SAG & AFTRA Aren't Negotiating Together After All

[VDOVault]

...I wish I could say I'm surprised about this, but I'm not

In theory the split is in some large part over this story http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bold29mar29,0,2796092.story

However I'm deeply skeptical about that.

The smartest thing I think both unions could and should do in the short term is to let IATSE go negotiate first with the AMPTP...they are scheduled to talk about their deal (which expires in August of 2009) on April 7th. See story here http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982916.html?categoryid=15&...

There's at least one snarky remark about 'April Fools' to be made here but I'll leave that to you all.

I would share strategy about what to do now thanks to the rift, but I am still considering the consequences of it as well as how various positions might play out .

What are others thinking?

[Gollysunshine]

I think IATSE is stupid to negotiate this far ahead ... all that got the DGA was a deal that uncut what the WGA was fighting for, what the actors needed, and seemed to give the studios pretty much everything they wanted. Before the ink was dry they were trotting out all their old shows and putting them on the web. If I had more time, I'd see if they each disappeared before 17 days.

I wonder if this is going to be, watch IATSE give up this time the one thing that the Teamsters had that was good for union solidarity: the right for each individual to decide to cross picket lines.

Didn't Tom Short grandstand enough during the writers strike? Didn't he do enough damage by distortng an LA Times article (hard to believe that somebody could do worse, isn't it?) to make WGA leadership look like monsters and email that to every IATSE member so that much of the BTL got confused over what the WGA was fighting for? Oh, wait, maybe it's because he hasn't been in the news lately...

[VDOVault]

There is something to the idea that IATSE's negotiation timing is way more about Tom Short than it is about the good of all of IATSE's membership.

It is my understanding that like Nick Counter, Short is getting ready to retire and as a legacy wants to leave behind one last completed contract negotiation. the problem with this is a lot can happen between April of 2008 and August of 2009...sixteen months is more than adequate time for an online situation to change from profitable to a money loser. That is a risk that I am unsure whether Short or the whole membership of IATSE really appreciates.

[Carine]

I don't get this. Don't AFTRA leaders realize unity gives power ? Whatever the AMPTP has promised them they will not get it. AFTRA seemed to act like IATSE right now, undermining every other union bargaining chips.
Machiavelli said it perfectly divide and conquer, how stupid can you be not to see this is going to hurt both unions?

[VDOVault]

Well I am disappointed too that the actors will not be negotiating together. I feel especially badly for actors who are dual cardholders because they pay two sets of dues and fees for what is essentially the same service. The more I see of actual contracts under which AFTRA shows are organized, the more inadequacies of payment I see in their agreements and the more concerned I am that the class of people who can make their primary living from acting is destined to shrink unless the actors themselves regardless of their union affiliations and their geographic ties put a stop to the trend.

I would not be surprised to find out at the end of this process we are down to one acting union and a lot more (to my mind anyway) animosity between actors. Unless of course there is a concerted effort on the part of the actors to get past this setback.

[Random Vaughn]

Ok, some of you may remember what I posted a couple days ago saying that the UH is having what I might consider an "Identity Crisis" and I say that for a story just like this!!

Not because these two union aren't working together which I personally think is ... ok well just leave what I think out of this.

But why hasn't there been a UH blog post about this... that more what I'm talking about... where is the voice of the UH?

I think UH blog needs to be more open again and getting blog posting from some of its members etc. Like it did in the early days of the strike.

[VDOVault]

Some really good analysis of this situation:

Strike News 2008? Actor’s Unions Declaration of War

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3/31/2008 - The dramatic divorce of the two leading American unions for actors over the weekend, on the eve of crucial talks for a new contract with top Hollywood studios and networks, comes with its own trumped up incident to justify tearing the two unions apart.

So to the mysterious sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 used as an excuse for the Spanish American War, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 which sparked World War I and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 used by the U.S. to justify a ramping up of the War in Vietnam, we can now add the show biz version with the convenient incident – the faux battle over union jurisdiction of the long-running TV soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

Comparing a union battle in Hollywood to real life wars is a stretch, but it is accurate to say that the decision by AFTRA over the weekend to nullify the 27-year-old Phase One agreement with SAG by which the two guilds negotiate contracts jointly was nothing less than a declaration of war. The battle will be over turf in the new world of converging media. The battle will be fought show by show, which is likely to give producers new leverage in making deals.

That is what scares the activist SAG leadership, who have been beating the drums saying they want an even better deal than the one negotiated on new media by the Directors and Writers. Instead, SAG could find itself playing second fiddle as AFTRA moves to be the first to negotiate separately with the AMPTP, representing major producers and broadcast networks. The current contract with actors expires June 30.

As soon as today, both guilds are expected to be on the phone with the AMPTP lobbying to be the first to start talks. SAG is rightly concerned AFTRA might make a deal that is less than what they want, but that could still force them to make concessions. With the threat that shows can migrate to AFTRA for a better deal, SAG will have to make many more concessions. SAG contends it should go first because its contracts bring in the vast majority of earnings.

However, the AMPTP might well see the wisdom of going into talks with AFTRA first. There is no love lost between the AMPTP and SAG in the wake of the writers 100 day strike. SAG was an early supporter of the WGA job action, and Rosenberg was particularly vocal in his support.

In addition, an attempt to hold the kind of early informal talks between major entertainment company CEOs led by Peter Chernin of News Corp and Robert Iger of Disney that worked with directors and writers appear to have floundered with actors, and has now ended.

This rupture is part of a long term shift that has increasingly pitted the guilds not just against those who want to be non-union, but also against each other. It used to be relatively simple to define an AFTRA show from a SAG show. AFTRA was shot on video or was live TV. SAG was shot on film, whether it was a movie or TV show. Now film is being phased out and both movies and TV shows are increasing shot with electronic media, whether it is recorded on tape, a DVD or in the memory of a powerful computer. While the guilds insist they know how to define which show should be the jurisdiction of which guild, there have been a number of incidents in recent months that show the truth is the opposite.

While AFTRA still represents live news, taped programming and radio and such programs as “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show”: on NBC and “The Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS, it has also extended its reach to four dramas and comedies such as “‘Til Death” on Fox and “Rules of Engagement” on CBS.

The skirmishes in this war have already begun. As SAG has tried to unionize reality and game shows, in the end it has been AFTRA or IATSE that has made most of the deals. In other words, faced with the need to affiliate with some union, these producers have opted for the AFTRA contract which is much less expensive for them or in animation a deal with IATSE. Among other things, an AFTRA contract pays lower and fewer residuals to actors.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg called the move by AFTRA a power grab that has been in planning for a long time. He said AFTRA will sell out actors with their low-ball contracts. “I think what AFTRA’s done is unconscionable,” said Rosenberg, “and I’m sick of getting lectures about trust from them. I’m furious about what they’ve done.”

Rosenberg was responding to comments by AFTRA President Roberta Reardon who insisted it was SAG that was trying to smear AFTRA. She called the last straw alleged efforts by SAG to steal away jurisdiction of soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful.” “We can’t trust SAG,” said Reardon. “Their leaders have engaged in a concerted effort to tarnish AFTRA’s reputation and diminish our standing.”

Actually, it seems that AFTRA is the one who has questions to answer. After months of rancor, the two guilds had come together in recent weeks to determine what they would demand in upcoming negotiations with the AMPTP. Now as the process has finally finished, and it is time to start the actual negotiations with producers, the AFTRA leaders bring up the “Bold & Beautiful” situation. AFTRA treats this as if SAG has done them some great wrong suddenly, even though there is evidence they have known all about the B&B situation for some weeks.

In addition, SAG denies it went after the soap opera in any case. The SAG board over the weekend even passed a resolution making clear they agree that AFTRA has jurisdiction over soap operas, including “The Bold & Beautiful.”

What happened is that an actress on the soap [Susan Flannery who is a member of both AFTRA & SAG] has been passing around a petition which if successful would have stripped AFTRA of its jurisdiction, and opened the door for SAG. There was a meeting by some dissident actors from the show with top SAG officials, but those SAG officials insist all they did was tell the actors to take their complaints to AFTRA. The AFTRA execs now say SAG did not promptly notify them about the meeting, and acted against their interests.

AFTRA officials have been fuming for a year over an attempt by SAG to change the way each union was to be represented in upcoming negotiations under Phase One protocols. Under the deal as it has stood since the 1980s, the two sides have had equal numbers of representatives in the negotiations, even though SAG has larger membership, and has much broader jurisdiction areas.

Under activist leadership on the Hollywood guild board, SAG asked AFTRA to scale back its representation so it was more proportionate. That enraged AFTRA and set in motion a battle over whether they would continue to negotiate jointing.

Phase One is the name given to the process because as long ago as 1981, it was intended to be the first step to a combination of the two guilds into a single union for actors. Instead, in a couple of contentious battles, SAG members have voted down a merger over and over. In fact, the current AFTRA management blames the current SAG leadership for the last failure in 2000, when they provided strong opposition within the guild.

SAG has only recently agreed to go back to the original formula, just to keep the two working together. If AFTRA does their own low ball deal, it will be a nightmare for SAG. Not only would it threaten any additional gains, it might even make it difficult to live up to the promises by which Rosenberg and his group came to power.

Even within SAG there is a split over what to do. The SAG New York board sides with AFTRA and blames the Hollywood board for fermenting problems with their demands to change Phase One. For years there has been friction between the SAG board in Hollywood and its counterpart in New York, but things seemed to have calmed down. Now that battle is renewed as well.

This has to be good news for the AMPTP and producers looking to cut deals that will save them money and pump up their profits at the expense of highly paid actors. It may also be the beginning of a long term battle for jurisdiction and market share between SAG and AFTRA that could overtime change the balance of power in Hollywood. Instead of being focused on going up against the producers, the guilds will now be sidetracked by their own intra-guild warfare.

Think of SAG as a big department store that has fine merchandise at premium prices. Then think of AFTRA as the Walmart store coming to town and skimming off cost conscious shoppers. Over time that erodes the position of SAG, and could even threaten the guilds existence as a powerful force in show business. Remember Robinsons, May Stores and Gimbels department stores. They are no longer around to tell the story of what can happen when a competitor undercuts their economic model. Applied to Hollywood, that has to send a chill through SAG.

[PamelaJaye]

>What are others thinking?

I think you should have a blog :-)
You're always on top of this stuff, and you always attempt to explain to those of us who are laymen, what it's all about. And, as far as I can tell, so far you've been correct (and simple enough)

I know I tried to read one of the links you sent me today (while I was at chat, which was next to impossible) and there were at least 3 paragraphs of how great everyone was (not quite spin, but sort of) - before they got down to the who, what, when, where, why and how.

Maybe those in the business who want to toot their own horns have time to read that slop, but in order to make anyone in the outside world (the *real* world) care - it's gotta be shorter and simpler. (and have definitions. and okay, you didn't write this last article, but it was pretty good with the explanations)

Also as someone said - this was the way UH used to be - one stop to get the news of what was going on (and, I'll add, be able to understand it). People have to understand, if you want them to support, and while this round may be totally different from the WGA round, I think at least some of the fans would still like to be supportive. But we can't be, if we don't know - and you write great pieces - but you tend to write them in various places (fans4writers? live journal, UH). It would be great if you could write them (or copy them to) (or link others') all in one place.