 percent of its base—87.3 percent said the union should keep negotiating for a better deal.

According to the union, just 12.7 percent of the respondents wanted to accept the June 30 offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

SAG sent postcards to 103,630 SAG members on August 28 and had a 9.9-percent rate of return.

SAG’s president, Alan Rosenberg, stated, “I am encouraged to see that members-at-large agree with the strategy of the national board and their national negotiating committee. This membership poll provides clear insight and direction concerning how actors feel about their futures. Clearly they expect Screen Actors Guild to protect them from exploitation in new media, and to preserve longstanding principles and contract provisions.”

Doug Allen, the union’s national executive director and chief negotiator, added, “Our objective was to take the pulse of our members and I am pleased that the response reflects the resolve we have seen from SAG members around the country throughout this negotiating process. The AMPTP suggested we send their June 30 offer to our members to ratify. These poll results indicate that was wishful thinking on their part. We will now urge the AMPTP to roll up their sleeves and to put in the hard work required to bargain a fair, equitable agreement as soon as possible.”

The Hollywood producers reacted strongly to the results of the SAG poll. “The mass postcard mailing by SAG negotiators was a farce,” the AMPTP said in a statement. “The questions were devised to give SAG negotiators only the answer they wanted to hear. The materials accompanying the postcard were hopelessly one-sided. SAG member votes were recorded by name, exposing those who opposed SAG negotiators to possible retribution. And some SAG members reportedly received multiple ballots. In short, this mass postcard mailing was another exercise in futility by SAG’s negotiators, and the results are meaningless. We have made a fair offer, with significant gains in salary and new media. That offer remains on the table, for the time being, despite steadily deteriorating economic conditions. In the meantime, we and all of the other industry guilds have gone back to work, and SAG members continue to miss out on the benefits of a new contract.”

—By Mansha Daswani