Unions file charges
Advertisers accused of unfair labor practices
With the work stoppage entering its third week, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board. The organizations allege that the industry broke the law through its failure to bargain over a mandatory issue during the failed negotiations.
Talks collapsed on April 14 and actors struck on May 1 with both sides launching a wide array of public relations initiatives since then.
“The ad industry is unwilling to bargain over the issue of commercials made directly for Internet use, despite the fact that nearly every major ad agency has now established new-media divisions actively pursuing how best to utilize the Internet for commercial purposes,” said SAG chief negotiator John McGuire and AFTRA chief negotiator Mathis Dunn. “This further illustrates their unlawful failure to bargain with us in good faith.”
Groundless charges?
John McGuinn, lead negotiator for the ad industry, labeled the filing a “groundless tit for tat” because jurisdiction of the unions is limited to television and radio work. “The Internet is a non-mandatory subject of bargaining,” he added.
McGuinn said union negotiators brought up the Internet issue orally during the six weeks of talks but never made a written presentation. Two days before talks collapsed, the ad industry presented a written proposal that would have created a committee to study the issue and meet with a union committee at least once a year to share information.
The American Assn. of the Advertising Agencies and the Assn. of National Advertisers, which are handling negotiations for the industry, weighed on the issue May 2 by filing an NLRB complaint against the unions by claiming their demand for jurisdiction over the Internet was illegal. The complaint also accused the unions of illegal activity in demanding jurisdiction in Canada and Mexico, threatening lifetime exclusion for actors performing struck work and offering interim agreements with terms not raised at the bargaining table.
The NLRB filings come as performer unions attempt to establish standard contracts for a potentially huge revenue source. The Directors Guild of America has become the first Hollywood guild to move into such agreements with single-picture deals for productions made for the Internet (Daily Variety, April 7).
Interim deals
SAG and AFTRA also announced that, as of Friday, commercial producers have signed 564 interim agreements, which allow members to work during the strike. The total represents over 17% of the total signatories to the 1997 commercials contract.
“A significant number of commercial producers and their clients are ready, willing and able to pay our members the terms and provide the conditions they deserve,” McGuire and Dunn said. “Some view this as a small price to pay for helping deliver record-breaking revenue and profits through our members’ performances in TV and radio commercials.”
The number of interim deals is well above the 500 signed during the last ad strike, which lasted 18 days in 1988.
But McGuinn said most of the agreements are probably with small companies and noted that the unions have identified only three signers — the media consultants for the campaigns of George W. Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Al Gore. None of the 822 ANA and AAAA members have yet signed an interim deal, he pointed out.
‘Business proceeding’
McGuinn and associate Ira Shepard also continued to insist that commercials are being shot at about the same rate as before the strike. “I am here to report that business is proceeding well and scores of commercials have been shot successfully in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and in remote locations throughout the country and internationally,” Shepard said in a presentation to a conference in Bermuda for AAAA members.
Shepard also said at the event that the unions could become more likely to return to negotiations in a month if the industry can maintain the same pace of production as in the past two weeks. But he also stressed, “It’s complete speculation when we’ll return.”
The trade groups plan to hold forums Tuesday at the Drake Hotel in Chicago and Wednesday at Sony Pictures in Culver City for advertisers, agencies and producers.
The unions have promised to continue picketing shoots and agencies and distributing leaflets at casting agencies this week. They staged protests Friday at the offices of Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
