Thursday, July 30, 2009

SAG COLORADO BRANCH ANNOUNCES ELECTION RESULTS

SAG'S PRESS RELEASE:
Los Angeles (July 30, 2009) - Screen Actors Guild today announced results for the Colorado Branch elections.
*Candidates elected from the Colorado Branch include:
David Hartley-Margolin - National Board Member - three-year termJohn Singer - President - three-year termWilliam A. McLain - Vice President - three-year termNancy Flanagan - Recording Secretary/Treasurer - three-year termDenis Berkfeldt - Council Member at Large - three-year termNita Froelich - Council Member at Large - three-year termMichael R. Kindig - Council Member at Large - three-year term
Those members elected as President, Vice President, Recording Secretary/Treasurer and Council Members at Large will also be elected as Alternate National Directors who may be called upon to serve at National Board Meetings when the National Board member from the Colorado Branch is unavailable to attend.
The candidates named today ran unopposed and were elected without the necessity of ballot vote pursuant to the Branch Rules of Procedure. The newly elected leaders will assume office on September 25, 2009.
Elections are being conducted in other SAG Branches and divisions across the country with all ballots tabulated no later than September 24. The results of those elections will be reported when completed.

MEMBERSHIP FIRST'S NEW YORK CANDIDATES BRANDED "SAGNOW!"

SAGNOW!'s PRESS RELEASE:
NY ACTORS ANNOUNCE GUILD BOARD ELECTION SLATE:
Solidarity And Gains NOW!
A new exciting slate of New York actors, running as independent candidates for seats on the Screen Actors Guild National Board, has just been announced.
The slate is called Solidarity And Gains NOW! and is also known as SAGNOW!.This dynamic team of NEW YORK actors is:
2009 Academy Award Nominee for Best Actress- Melissa Leo; famed character actor Tony Lo Bianco; David Rasche; Celia Weston; Mitchell Green (running for New York Board and NY Division president); star of television and stage – Matt Mulhern; and Erik-Anders Nilsson.
NY CANDIDATE QUOTES:
I am confident we can unite in our effort to secure the actors fair participation in new media revenues. That’s why I chose now to run for a SAG board seat.-Celia Weston
Only by uniting can we save our livelihoods. Then we can turn our full attention to New Media which is Now Media.-Mitchell Green
I am seeking a position on the SAG board after being a member for over 20 years. Unity through collaboration is what makes great things possible.-Melissa Leo
“I’m a passionate advocate for the rights of actors and I would be honored by your support. Thank you.”-Matt Mulhern
To vote knowledgeably on the new, live-or-die contract in 2011, you need to know what will it mean to you in terms of dollars. Let’s end senseless New York/Hollywood conflicts. That’s why I have chosen to run.-David Rasche
It’s an honor to run with such talented, knowledgeable and diverse team of respected actors. Now is the time for SAG to unite, working towards a healthier and stronger contract in 2011.-Erik-Anders Nilsson
“I feel compelled to run for the National Board to preserve our gains, fight for improvement, look to the future and negotiate for what’s yet to come from a position of common sense and strength. I would work to bring together our membership and heal divisions in our sister unions that so many of us are members of.”-Tony Lo Bianco
Ballots will be mailed to New York members on August 25th, with results known September 24th, 2009.
For more media contact information, please email us: SAGNOW2009@yahoo.com

Monday, July 27, 2009

MEMBERSHIP FIRST ANNOUNCES '09 CANDIDATES

SAG ELECTIONS '09
MEMBERSHIP FIRST PICKS ANNE MARIE JOHNSON FOR PREZ
ALAN ROSENBERG DROPS OUT OF RACE AS "TAINTED"
IN NEW YORK: MEMBERSHIP FIRST FRONTS CANDIDATES


Hollywood's Membership First faction has chosen current SAG VP and anti-AFTRA advocate Anne-Marie Johnson to lead their ticket as President.

At a fundraiser for Membership First, Alan Rosenberg has said that he's "a bit tainted in terms of getting elected again" and has therefore stepped aside for Johnson. During Rosenberg's presidency, he was unsuccessful in negotiating any of the Guild's outstanding and lapsed contracts. In addition, Rosenberg, along with Johnson, Diane Ladd and Kent McCord are currently suing the Screen Actors Guild in a strong-armed attempt to overturn the National Board's firing of SAG's previous National Director, Doug Allen. This legal action has been expensive for members of the Screen Actors Guild, costing upwards of $170,000 of Members hard earned dues money.

Rosenberg will, however, run for a seat on the Hollywood Board, along with incumbents Joseph Bologna, George Coe, Elliott Gould, Robert Hays, David Jolliffe and Diane Ladd. Renee Aubry, Jane Austin, Jeff Austin, Clancy Brown, Jordana Capra, David Clennon, Brett Cullen, Joe d'Angerio, Anne DeSalvo, Anthony DeSantis, John Diehl, Kevin Dobson, Ron Harper, Hector Herrera, Marcus Lindsey, France Nuyen, Alan Ruck, Michele Santopietro and Charles Shaughnessy are also running under the MembershipFirst banner.



Anne Marie Johnson, along with Membership Firsters Rosenberg, Ladd and McCord, continue to fight in court. It is unclear how this lawsuit will impact Johnson's bid for the presidency.

Johnson, who lead Membership First's fight against the ratification of the recent TV/Theatrical contract, and after the membership did indeed ratify it, vowed to "shame David White" (SAG's current Interim National Director), if the contract was ratified. After the contract was ratified, Johnson announced that she would lead SAG into a strike in 2011, when the contracts came back up for negotiation. A "strike clock" was posted on the Membership First website.

Membership First's Hollywood Division slate includes hardliners Martin Sheen, Ed Harris, Ed Asner, all of whom worked hard to defeat the TV/Theatrical ratification. Asner, a former SAG president, spoke at a rally for Membership First on May 17, 2009, and urged Hollywood Members to craft a plan to create a new union for Hollywood actors, breaking away from SAG, if the members approved the then pending TV/Theatrical contract. Said Asner to a group of Membership First supporters in Griffith Park, "We have to re-create Hollywood, if neccesary, if National SAG betrays us with this contract. Remember that. Think about it. Think about how to do that."

In New York, running for New York Division seats, Membership First candidates include Melissa Leo, Tony Lo Bianco, Celia Weston, Mitch Green, Matt Mulhern and Erik-Anders Nilsson.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

SAG NATIONAL BOARD APPROVES AND RECOMMENDS NEW SUCCESSOR AGREEMENT TO BASIC CABLE LIVE ACTION AGREEMENT

SAG CONTRACT NEWS. BASIC CABLE LIVE ACTION. SAG'S PRESS RELEASE:
Los Angeles, CA (July 25, 2009) – The Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors today voted an overwhelming 95 percent to 5 percent to recommend a successor agreement to the 2006 Basic Cable Live Action Agreement, which covers dramatic television motion pictures, excluding animated television motion pictures, produced for initial exhibition on a basic cable service.
The tentative agreement, which would expire concurrently with the TV/Theatrical agreement on June 30, 2011, includes:
• Effective annual increases comprised of 3.0% in year one and 3.5% in year two in wage increases and .5% in pension contributions upon ratification.
Other terms match the terms of the recently approved TV/Theatrical agreement.
The motion states:
The National Board recommends the Basic Cable Live Action Agreement in a referendum to the membership, with supportive information about the contract and the contract itself.
Approved 95% - 5%
In other actions the board:
Authorized the Interim National Executive Director to expand the joint bargaining agreement with AFTRA under which the Commercials Contracts were negotiated to include the Industrial & Educational Contract with the 2008 Industrial & Educational Contract Negotiating Committee to serve through the next round of bargaining of the Industrial & Educational Contract.
Approved unanimously
Opposed by a vote of 51.74 percent to 48.26 percent the closure of the Motion Picture & Television Fund Long Term Care Facility.
The Board received presentations from representatives of the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) and the Resident-family coalition Saving the Lives of Our Own.
After thorough discussion of both sides of the issue, the Board voted 51.74 percent to 48.26 percent to publicly oppose the closing of the MPTF’s Long Term Care facility.
“I think the extremely close vote is evidence of the difficult decision we wrestled with today,” said Screen Actors Guild National President Alan Rosenberg.
“The MPTF’s significant financial and operational concerns were absolutely heard, but after hearing the presentations from both sides of the issue, our board voted to oppose the closing and did so to try and preserve the legacy of the Motion Picture & Television Fund's Long Term Care historic commitment, in honor of the screen actors who founded it – Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin,” Rosenberg added.
The full text of the motion follows:
It was moved and seconded to approve that the SAG National Board publicly state the Guild’s opposition to the closing of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Long Term Care Facility.
Approved 51.74% – 48.26%
Voted 70.49 percent to 29.51 percent to postpone the automatic increase of the initiation fee for 2009.
The move provides an economic incentive to new members across the country by approving a one-year remission in the standard increase to the new join fee.
“The automatic increase in initiation fees would have made the cost of joining SAG more difficult for actors across the country, particularly in this difficult economic period. This action recognizes the stark reality facing professional actors and helps to keep the possibility of membership within reach of those who wish to join,” said SAG Interim National Executive Director David White.
The Guild’s initiation fee increases are determined as a multiple of the principal day rate as determined by the Guild’s collective bargaining agreement.
The Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors met today at a previously scheduled videoconference plenary in Los Angeles and New York.

Friday, July 24, 2009

NEW YORK: USAN ANNOUNCES HODGE FOR NY DIVISION PRESIDENT, ENDORSES KEN HOWARD AND AMY AQUINO


NEW YORK
UNITED SCREEN ACTORS NATIONWIDE PRESS RELEASE:

USAN is proud to announce long-time Board member and Vice-President Mike Hodge is its candidate for New York Division President."The New York membership couldn't have a better choice than Mike Hodge," said current NY President Sam Freed. "He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge, and progressive leadership with the ability to remain open to new ideas and solutions. Mike knows how to get things done for the membership."USAN/Nominating Committee Candidates for the National and New York Board are Manny Alfaro, Dave Bachman, Marc Baron, Sam Freed, Sheila Head, Joe Narciso, Jay Potter, John Rothman, Kevin Scullin, Sharon Washington, Liz Zazzi and USAN endorsed independent candidates Monica Trombetta and Justin Barrett.This group represents a solid combination of experience and new blood, a cross section of incumbents and active committee members who are running for the first time.Mike Hodge stated, "It's with great pride, humility and gratitude that I am running for this office with this incredible team of working actors. With the help of the membership, we can achieve great things for the Guild."USAN enthusiastically endorses Ken Howard for National President and Amy Aquino for Secretary-Treasurer. These outstanding candidates understand that SAG's future as a strong national union depends on building greater unity within the Guild and with our labor partners. They are the clear choice to lead SAG at this time.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

UNITE FOR STRENGTH ANNOUNCES CANDIDATES FOR '09 SAG ELECTIONS



July 23, 2009

UFS Announces Ken Howard as Candidate for SAG President

Amy Aquino to run for Secretary-Treasurer,

33 others for Board of Directors on UFS slate

Unite for Strength today announced Ken Howard as its candidate for Screen Actors Guild President, and Amy Aquino as its candidate for Secretary-Treasurer in Guild elections to be held this September. Unite for Strength will also field 33 candidates from the Hollywood Division for seats on the Board of Directors. A current Emmy nominee for HBO’s Grey Gardens, Ken Howard’s career began on stage but has encompassed four decades of starring roles on television and regular feature film work. The Tony and Emmy Award winning actor was elected on the Unite for Strength slate to SAG’s National Board in 2008 and currently chairs the National Seniors committee. Amy Aquino is a veteran performer with a decade of previous Guild service as Vice President and Board member. A graduate of Harvard University and the Yale School of Drama, she’s a ubiquitous television presence who has also worked consistently on stage and in film for over 20 years.

Presidential candidate Ken Howard said: “This election offers members a stark choice between two leadership approaches – attempt to go it alone or unite for strength. From 2005 through 2008, SAG experienced the divisive, go-it-alone approach of Membership First. They went to war with AFTRA, sought to marginalize New York and the branches, and repeatedly alienated other entertainment unions. Under Membership First’s leadership, SAG failed to successfully negotiate a single contract in 2008, which cost our members tens of millions of dollars. To make matters worse, it caused producers to take most new television production to AFTRA, resulting in still more lost work and benefits for SAG members.

“With increasing consolidation of media companies and new technologies transforming our business, we will pay dearly if we’re not smart and strategic about our future. I’m running for president as a Unite for Strength candidate because I believe the only way actors will get our fair share of the pie is if we’re united both internally and with our labor partners. If SAG members elect me and my fellow Unite for Strength candidates, we’ll make a clean break with the divisive leadership approach of Membership First and focus on building maximum unity with AFTRA and other entertainment guilds to give us real power when we sit down to negotiate contracts.”

Amy Aquino said: “The go-it-alone approach has wreaked havoc not only on members’ livelihoods, but on the Guild itself. The actions of Membership First have seriously weakened SAG financially, saddling us with a $6.5 million deficit. Their year-long delay in negotiating the TV/Theatrical contract, their fight with AFTRA, and other reckless decisions have caused deep-rooted fiscal damage. UFS has begun to address this crisis by resolving SAG’s two major contracts and supporting measures to streamline Guild operations. Going forward, we’ll continue to make SAG’s financial health a top priority.”

Unite for Strength board candidate Ned Vaughn said: “The failures of Membership First’s go-it-alone approach are so obvious that even they are now talking about the need to bring SAG and AFTRA actors into one union. Even if they’re sincere, the damage they’ve done to our relationship with AFTRA makes it impossible for them to lead any effort to build unity. As the DGA’s response to Alan Rosenberg’s call for a union summit makes plain, Membership First has a poisonous relationship with other entertainment guilds as well. For SAG members who believe we need stronger alliances with other unions, Unite for Strength is the clear choice in this election.”

The 33 candidates running on the Unite for Strength slate for seats on the national Board of Directors include incumbent Hollywood Division Board members: Vaughn, L. Scott Caldwell, Gabrielle Carteris, Assaf Cohen, Tim DeKay, Dule Hill, Clyde Kusatsu, Marcia Wallace, Doug Savant, William Smitrovich, Richard Speight, and Stacey Travis. Joining them on the slate will be actors Michelle Allsopp, Christian Clemenson, Ellen Crawford, Patrick Fabian, Richard Fancy, Jason George, Clark Gregg, Hill Harper, Gregory Itzin, David Lawrence, Dawnn Lewis, John Carroll Lynch, D.W. Moffett, Jenny O’Hara, Michael O’Keefe, Mandy Steckelberg, Amir Talai, and Nancy Travis, as well as background and motion capture artist Woody Schultz, voice actor Bob Bergen, and stuntman/coordinator Conrad Palmisano.

About Unite for Strength

Unite for Strength was formed last year by Hollywood Screen Actors Guild members concerned that SAG’s leadership was sowing division among performers and isolating the Guild, weakening its position in contract negotiations. Unite for Strength organizers were especially concerned with the Guild’s repeated attacks on AFTRA, which resulted in the two unions negotiating the TV/Theatrical contract separately for the first time in over 25 years. In September 2008, a group of Unite for Strength members ran for the board of directors, with 5 winning election to the National Board and 13 to the Hollywood Division Board.

As board members, they called for a more unifying and strategic leadership approach, but these calls were rejected by Membership First officers and directors. By year’s end, those leaders had failed to successfully negotiate any of SAG’s expired contracts up for renewal in 2008, including the all-important TV/Theatrical contract. With SAG losing new television production to AFTRA and film production slowed due to the lack of a contract, UFS representatives joined with board members from New York and across the country to form a new majority coalition and take control of the TV/Theatrical and Commercials contract negotiations. Working jointly with AFTRA, this coalition led SAG in negotiating a new Commercials contract that was ratified by a landslide 94% vote. Three weeks later, a new TV/Theatrical contract was approved by members nearly 4 to 1 (78%-22%) with a record voting turnout.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

SAG PORTLAND BRANCH ANNOUNCES ELECTION

SAG ELECTIONS '09 NEWS.
Los Angeles (July 21, 2009) - Screen Actors Guild today announced election results for the Portland Branch elections.

*Candidates elected from the Portland Branch include:

Mary McDonald-Lewis - National Board Member - three-year term
Robert Blanche - President - three-year term
Chrisse Roccaro - Vice President - three-year term
Wendy Martel - Secretary-Treasurer - three-year term
Karen Moulder - Council Member at Large - three-year term
Alexander Sandy Mackenzie - Council Member at Large - three-year term

Those members elected as President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer and Council Members at Large will also be elected as Alternate National Directors who may be called upon to serve at National Board Meetings when the National Board member from Portland Branch is unavailable to attend.

The candidates named today ran unopposed and were elected without the necessity of ballot vote pursuant to the Branch Rules of Procedure. The newly elected leaders will assume office on September 25, 2009.

Elections are being conducted in other SAG Branches and divisions across the country with all ballots tabulated no later than September 24th. The results of those elections will be reported when completed.

SAG UTAH BRANCH ANNOUNCES ELECTION RESULTS

SAG ELECTIONS '09 NEWS.
Los Angeles (July 21, 2009) - Screen Actors Guild today announced election results for the Utah Branch elections.

Candidates elected from the Utah Branch include:

Anne Sward - President - two-year term
Paul Mulder - Vice President - two-year term
Kathy Jarvis - Secretary - two-year term
Tracy Scott - Treasurer - two-year term
Cheryl Gaysunas - Council Member at Large - two-year term
Joyce Cohen - 1st Alternate Council Member - one-year term
Donre Sampson - 2nd Alternate Council Member - one-year term

Those members elected as Officers and Council Members at Large will also be elected as Alternate National Directors who may be called upon to serve at National Board Meetings when the National Board member from Utah Branch is unavailable to attend.

The candidates named today ran unopposed and were elected without the necessity of ballot vote pursuant to the Branch Rules of Procedure. The newly elected leaders will assume office on September 25, 2009.

Elections are being conducted in other SAG Branches and divisions across the country with all ballots tabulated no later than September 24th. The results of those elections will be reported when completed.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

UPGRADE AND SITE FIXES UPDATE

We're catching up and have lost some older posts during our redesign and upgrade of the site.

We're trying to get the older missing posts back up as soon as possible.

Please hang in there and thanks for your understanding! Missing posts will be back as soon as we have time to get to them.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

JUSTINE BATEMAN RESIGNS FROM SAG'S NATIONAL BOARD


HERE'S BATEMAN'S RESIGNATION LETTER, DATED JULY 1, 2009.

To All,

I am resigning my position as SAG National Board member and withdrawing my bid for re-election effective immediately.

I initially ran for the Board 3 years ago to affect a change in three areas: the almost non-functioning web-site, the poor agent-relations, and the seeming absence of jurisdictional lines between SAG and AFTRA.

I am happy to have been able to effect the change in the web-site with the help of that committee, Doug Allan, and Pamela Greenwald, but the other goals have alluded me and have just become worse.

Agents are now not only owned in part by organizations that would create conflict of interest, but acting as the production company themselves and nobody saw fit to stop that. Now, though, we’re very far on the other side of that and I suppose actors have not really given thought to to the concept of being represented by an advocate with no conflicting alliances.

AFTRA has just basically, after years of trying to get SAG’s attention by lighting the newspapers on the porch on fire, have finally succeeded in partially burning the place down. And all we dual-card members be damned.

We should have bought that scumbag organization years ago and shut that duplicitous leadership upinstead of submitting to this “non-disparagement agreement” by which I am, happily, no longer bound.

And our own SAG leadership gagging Alan Rosenberg and Connie Stevens? What is this? Communist China or tumultuous Iran? I can’t a part of a union leadership that strips it’s elected leadership of its voice. If we can’t speak up about injustices in union matters, how are we being effective at all in office? No, better to not be a part of it and to be able to speak freely against what I see as irresponsibility, fear, greed, and ego-driven decision-making.

And then there is the membership itself. They rarely expressed the correct anger at AFTRA low-balling contracts over the years that affected their ability to provide for themselves. They then ignored, seemingly, ALL the news about the migration from Old Media to New Media and recently took from the AMPTP the worst deal I have ever seen. For nothing.

This is not the make up of membership that could have gotten us Health and Pension or Residuals like our older members struck and fought for years ago. We have all enjoyed those benefits, but when it was our turn to protect them, we blew it. AFTRA blew it. And then we blew it by not expressing absolute outrage over their tactic of GREATLY encouraging their newscasters and weathermen to vote up that AFTRA TV/Theatrical contract “even if you do not work this contract and never will”. Yeah, that was in an e-mail that went around. Some of these weathermen even made YouTube videos celebrating their vote, thumbing their noses at us. CLASSY.

SAG’s members themselves have now voted up a contract that will cause about 50% of the WORKING members to leave the business, but now that you’re all “back to work” you’re probably too busy to read this. Congratulations.

Thank you for allowing me to serve and to represent the membership. I hope I honored the sacrifices of past Board Members who created such wonderful benefits for me and my family like Pension & Health, Basic Minimums, and Residuals. To those members I am truly, truly grateful. Words cannot express my appreciation of your sacrifices for future generations of actors.

Thank You,
Justine Bateman