Self-described ‘working class actor’ John Cygan offers his take on the deal that AFTRA signed and why SAG should not agree to that same deal. What do you think?
Posts Tagged ‘AFTRA’
A Working Class Actor Looks At The Deal That AFTRA Signed
February 11th, 2009RESCUE THE PERISHING – TXMPA TARGETS LEGISLATIVE ACTION
February 11th, 2009
FROM: Drew Mayer-Oakes, TXMPA Legislative Committee
We are fast approaching the Texas Motion Picture Alliance Lobby Day
for 2009. Thank you for your participation last session – we need
your help again. If you are able to volunteer again, the TXMPA needs
you! Lobby Day is March 4th, with orientation and training for new
team members the evening of March 3rd, in Austin. This year we are
signing up on a fantastic volunteer management system, so please take
a moment to register at http://txmpa.volunteerhub.com . Once you sign
up on this system, we will make assignments based on your home
address, so be sure to include that. The form is really
self-explanatory.
And if you are already planning on coming, please SIGN UP so that we
can communicate with you directly about your legislative assignments.
Here are the details:
Lobby Day Sign-up!
Time to get off the mark, get on the bus, get your act together and
let your voice be heard. Time to sign up for LOBBY DAY!
Click here http://txmpa.volunteerhub.com) and sign up for training and
assignments on March 3 and 4!
We’ll ask you where you live and assign you to a team that will
visit four or five members of the Texas Legislature on March 4.
TXMPA LOBBY DAY AGENDA:
Tuesday March 3rd – Volunteers arrive in Austin
Check in at Austin Studios, 1901 E. 51st Street, 78723
7:00 PM – Welcome
7:30 PM – Training/orientation for volunteers
Wednesday, March 4th -
7:30 AM – Lobby Day Rally at the Capitol – south steps
Join members of the Austin Alliance http://www.theallianceaustin.com)
and show support for competitive incentives. Wear something red!
9:00 AM – 11:30AM – Capitol office visits
11:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Break
1:30 PM – 5:00 PM – Capitol office visits
Make your hotel reservations 2/13 at the special $89 rate!
Clarion Inn & Suites Conference Center
2200 IH 35 S.
Austin, Texas 78704
512-444-0561, 877-424-6423
Tell them you are with the Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA) to get
our group rate.
Sincerely,
Drew Mayer-Oakes, TXMPA Legislative Committee
TEXAS MOTION PICTURE ALLIANCE
Actor Scott Wilson and David Clennon on SAG, Residuals and the AMPTP
February 6th, 2009You probably know the names Scott Wilson and David Clennon, but even if you don’t immediately snap to their name, you’ll surely know their faces. Each of these men has a long and impressive body work as professional actors. Their comments on the importance of residual income are comments that I agree with wholeheartedly. Check out this video:
The WGA responds to the AMPTP “check is in the mail” press release
December 2nd, 2008“The facts of this matter are simple and straight forward. The WGA attempted for eight months, since March, to address via dialogue the AMPTP’s erroneous interpretation of our February agreement. These efforts included a number of conversations between the Guild’s executive director and at least one of the CEOs who made the deal with the WGA, as well as multiple conversations over months with the top executives of the AMPTP, all to no avail. We will now go to arbitration to force compliance, and we expect to prevail.
“While the date the arbitration was filed was not related to negotiations between SAG and the AMPTP, it is important to point out that the AMPTP apparently had no qualms about announcing its “deal” with the IATSE on the day prior to the mediation with SAG, obviously timed to impact on those discussions. The WGA, like everybody else in this industry, is extremely anxious about those negotiations and hopeful that the AMPTP will reach a fair and reasonable agreement with SAG quickly.”
Open Letter From SAG to Membership
December 2nd, 2008
Dear Screen Actors Guild Member,
In an “open letter” full-page ad published today in the Los Angeles Times, eight entertainment industry CEO’s whose annual salaries and bonuses exceed the amount needed to achieve labor peace for our industry asked why SAG wants a better deal than the other Hollywood guilds.
What they conveniently left out is the fact that the deal they are offering includes rollbacks no other guilds had to accept. Those other deals also included new media loopholes that would prevent SAG actors from sharing in the studios’ success in any meaningful way when this technology inevitably explodes. To find out how our proposals are different — not better or worse — but simply different than other unions’ deals, go to http://www.sag.org/tvtheatrical-negotiat… and download “Questions and Answers Regarding Negotiations” and “Fact Checking the AMPTP.”
A generation ago we cut the AMPTP slack in crafting a video deal under the assumption that it would be revisited and made fair once the technology took off. But for more than two decades the AMPTP continued to give us only a tiny sliver of the billions of dollars of windfall revenue they made selling videocassettes and DVDs.
For SAG members, the question is this: Do you trust the AMPTP? As our colleagues at the Writers Guild of America are learning, the AMPTP has its own interpretation of the deals it makes.
SAG does not want a strike. We made the decision to seek a strike authorization only after the AMPTP continued to stonewall through negotiations and mediation.
Now, the AMPTP is attempting to use today’s economic uncertainty to intimidate us into signing away our future for decades to come. Meanwhile, they spent $100,000 on an ad!
Obviously, we have their attention. Send the AMPTP a message by approving a strike authorization to empower SAG’s national board, so the AMPTP knows that we mean business.
SAG and AMPTP MEDIATION FAILS – STRIKE VOTE COMING
November 23rd, 2008
For some reason a couple of recent posts have disappeared so I’m republishing the following information. The sessions between SAG, AMPTP and a federal MEDIATOR went nowhere last week and now SAG is saying it will ask the membership for a strike authorization vote. Even though I have no desire to see a strike, I also feel that the current contract offer from the AMPTP is not only inadequate it is designed to undermine the entire residuals system that accounts for much of any film/tv actor’s income.
Add in the fact that the WGA is threatening a suit vs the AMPTP for not paying residuals on so called NEW MEDIA content as required in the contract that AMPTP insists is their ‘last best offer’ to SAG and the situation just gets muddier.
HERE’S THE SAG STATEMENT:
“Our leadership was optimistic that federal mediation would help to move our negotiations forward, but despite the Guild’s extraordinary efforts to reach agreement, the mediation was adjourned shortly before 1:00 AM today.
“Management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept on behalf of our members. As previously authorized by the National Board of Directors, we will now launch a full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization referendum. We will further inform our members about the core, critical issues unique to actors that remain in dispute.
“We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement. Now it’s time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.
“We remain committed to avoiding a strike but now more than ever we cannot allow our employers to experiment with our careers. The WGA has already learned that the new media terms they agreed to with the AMPTP are not being honored. We cannot allow our employers to undermine the futures of our members and their families.
“No timeline has been set for the mailing or return of the strike authorization ballots.”
And the AMPTP RESPONSE:
“The AMPTP accepted the federal mediator’s invitation to meet with SAG in hopes of concluding our seventh major agreement of 2008. The Producers met for two days with SAG at the request of federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez. The parties were unable to reach an agreement and the mediator has adjourned the mediation process.”
SAG TO AMPTP: YOU WON’T TALK, WE’RE TAKING A STRIKE VOTE
October 2nd, 2008Los Angeles, CA (October 1, 2008) – The National TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee of Screen Actors Guild today passed the following advisory motion to the National Board:
“Whereas, Screen Actors Guild has been and remains willing and able to continue formal and continuous negotiations with the AMPTP and the employers, with the intention of reaching a mutually-acceptable deal; and
Whereas, the National Board has unanimously identified the core principles of new media jurisdiction and new media residuals as essential elements of any agreement in the Television/Theatrical contract negotiations; and
Whereas, preservation of longstanding force majeure protections for actors is of self-evident importance; and
Whereas, the President and Chief Negotiator have communicated this view to the AMPTP and the employers, and have requested that they return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair deal; and
Whereas, the AMPTP and the employers have refused to change their position and have continued to refuse to meet to attempt to advance the negotiations; and
Whereas, in the opinion of the National Negotiating Committee, the AMPTP and the employers will only seriously engage in further negotiations after the members of the Guild express their confidence in their leadership by authorizing them to take all actions necessary to protect the interests of the membership, including a strike; and
Whereas, although the National Board has already unanimously delegated the authority to take a strike authorization vote to the National Negotiating Committee, in the opinion of the Committee, the strong and public support of the National Board for the necessity of a strike authorization at this time is a necessary prerequisite for its success;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Negotiating Committee that:
A strike authorization vote of the membership is necessary to overcome the employers’ intransigence, and the Committee therefore recommends that the National Board authorize such a vote be taken; and further recommends:
That the National Board adopt a resolution strongly supporting such an action, and recommending that the membership vote in favor of a strike authorization; and
That the National Board endorse an educational campaign advocating a “yes” membership vote, to give the authority to the National Board to call a strike only if the National Board deems it necessary and unavoidable to do so. “
Adopted: October 1, 2008
