SAG hopes to counter rally

Costner, Streep, Clooney, among thesps to endorse merger

By NICK MADIGAN

Just in time to offset the potential impact of today's rally by opponents of the SAG-AFTRA merger, the Screen Actors Guild on Wednesday issued a list of more than 300 actors who support integrating the two unions.

SAG officials appeared concerned that anti-merger members, who have coalesced as a group called Save SAG, might gain the upper hand in the public-relations battle over the proposed merger. Opponents have been actively pushing their message for several weeks.

Their rally is scheduled for 10 a.m. today outside guild headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, with Charlton Heston, Martin Landau and Robert Culp among the anti-merger actors who have agreed to speak to the crowd.

Opponents fear that merging with the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists would dilute the strength of SAG, cost more in dues and lead to greater competition for parts.

Union officers, on the other hand, say that hundreds of members across the country believe in the benefits of the proposed marriage and have agreed to lend their names to an advertising campaign supporting it.

In addition to that of SAG president Richard Masur, the list contains the names of most of the union's national board members and branch presidents. The list, which will appear as a full-page ad in Friday's Daily Variety, includes Kevin Costner, Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, George Clooney, Lynn Redgrave, Julianne Moore, Christopher Reeve, Sally Field, David Duchovny, Paul Sorvino, Robert Klein, Julianna Margulies, Paul Newman, Mike Farrell, Elliott Gould, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Keaton, Kirk Douglas, Barbra Streisand, Martin Sheen, Billy Crystal, Glenn Close, Kevin Bacon and William Baldwin, among others.

On Oct. 3, SAG's national board voted 60 to 37 to recommend the merger to the membership. For the deal to be finalized, it must be approved by 60% of the voting members of each union. Referendum ballots will be mailed to 123,000 members of the two unions on Friday; they must be returned within 60 days.

At AFTRA, employees on Tuesday mailed pro-merger pamphlets to 65,000 members, including the 40,000 performers who belong to both unions. The pamphlet said the merger would strengthen bargaining power for performers, increase work opportunities and simplify the union structure.