NEW YORK
This just in: a flyer from "SAVE NEW YORK SAG NOW", 7 August, 2009, responding to Membership First's attempts at gaining board seats in the '09 elections--
“SAGNOW” = MembershipFirst = Bad News for NY Actors
WHAT IS MEMBERSHIPFIRST?
MembershipFirst (MF) is the Hollywood political faction led by current SAG MF President, Alan
Rosenberg, 2009 MF Presidential candidate, Anne Marie Johnson and MF Secretary/Treasurer
candidate, Connie Stevens. Under their “leadership” MembershipFirst:
• Destroyed a 25-year joint negotiating relationship with AFTRA, which in turn neutralized our
leverage during the 2008-2009 TV/Theatrical negotiations.
• Cost SAG members $90 MILLION in earnings during the unnecessarily prolonged TV/Theatrical
negotiations.
• Cost actors MILLIONS MORE due to extending the old Commercials Contract for an additional six
months because TV/Theatrical negotiations weren’t finished.
• Squandered our money. During the last 4 years SAG’s budget went from showing a large surplus
to a $6.5 million deficit. Expenses climbed Millions/year while income declined.
WHAT IS “SAGNOW”? IT’S MEMBERSHIPFIRST IN NY.
MembershipFirst knows they can’t run under their own name in NY. Alan Rosenberg has called
the NY President “anti-union”, Ann Marie Johnson has censored communications from past and
current NY Presidents, and many MembershipFirst leaders have declared that NY members don’t
work enough to deserve a say in negotiations, because they had a different point of view. They’ve
lost seats in Hollywood and want to make up for them by running a slate in NY under the name
“SAGNOW”.
WHY IS MEMBERSHIPFIRST HIDING THEIR TRUE IDENTITY?
It’s not surprising that MembershipFirst candidates would create the dummy slate “SAGNOW” to
run on. NY members ratified the TV/Theatrical contract (that MF fought against) by a margin of
89% to 11% and would never support MembershipFirst candidates. MembershipFirst thinks
NYers would be fooled by a sham name change, and be attracted to some well-known faces and
names. That alone tells you how little respect they have for the NY membership.
- THEY CAN’T EVEN TRY TO DENY IT -
Melissa Leo, who heads the “SAGNOW”/MembershipFirst slate, co-hosted a
MembershipFirst fund-raiser in Santa Monica, appeared in a MembershipFirst video
urging members to vote no on the TV/Film contract and MembershipFirst leaders
announced Melissa Leo’s candidacy on June 26th. Backstage reported on June
29th, “…by running … Leo in New York, MembershipFirst hopes to win back the
majority on the national board.”
“SAGNOW” candidates Erik-Anders Nilsson and Matt Mulhern have made no secret
of their support for Rosenberg and MembershipFirst. Mulhern uses angry, expletive
laden blogs to promote the MembershipFirst agenda and to attack anyone who
disagrees with him. Nilsson has already run as a MembershipFirst candidate and
distributed their literature for years. Mitch Green, “SAGNOW” candidate for both the
Board and NY Division President, campaigned and ran with Lisa Scarola, supported
by Performers Alliance, which was the original name for MembershipFirst.
The other “SAGNOW” candidates, Tony LoBianco, Celia Weston and David Rasche
may simply have no idea that MembershipFirst has no interest in either “solidarity”
between the unions or “working in harmony” with NY and the Regional Branches.
But why run with a group without checking out their track record first?
- DON’T BE FOOLED -
Despite the complete failure of their “go it alone”, “my way or the highway” agenda
and negotiating strategy, MembershipFirst is more determined than ever to continue
following their destructive path. If they succeed in winning seats in NY with their
dishonest “SAGNOW” slate, NY SAG members can expect more isolation, more loss
of jurisdiction, and less of a voice than ever.
It’s a simple fact. “SAGNOW” is MembershipFirst. Vote for candidates
that will work for New York members’ interests –
VOTE THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE SLATE.
PAID FOR BY SAVE NY SAG NOW
