Monday, March 31, 2008

Actors unions butt heads over negotiations


By Leslie Simmons
2 hours, 6 minutes ago


LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -
The bad blood between
Hollywood's two major actors' unions reached Hatfield and McCoy
levels during the weekend just as they prepare to negotiate new
labor contracts for their members.

Saturday's stunning decision by the American Federation of
Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) to negotiate its own deal
with the studios rather than in partnership with the bigger and
more-confrontational Screen Actors Guild (SAG) raises the
question of which union will sit down first for formal talks.

The unions' TV-theatrical contract, which they have jointly
negotiated for 27 years, expires on June 30. The studios,
slowly recovering from the 100-day writers' strike, are fearful
of another walkout and are delaying work on projects that could
be interrupted in the summer.

The union that does not negotiate a new contract first with
the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP)
could find itself facing a bigger battle, depending on whether
its proposals are greatly different than what was agreed upon
by the other union.

AFTRA, whose contract covers 44,000 members of both unions,
has been pushing for early talks all along, so it would come as
no surprise if it were first to the table.

Both unions said Sunday that they would be getting in touch
with the AMPTP within the next few days.

"Informal discussions are happening and we expect to set a
timeline soon," AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said.

SAG executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen said
the union plans to call the AMPTP Monday.

"We've discussed it informally with them," Allen said.
"This is what we were waiting for to get started on bargaining:
To get this process finished and for the input of the members
who were all participating."

The AMPTP issued a statement Saturday saying it was pleased
that AFTRA is ready to start formal talks and is determined to
"work hard and bargain reasonably" to avoid another harmful
strike in the industry. The statement made no mention of SAG.
(Hollywood writers walked out for 100 days last year.)

Both unions, however, probably will wait until after the
April 7 start of talks between AMPTP and the Intl. Assn. of
Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents
blue-collar studio workers.

AFTRA's eleventh-hour decision to suspend its joint
bargaining agreement with SAG, known as Phase One, came as both
actors unions were set to vote on a proposal package their
members had been working on since February. Terms of the
package have not been disclosed.

Just last Tuesday and Wednesday, members of both unions'
"wages and working conditions" committees met to put finishing
touches on the package. Word out of those meetings was that
both worked amicably side by side.

But even that characterization had Allen and Reardon
disagreeing. SAG's Allen described the meetings as "energetic"
and "exciting." AFTRA's Reardon said there had been "tensions"
and "disagreements."

The straw that broke the camel's back Saturday, Reardon
said, was the anticipated decision by the cast of the daytime
soap opera
"The Bold and the Beautiful" to circulate a petition
seeking to annul AFTRA's representation of the show's actors.

Several weeks ago, members of the cast approached SAG about
issues they had regarding AFTRA's representation.

"They're fed up that AFTRA has not taken care of their
needs and concerns and that AFTRA has not assisted them in
getting money owed to them," said SAG national board member
Anne-Marie Johnson, also an AFTRA member. "They're fed up with
their health and retirement package, and they know SAG will
assist if they could."

Johnson said the actors were told to bring it up with AFTRA
because SAG taking jurisdiction over the "Bold" actors would be
considered "raiding."


Allen said the guild assured AFTRA it would not assist the
soap opera's cast in their efforts to organize with SAG.


"The timing of this was transparently obvious," Allen said.
"It was incredibly cynical and calculated. It was a flimsy
excuse. SAG was never intent on raiding or representing the
soap opera."


But Reardon said for AFTRA it was clear SAG planned a raid.
She cautioned that the decision to stop jointly bargaining was
not just because of "Bold."


"We had learned about 'The Bold and the Beautiful'
situation but found out quite later in the game that the
situation was much more dire than we first knew," Reardon
explained.


Over the last year, there have been "growing attacks from
the guild" that pushed AFTRA to its boiling point, including
"letters in the screen actors magazine, petitions, elected
leaders of SAG on the sets of our cable shows."


"It's been a very planned campaign to discredit AFTRA and
the decertification petition is the outcome of that," she said.
"You cannot engage in bargaining with employers when you're
sitting at a table with a partner you don't trust. We would
spend more time negotiating with each other than the industry."


Despite the contentious history, Allen denied Reardon's
allegations of a SAG campaign against AFTRA and said it tried
to work with its sister union.


"How is it better for the acting members of the unions to
negotiate separately?" Allen asked. "How is the leverage of the
average working actor increased by negotiating separately as
opposed to together?"


But not every SAG member believes the union's leadership
was that blindsided by AFTRA's decision or will mourn the loss
of the union as a bargaining partner.


"It was only recently that the Hollywood leadership of SAG
was actively working to end our relationship with AFTRA over
the strenuous objections of those of us who knew what the
outcome would be for both unions," said Sam Freed a New York
member who is SAG's second national vp. "Now, after a year of
provocation that has gotten them what they always wanted, they
are placing the blame on everyone but themselves for the
outcome. The current Hollywood leadership of SAG has today
failed all actors."


Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

    This content was originally posted on http://entertainews.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

    No comments: