In November of 2005, the Hollywood Board of the Screen Actors Guild voted to remove SAG Pension and Health Trustee Claudette Sutherland from her position for exercising her right to free speech. No one - repeat - NO ONE accused her of being derelict in her duties as a trustee working tirelessly on behalf of the membership. She simply had the audacity to say something on this blog that Membership First didn't like.

After three months, Ms. Sutherland has finally received official notification of her dismissal. Once again, Ms. Sutherland speaks...

Dear colleagues of every stripe...

I've been thinking long and hard about whether to post anything at all. The cons? Most information from both sides of the aisle are clouded with years of angst and outrage which eventually has collapsed into name calling and blame, rendering any effort at candor doomed from the start. Communications have broken down, not over content and facts but spin and sophomoric drama. That being said, why in the world would I want to post anything at all? Because I want to be able to say that I completed my responsibility in service to the members--something that most people on both sides have shamelessly let slide. I am not going to change any minds, illuminate any understanding. What will happen is that people who agree with me and know me will take this for what it is, people who do not agree with me and most of whom do not know me, will take the same message and use it to shore up their political agendas. In any case, I personally will be out of the mix. For me, I am using this as a good-bye. Much like one likes to leave their house clean and tidy for the new owners, I too, would like to sweep the floors clean and leave it fresh for the new tenant.

I have been in service to the Guild for over 32 years. I have served as all of us do, without pay and I have found it deeply rewarding and gratifying to give to a business that has been good to me and which I respect with all my heart. For 11 of those years I served as trustee of the P&H Board for Screen Actors Guild. I must say, of all the arenas in which I served, that was the most rewarding because there, both sides of the table came together to look out for members’ best and most personal interests--health care and pensions, both of which are in crisis nationwide. Management and labor sat together united by law and fiduciary responsibility to do the best to protect members where they would be most vulnerable. Both sides were made better because of this common goal and we benefitted from the opportunity to understand each other in ways that do not necessarily exist in the landscape of business and profit.

I was replaced as trustee recently. The manner in which it was done was shoddy. You have probably read my postings here describing how that took place. I was brought under personal attack for my personal opinions posted on this blog rather than any issues of merit. This is what I resent. In the history of the P&H Board, only one member has been replaced for reasons other than death or retirement and that person was replaced because of bad attendance. My personal opinions were used to sway a vote in the Hollywood boardroom, a vote that could have just been taken without any window dressing. I, or any other trustee from labor can be replaced at the discretion of the board at any time. It is not a big deal, it doesn't require any reason or rationale, it can just be done, plain and simple. Then why not go ahead and do it without impugning my reputation? I am not discussing whether I or any trustee should be given a lifetime position, that is something to be decided in another place, but I am discussing that stepping on any member's free speech issues is one that should I hope, alarm members. Sadly, most members, like most Americans, do not and will not be alarmed until something disturbs their personal space or reaches into their own pocketbook.

But, I will not be the only one affected. In fact, I am not the only one. The New York leadership is being trounced in the same way. Let me point out that the reason this bears any discussion at all, is not because of the rightness or wrongness of any of the political players (myself included) but because it is slamming the members’ personal rights with each small attack--the ones who are not in the rooms, who do not have access to information, who frankly simply trust that it will all sort itself out--those members are the ones who will suffer from this reckless behavior. I am not a big enough fish in the business, nor is this recent episode enough of a big deal in the overall scheme of things for membership to begin to understand how crucial these small affronts are to them personally. But with the landscape laid for this kind of abuse, without question it is only a matter of time until more significant and profound breaches of ethics and principles take place.

But here's the tragedy: through it all, the focus is completely skewed away from the technologically changing world in which we work...a world brand new and completely unlike anything that any of us have experienced...skewed away from globalization and the effect it is having on the entire industry (not just actors). The delivery systems for entertainment are moving faster than the speed of sound and we dally here still festering in a "he said, she said" mentality while soon the entertainment source will be small enough to be held in our hands on cell phones, further distancing us from the industry and from each other. That's not a bad thing, it is simply a "thing" for which we are already unprepared. And arguably a "thing" that would have benefitted by our being together. Consolidation, remember?

Our union needs a marriage counselor, some decent and dedicated therapy or maybe a 12 Step program! Power Anonymous. Just what do you think the chances of that are?
Still, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I'm out of here and those of you who are pleased by that, then it's your turn in the barrel. And those of you who are disturbed by my being gone, well, we see each other all the time anyway, don't we? Because here's the deal; we have become fast and dear friends. And that's the best of what service has brought me.

Thanks for the use of the hall.

Claudette Sutherland