An Interesting Editorial in the Latest Edition of Backstage West written by Bill Ratner

In 2003, as one of the last merger meetings between SAG and AFTRA was wrapping up, an actor asked an adviser from the AFL-C1O: "What if the merger proposal doesn't fly and it is voted down by the membership?" The adviser answered, "Unless the two unions reconcile their differences, they'll destroy each other."

I thought to myself, "Nah, that can't happen." But since then the virulently anti-merger faction of SAG board members, Membership First, has fired two national executive directors and has found what it seems to want in ex-footballer Doug Allen. In a puzzling warlike stance, Allen is tackling AFTRA, spreading myths in the hopes that if they're told often enough—people will believe them.

Allen authored an 11-page article in the Fall 2007 issue of Screen Actor magazine in which he accuses AFTRA of undercutting SAG's basic-cable agreement, poaching shows, and refusing to reveal its basic-cable contracts. A new SAG-promulgated petition echoes these accusations and calls for the modification of Phase One, the agreement under which SAG and AF'TRA have negotiated major contracts jointly since 1981. Some examples:

Myth: AFTRA's contracts covering scripted basic-cable shows undercut the terms set in SAG's basic-cable agreement.

Truth: SAG and AFTRA have shared jurisdiction in scripted basic-cable since the medium's inception in the early 1980s, but the two unions have chosen different approaches to organizing this work. SAG offers a one-size-fits-all contract regardless of the economics of an individual show. For example, Monk is a SAG-covered basic-cable show with a per-play residual formula. However, it was shot in part in Canada during its first few seasons, benefitting mostly non-SAG Canadian actors. AFTRA has crafted four models for its basic-cable contracts, applicable to a range of production budgets, somewhat like SAG's tiered low-budget film contracts. These AFTRA models are member-negotiated and ratified agreements frequently using terms shared by both unions. This is not undercutting.

Myth: AFTRA is poaching basic-cable shows, which are SAG's territory.

Truth: You cannot poach what you already own. AFTRA has been organizing scripted basic-cable programs since the 1980s. At a meeting held last year in New York, cable-company representatives said they did not want to solidify an industry-wide contract covering basic-cable shows.

Do some of AFTRA's basic-cable deals pay less than an actor would make on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation? Of course. An episode of CSI can have a budget in the millions; an episode of scripted basic-cable is much lower. Do the math. A union performer can make a little less on the back end on an AFTRA basic-cable show shot in the States or can get nothing at all, while, according to AFI'RA's data, approximately 50 percent of SAG basic-cable shown are shot in Canada. Also according to AFTRA, 88 percent of AFTRA scripted basic-cable programs are shot in the United States, mostly in Los Angeles.

Myth: AFTRA won't show SAG its basic-cable contracts.

Truth: SAG and AFTRA leadership met repeatedly this year to discuss SAG's intention to modify Phase One, and AFTRA’s basic-cable contracts were never on the agenda, AFTRA national executive director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth's stated policy is, "Any and all requests for contracts are being honored." AFTRA president Roberta Reardon recently asked members to report names of staff who refuse member contract requests. During the 2005 basic-cable talks with producers, despite Phase One's joint bargaining mandate, SAG refused to allow AFTRA to join the cable talks as a full partner, relegating AFTRA to an "observer" status.

The current factionalism of SAG's Hollywood board has caused a destructive rift. AFTRA members are beginning to realize that the current SAG leadership has a goal to win the hearts and minds of performers away from AFTRA and ultimately dissolve Phase One, which will cause the unions to negotiate separately with producers and advertisers when both unions’ many important contracts expire in 2008.

For the 44,000 dual-card holding SAG and AFTRA members, it is an ill-advised direction that Membership First, SAG president Alan Rosenherg, and Allen appear to be moving in.

Bill Ratner is a working member of SAG and AFTRA and serves on the national and Los Angeles AFTRA boards.