SAG Board Backs Negotiators’ Demands

LOS ANGELES, July 28: Amid
an internal power struggle, the Screen Actors Guild’s (SAG) national board has
backed the efforts of the union’s negotiating team to secure jurisdiction over
online content and better residuals for the reuse of new media.

The board issued its
resolutions over the weekend, stipulating that “core” principles of SAG include
that “no non-union work shall be authorized to be done under any Screen Actors
Guild agreement,” and that “all work under a Screen Actors Guild contract,
regardless of budget level, shall receive fair compensation when reused.”

The resolutions passed
unanimously at a vote of 68-0.

“For some time, we have
been telling the industry how important it is for all new-media productions
under our contract to be done union and how important residuals for made-for
new media programming are when programs are rerun on new media,” said SAG’s
national executive director and chief negotiator, Doug Allen. “I am very
pleased that our National Board today unanimously confirmed these essential
principles in support of our National Negotiating Committee.”

Talks with the Alliance of
Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have stalled since SAG rejected
the organization’s final offer for a new contract. The SAG members are
currently working under the same terms as their previous contract, which
expired June 30. The producers alliance has said that the terms of a new
contract will not be retroactive if it is not approved by August 15.

Meanwhile, rival factions
are looking to assume control of the organization, with elections for a new
board to take place in September. Currently in control of SAG is Membership
First, whose members fill several seats on the board. SAG’s president, Alan
Rosenberg, is also a Membership First member.

A rival group, named Unite
for Strength, formed last week, announcing that 31 of its members would seek
places on the SAG board. A statement from Unite for Strength said it was
seeking to end Membership First’s control over the board, in large part due to
the current regime’s strained ties with the American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

“With the immense
challenges actors face today, we need all the strength we can muster,” said Ned
Vaughn, a leader of the group. “We can no longer afford leaders who sow
division. And that means electing union leadership that is committed to uniting
actors to fight for our common future.”

“As our current
predicament makes clear, actors lose out when we face off as separate, warring
camps against the media conglomerates in contract negotiations,” added Adam
Arkin. “I’m concerned for future negotiations if we don’t change the leadership
that has brought us to this point.”

Arkin is among the
candidates for the board, along with Amy Brenneman, Dulé Hill and Kate Walsh,
among others.

—By Mansha Daswani