SAG leaders reject majors' offer

Sheen speaks out against Unite for Strength

By DAVE MCNARY

Sheen

Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild have again rejected the majors' final offer.

SAG's national board stuck to its guns, voting late Thursday afternoon to tell its negotiating committee to continue spurning the deal -- which mirrors terms of the DGA, WGA and AFTRA pacts. Although there were no "yes" votes to accept the pact, reps from New York and some of the regional branches abstained.

SAG, which has insisted it deserves a sweeter deal than the other guilds, had no official statement at deadline. The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers responded with frustration, tweaking SAG for having its members continue to work under terms of the expired contract.

"Even at this late date, SAG's negotiators have failed to explain why SAG members deserve substantially better terms than those achieved by DGA, WGA and AFTRA in four separate agreements with AMPTP," the group said. "On the contrary, even in the face of a worsening economy, SAG's negotiators expect unrealistic economic gains over the $250 million already on the table, as well as wholesale changes to the new media framework that would render the framework unworkable for our entire industry. The Producers and the other guilds have moved on, and we are now back to work. The longer SAG's negotiators hold out, the more SAG members will lose. It's long past time for SAG's negotiators to close this deal."

SAG's board also voted to send postcards -- as part of a member bulletin -- to the 120,000 members of SAG to poll members about the final offer but emphasized that the action isn't a strike vote or ratification.

The AMPTP made its final offer to SAG on June 30, the day the previous contract expired, and have stressed repeatedly that they're done negotiating.

SAG's latest moves come with the town slowly moving back to business as usual amid the growing belief that the guild won't ask its members for a strike authorization. That vote would require a 75% approval to be implemented -- a questionable achievement given the poor economy and lingering fatigue from the WGA strike.

SAG and the majors can't even agree on the current state of negotiations. The guild has insisted repeatedly it's continued to hold informal negotiations while the AMPTP denies that any bargaining has taken place; it's also maintained that SAG officially rejected its final offer on July 9; the two sides last met on July 16, when the majors spurned a SAG's counter-offer.

SAG's board election may serve to clarify the situation but those results won't be announced until Sept. 18. The upstart Unite For Strength faction, which is challenging the control from Membership First, has asserted that the current leaders have bungled the negotiations -- mainly by alienating AFTRA.

Martin Sheen entered into the election fray Thursday, blasting the Unite for Strength faction with the allegation that the group would seek to institute qualified voting on SAG contracts. Sheen accused Unite for Strength of seeking to institute a "class system" among actors based on their annual earnings.

Sheen's son, "Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen, is among the prominent thesps who have endorsed the Unite for Strength slate.

"If you're one of the tens of thousands of SAG members who don't work enough or earn enough as an actor, you're in danger of losing one of your fundamental rights as a union member," Sheen said in a message sent to 38,000 members Thursday by Membership First rep JoBeth Williams. "Unless you take the time, right now, to go get your SAG ballot and re-elect Membership First, you could lose your right to vote."

Unite for Strength promised Monday it would not implement qualified voting, but Sheen indicated he doesn't believe that assertion. He pointed out many members of the Unite for Strength slate had supported a move earlier this year to impose a work requirement on SAG members voting on contracts.

"Regardless of what they are claiming today, if this group gains control of SAG's national board, they will start the 'qualified/affected' voting policy in motion," Sheen said. "They've proudly and publicly touted their list of supporters, including the names of very high-profile actor- producers. They and their supporters have signed a petition that would end democracy in the Screen Actors Guild and create a 'class system' between the 'haves' and the 'have nots.' "

Unite for Strength responded by asserting that the guild needs to merge with rival thesp union AFTRA rather than compete against it, as SAG has done in its prolonged contract negotiations with the majors this year.

"By focusing their campaign on this empty claim, Membership First shows how little they have to offer the membership," said Unite for Strength organizer and candidate Ned Vaughn. "Everyone understands the biggest problem facing actors right now is that our unions are competing against themselves. If Membership First had a solution for that, we wouldn't be hearing about this non-issue."

Vaughn also noted that Williams and another Membership First candidate Clancy Brown have "flip-flopped" in previously supporting qualified voting

More than 1,400 actors signed a petition earlier this year asking that SAG's board institute a requirement that would have limited voting on the contract to those who have performed an average of at least one day principal work or six days background work per year during the past six years or are fully vested in the SAG Producers Pension Plan.

Backers of the petition noted that less than 20% of SAG members earn over $7,500 annually.

Martin Sheen's message included a mention of the real-life character portrayed by Unite for Strength supporter Sally Field in the movie "Norma Rae."

"It is safe to assume that strong and determined unionists like Crystal Lee Sutton (the real 'Norma Rae') would never support 'qualified/affected' voting," he said. "She would know that any proposed plan to disqualify a member's right to vote would weaken the power of a union and its members."

Unite for Strength accused Membership First earlier this week of attempting to "mislead" members on the voting rights issue. It noted that the proposal would not have limited the ability of any member to participate in elections to select SAG leaders or in strike authorization votes.

Ballots in the board election were sent out earlier this week to SAG's 120,000 members, with the vote set for tabulation on Sept. 18. The election's being closely watched by the town amid growing impatience over the lack of resolution in SAG's contract negotiations following the June 30 expiration of the guild's feature-primetime deal.

Sheen also asserted the AMPTP supports qualified voting -- prompting a strong denial by the AMPTP, which said it has taken no position. "This is an internal union matter and we continue to respect the right of SAG to develop its own policies," it added.