ALERT: To All SAG Members!!!

Something Happened at the Last SAG National Board Plenary Meeting

And It Must Be Stopped!

At this moment, tens of thousands of SAG members will have NO say in our contract negotiations. If we allow this decision to stand, SAG and AFTRA members will be in a position we haven’t been in since 1980. We could go into negotiations in 2008 and find that one union agrees to a contract, while the other goes on strike. YOU and I could be instructed by one of our unions to go to work, while the other tells us we will be in violation of its rules if we do.

THEN

On September 15th, 1981, the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA entered into an agreement called "Phase One" which mandated that the unions would jointly negotiate contracts where they had overlapping jurisdictions (TV, Commercials, Non-Broadcast), and do so as a single entity. Phase One also mandates that the Negotiating Committees be made up of 50% SAG and 50% AFTRA members. Each union names its own committee members and each member of the committee has "one vote in each ballot taken." There is only ONE committee and all are equal members of it, regardless of which union sent them.

After the negotiations are completed, a referendum is sent out to the members for their approval or rejection. Every rank and file member gets one vote, whether they are members of AFTRA, SAG, or BOTH - ONE vote. So, the clear intention of Phase One was to have the members of both AFTRA and SAG act as One for the purposes of negotiating and ratifying our major contracts.

NOW

On July 28th, 2007, in a closely divided vote, the SAG National Board adopted a major revision to Phase One. All SAG members of the Phase One Negotiating Committees will now "unit vote." This means that SAG members will vote – separately from AFTRA - on all motions, and the majority vote among the SAG members of the committee will be announced as the unanimous position of 100% of the SAG members.

Every SAG member of any Phase One committee will be required to sign a statement that he/she will commit to "unit vote." If any member of SAG refuses to sign this loyalty oath, she/he will not be allowed to serve on the committee. There will be no independent thought or dissent allowed among the SAG committee members. No minority opinions, let alone "minority reports" in SAG.

Phase One has virtually been eradicated without the membership of the Guild being given a chance to vote on it . In 1981, a 94% majority of voting SAG members passed a referendum to ratify Phase One! The National Board must not reverse what WE decided without asking US first.

The Hollywood Board "leadership" and Doug Allen, SAG’s new National Executive Director, have decided that SAG Hollywood should dictate all of the terms of all of our contracts from now on. Plain and simple, that is what this action is designed to do.

WHY

The Hollywood leadership chooses the majority of the SAG members on each of these committees. Under these "unit voting" rules, anything that the Hollywood committee members decide will automatically become the decision of the entire committee. Even if all the members from NY and the Branches vote in opposition, their votes will be ignored. The Hollywood majority will register its vote on behalf of all of SAG. NY and the Branches will have no voice whatsoever in the outcome, and neither will the tens of thousands of SAG members they represent. Nor will the many Hollywood members who don't agree with the policies of the Hollywood leadership.

SO MUCH FOR DEMOCRACY

AFTRA will never agree to this arrangement. The prime reason for Phase One was to create a single unified entity to negotiate contracts in areas where the two unions share jurisdiction. That will be destroyed by "unit voting." AFTRA will have no choice but to deal with reality – Phase One will no longer exist.

IS IT TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING TO STOP THIS CALAMITY?

Maybe not. President Alan Rosenberg and National Executive Director Doug Allen need to hear from us and quickly. Please, contact them and say:

1) You will not honor any action taken by a negotiating committee in which your representatives are not permitted to vote their individual consciences.

2) You do not support "unit voting" as it will end Phase One without YOUR permission.

Doug Allen
dallen@sag.org or
(323) 549-6555

Alan Rosenberg
president@sag.org or
(323) 549-6675

Please send a copy of whatever you send to: sagfirebird1@sbcglobal.net