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Lame SAG tactics

Question:

That’s something I hear from a lot of people in the musicians union. I don’t think you should judge ALL unions by your bad experience in one. If and when you join the actors’ unions, then you would be qualified to speak about the actors unions. I’m sure you’d find it much different. Drama Queen – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Sorry, I was in the musicians union for ten years and they did nothing for anyone, just sucked up your dues and bitched a lot. and these were old men who were lifers…. K. I think unions suck. I just hope this has all been worth it. I better go get you some bandages… Carl — "Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my hair the most." – CASalonen Before you buy.

– "Intellectuals cause a great deal of trouble trying to do it all with the mind. It is the heart that counts."             — Louise Bogan

Response:

Sorry, I was in the musicians union for ten years and they did nothing for anyone, just sucked up your dues and bitched a lot. and these were old men who were lifers…. K.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I think unions suck. I just hope this has all been worth it. I better go get you some bandages… Carl — "Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my hair the most." – CASalonen Before you buy.

Response:

chan:  a union united will not be divided.

Good …. makes it a lot easier to bury.

Response:

I think unions suck. I just hope this has all been worth it. K.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – chan:  a union united will not be divided. Good …. makes it a lot easier to bury.

Response:

I think unions suck. I just hope this has all been worth it.

I better go get you some bandages… Carl — "Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my hair the most." – CASalonen Before you buy.

Response:

I got news for ya…SAG is already loseing this war by dragging it out and not winning it swiftly. By the time 2001 roles around many Union members will have lost faith LONG before then. SAG better take stronger action  now. R

Unless you are a Guild member, AND on the picket lines and at the rallys, your comments are worthless. Chandler, a union united will not be divided.

Response:

Dear R, SAG won’t strike everything untill 2001 with the screenwriters??

THIS strike deals with commercials. WGA’s contract comes up in May 2000; SAG’s contract on film comes in June 2000. Different contracts, different dates, different mandates and participants.  SAG is not waiting for WGA’s possible strike in May.  SAG has a contract with film producers until June 2000.  Unions don’t strike, CANNOT strike until a contract expires.  And whether you realize it or not, NONE of the unions involved want to strike.  And if push comes to shove, they will. Get it? 2001???? I got news for ya…SAG is already loseing this war by dragging it out and not winning it swiftly. By the time 2001 roles around many Union members will have lost faith LONG before then. SAG better take stronger action now.

Such wisdom!  Please share your strategy! Where did you get the notion that SAG can end this strike Monday, and WIN anything?  The producers walked out on SAG’s good faith effort to offer a compromise.  Do you hear that, PRODUCERS walked out on collective bargaining, insisting that SAG/AFTRA give into their demands. If both sides were to end the strike on producer’s terms this week, actors across the nation will lose many of the hard-earned benefits of the last 50 years.   So, R, if SAG agrees to surrender residuals and conform to the producer’s proposals for buyouts, kindly tell me how SAG wins? Break a leg, Bill — THE ACTING STUDIO http://gvtg.com/theactingstudio

Response:

SAG won’t strike everything untill 2001 with the screenwriters?? 2001???? I got news for ya…SAG is already loseing this war by dragging it out and not winning it swiftly. By the time 2001 roles around many Union members will have lost faith LONG before then. SAG better take stronger action now. R Before you buy.

Response:

PRESS Panic Strikes Hollywood! -WASHINGTON POST By Sharon Waxman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday , August 10, 2000 LOS ANGELES  As actors striking over payment for commercials near their fourth month out of work–with no end in sight–panic is beginning to set in around Hollywood with the realization that a similar job action could shut down film and television production next year. Across the entertainment industry, studios are scrambling to put projects into the pipeline to be sure they’ll have movies to release next year. Television production houses are trying to finish extra episodes in anticipation of a work stoppage by actors and screenwriters, both of whose unions will renegotiate their contracts in 2001. In the current labor dispute, actors want to be paid residual fees every time their commercials air on cable television. That’s the same system that applies to network TV. Advertisers, claiming ever-narrower television and cable audiences, want to replace the pay-per-play residuals with flat fees that represent a modest raise. (it’s actually a PAYCUT) The same issues are expected to be on the table next June, when the studios’ contract with the two major acting unions, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, expires. A similar contract between the studios and the Writers Guild of America expires in May. "All the studios are well aware that they are facing the potential of two strikes, God forbid," said Susan Tick, a spokeswoman for Columbia Pictures. "We are trying to get everything done and wrapped up by a June deadline. You don’t want to be halfway through a project when the strike hits." Because movies take so long to shoot, edit and release, studios are hurrying to begin movies now to have "product," as they call it, to release in the fall and winter of 2001. "We’re taking the possibility of a strike very seriously; we are aggressively preparing for it," said Barbara Brogliatti, a spokeswoman at Warner Bros. Like executives at other studios, Brogliatti declined to outline Warner’s strategy, but noted that one Christmas 2001 release, the animated "Osmosis Jones," is almost done, and "Angel Eyes," starring Jennifer Lopez, is about to begin production. "Nobody wants to be caught off guard," she said. At 20th Century Fox, directives have been issued to push movies into production as quickly as possible, with a warning that no productions will be permitted to begin after March. "We are reviewing our schedule," one senior executive said on condition of anonymity, adding that " ’stockpile’ is too strong a word." Talent agencies are similarly jockeying to get their clients signed on to projects as soon as studios offer a green light, and are using the tightened deadlines as negotiating tools. To the dismay of many, the expectation of a strike next year has taken on an air of inevitability throughout Hollywood. "A certain fatalism has infiltrated the community, which does not augur well for Hollywood’s future," Variety Editor Peter Bart wrote this week. "The cost of a strike, or series of strikes, would be devastating, affecting not only those engaged directly in movies and TV–some 250,000 at last count–but also those in the myriad support mechanisms." Along with the dispute over residual payments, the two sides also have failed to agree on a system of payment for performances shown on the Internet–a burgeoning area of entertainment that has yet to prove its commercial worth to movie studios. The Internet and cable issues will be central in negotiations for movies and television shows, and there is no consensus on a direction for resolving them. Hence the fear of strikes. Said Brogliatti: "We’re dealing with philosophical changes, with breaking new ground. That makes negotiations more difficult, because neither side wants to make a mistake." While actors claim that in the best of economic times they deserve a raise, the studios are expected to say that production costs are rising and the financial risks of releasing movies and creating new television shows are already huge. The other complication is that the multimedia conglomerates that now own the Hollywood studios and television networks–Vivendi, Sony, Time Warner and Viacom among them–don’t seem to be paying much attention to the current work stoppage and the potential for disruption next year. In years past, Hollywood’s most powerful mogul, Lew Wasserman, the former MCA studio chief, would usually step in and moderate disputes that threatened to torpedo the industry. That’s not the case with the multinational companies running things. "Their interests are so vast, their scenarios so conflicting, that the potential shutting down of Hollywood may actually fall below the radar until the point of no return," Bart wrote. This awareness has also riled the unions, which have been watching their strike funds dwindle perilously low over the past four months. "This used to be more a local thing," said SAG spokesman Greg Krizman with a sigh. "Now you have foreign ownership, people in France and Japan and God knows where else, where the studios or TV arms are just one facet of a multifaceted corporation. . . . How much do the corporate owners know about the business?" Meanwhile, negotiations between lawyers for the advertisers’ associations and the acting unions remain at a standstill. Two days of talks in late July led to no progress, and there has been no further contact except for dueling press releases accusing each side of intransigence. As for the actors, 2,000 of whom showed up at the Palladium Theater in Hollywood this week for a rally, the prospect of another strike next year is understandably exhausting. "It’s wearing. It’s very emotional," said actress Sally Kirkland. "It feels like somebody out there is trying to bust our union, to take away our benefits. It feels emotionally like it’s a lot of corporate greed."

Response:

Does SAG have no clue? They’re mad at the AICP so to get their word out the fire off an agry letter in Shoot magazine. Why does SAG not take out ads in LA Times or NY Times or the Wall Street Journal? Where are the PSA’s on TV calling for support? IF I DIDN’T LIVE IN CALIFORNIA I WOULDNT KNOW A STRIKE WAS EVEN ON. I keep reading on the SAG webpage how "we’re playing hardball now" REally? I didn’t know the game was even on? Shaq does a commercial – but then he said he was sorry so it’s ok. Boy, that sure is hardball. I guess everyone can cross the picket line as long as they say they are sorry after the check clears. Time to start serious hardball. shut down the production of "friends" and see how fast SAG wins. R Before you buy.

Response:

Does SAG have no clue? They’re mad at the AICP so to get their word out the fire off an agry letter in Shoot magazine. Why does SAG not take out ads in LA Times or NY Times or the Wall Street Journal? Where are the PSA’s on TV calling for support?

unions attempting to drum up support for an unfair wage increase aren’t allowed PSA status.  the Public is done a DISService by their strike.  in the unlikely event SAG wins the strike concerning a wage increase, the added costs will be passed on to consumers as increased prices for goods. IF I DIDN’T LIVE IN CALIFORNIA I WOULDNT KNOW A STRIKE WAS EVEN ON. I keep reading on the SAG webpage how "we’re playing hardball now" REally? I didn’t know the game was even on? Shaq does a commercial – but then he said he was sorry so it’s ok. Boy, that sure is hardball. I guess everyone can cross the picket line as long as they say they are sorry after the check clears. Time to start serious hardball. shut down the production of "friends" and see how fast SAG wins.

‘friends’ isn’t paid according to the SAG commercial contract.  still, advertising does pay their salaries. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – R Before you buy.

Response:

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