SAG Business Agents Reject 2-2-2
Jonathan Handel says in addition to wanting retroactivity and higher wages, the Teamster-represented business agents feel unloved.
In Memoriam – Ken Orsatti
We’ve learned that former NED Ken Orsatti has passed away at age 78. Serving 19 years as NED, Ken was a tireless worker for all members.
Clunk. (The Sound of the Shoe Dropping)
As we predicted, the SAG Pension & Health Funds is out with bad news. Changes include increased earnings requirements for health insurance, and a there’s a plan for more increases.
Plan I will require $30,150 per year to maintain eligibility—an increase from $29,250. Plan II goes to $14,800 from $14,350. There’s one exception: it’s $10,700 for members age 40 and older with at least 10 years in the plan, up from $10,400. For those qualifying under the days worked test, it’s going to 76 days up from 74 days.
The changes take effect October 1… part of the continuing fallout from the decline in SAG-covered work… We’re not sure exactly how many members will lose coverage as a result.
Here’s the view from Backstage, which quotes the head of P&H as saying more changes will be announced in the coming month. None of them are expected to be improvements.
UFS Election Message
Regarding the Hollywood Division election:
SAG Election ballots have arrived – it’s time to VOTE!
If you support the progress UFS has made toward uniting SAG and AFTRA, it’s crucial to make your voice heard. Please refer to the list below or use the handy UFS Voting Guide to mark your ballot and mail it back right away. And please urge your SAG friends and colleagues to do the same.
Despite years of attacks on AFTRA and countless declarations that they’d never accept merger, Membership First is now trying to confuse voters into believing they support it. Don’t believe it.
• If Membership First wants merger, why did they VOTE AGAINST joint negotiations for our upcoming contract talks?
• If Membership First wants merger, why didn’t they bring it up during the four years they and Alan Rosenberg led SAG?
The answer is simple: Membership First DOESN’T want merger. No matter what they are telling you now, their actions speak louder than words.
If you believe actors are stronger in one union, find your ballot right now and vote for the leaders who mean what they say – and are taking action to make it happen. Vote to Unite for Strength!
Please visit UniteforStrength.com for candidate statements and more information.
————2010 UFS Candidates
(listed by ballot number)5 – Michael O’Neill
6 – Woody Schultz
7 – Ron Perlman
8 – Scotty Caldwell
10 – Bill Smitrovich
14 – Marisol Nichols
24 – Gabrielle Carteris
25 – Assaf Cohen
27 – Sam Jaeger
31 – Dawnn Lewis
33 – Dileep Rao
36 – Mimi Cozzens
37 – Christine Lakin
38 – William Charlton
39 – Clyde Kusatsu
41 – Conrad Palmisano
45 – Michelle Allsopp
46 – Ned Vaughn
47 – Jason George
49 – Patrick Fabian
51 – Marcia Strassman
52 – Mandy Steckelberg
53 – Clark Gregg
54 – Bertila Damas
55- Jon Huertas
57 – Tara Radcliffe
58 – Ellen Crawford
62 – Donal Logue
63 – Gilles Marini
64 – Stacey Travis
66 – Sarayu Rao
67 – Jeff Garlin
68 – Michael O’Keefe
70 – Jenny O’Hara
72 – D.W. Moffett
Worth Two Clicks
New York Times on the state of the theatrical industry.
The Wrap on the same.
NLRB to Fizzlers: Go Away! (Again!)
As we predicted, the National Labor Relations Board has rejected the latest claims from the Fizzlers, dismissing petitions by Michelle Santopietro and Samantha Hartson. Both had filed charges alleging a failure to represent them, part of a second wave of petitions to the NLRB, the first having been rejected earlier this year.
All their cases are now officially marked “closed.”
Hartson’s petition was particularly bizarre, claiming AFTRA hadn’t represented her adequately…apparently forgetting that she wasn’t a member of AFTRA, and thus the union didn’t have any responsibility to represent her. Santopietro had promised that her new wave of petitions would bring AFTRA to its knees, boasting of a “massive” case and five open investigations, and insisting that we were full of errors (that’s not the precise language she used) when we said the petitions were headed for the trash can.
It’s under investigation–the ultimate goal was to get it there, and it IS.
Failure? Ha. That’s funny.
Ooops.
Like the Gang of Four, the Fizzlers have appealed the dismissals. We rate their chances of getting anywhere as somewhere less than the Gang’s.
And in case you missed it, Santopietro is one of those running for the SAG Board – as an independent. Although Membership First did endorse one prominent Fizzler, Rico Bueno, it did not endorse her.
