Let’s See if They Follow Through
Remember Anne-Marie Johnson’s quote on the Gang of Four lawsuit she, SAG President Alan Rosenberg, Kent McCord and Dianne “Sleepy” Ladd have pursued against SAG. If the TV-Theatrical contract is ratified, Johnson said, the suit is over, that the membership will have spoken. Let’s see if they actually follow through and pull it, before it gets thrown out again…after costing the union tens of thousands of additional dollars in dues money.
Anyone with a shred of decency would have dismissed the Gang of Four lawsuit long ago.
There is no chance — zero — that a court would step in and unwind (a) the appointment of new personnel who (b) negotiated a $2 billion collective bargaining agreement that (c) was approved by a majority of the union’s national board and (d) was ratified by a 78% majority of the voting members.
Does no one get this?
Zero chance.
I have been critical of the SAG side for not moving to get the case dismissed. The only thing I can figure is that they consider it cheaper to keep the case bottled up in the trial court rather than to get summary judgment which could lead to an appeal and more costs at that level.
And as for the lawyers on the plaintiffs’ side … well, it would take chutzpah to bill for their work.
VG
The “follow-through” that would make the most sense would be Alan Rosenberg immediately resigning the Presidency. How can that man continue to work against the will of the membership when they have thrown this in his face?
Alan Rosenberg could take a lesson in how to deal with the overwhelming evidence that one has been very wrong for a very long time to the glee of one’s adversaries by considering this:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index/?cid=21972
If the TV-Theatrical contract is ratified, Johnson said, the suit is over, that the membership will have spoken.
I’m sure they’ll say that since the contract was only passed by a slim majority, their promise is moot. Didn’t they say that an AFTRA ratification vote of 62 percent was razor-thin, compared to the ideal standard of a robust 90 percent ratification?
It’s also amusing how Nikki Finke is now allowing postings that don’t support Rosenberg….sure the supporters and angry comments are there, but magically there is a horse of a different color.
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Admin. Comment – That’s because she’s officially declared that him running for reelection is a bad idea.
Here”S the MF response from their web site:
The vote on the SAG TV/Theatrical Contract has demonstrated that 78% of the Membership agrees to creating a residual free/non-union zone in New Media. They also are trusting that AFTRA, the DGA and the WGA will negotiate with SAG in two years. And let’s not forget that included in the deal are Management’s rollbacks like Clip Consent and Force Majeure. So be it. The following is President Rosenberg’s statement:
“The membership has spoken and has decided to work under
the terms of this contract that many of us, who have been
involved in these negotiations from the beginning,
believe to be devastatingly unsatisfactory. Tomorrow
morning I will be contacting the elected leadership of
the other talent unions with the hope of beginning a
series of pre-negotiation summit meetings in preparation
for 2011. I call upon all SAG members to begin to ready
themselves for the battle ahead.”
Since the “yes” campaign was all about the Contract Term
expiring in 2011 “so SAG can unify with the other Unions
to fight another day”, Membership First will spend a lot
of time and recourses working to make that happen. We
will take the SAG Leadership at their word.”
There’s a hidden campaign statement in there …how MF will spend time and resources to unify with the other unions….too bad they cannot unify SAG…and it was their actions specifically that divided us from AFTRA, killing our leverage and costing the membership – and the guild – money and jobs.
They are most qualified at spending SAG’s resources. Like our dues money defending two lawsuits filed by MF, campaigning against the AFTRA contract.
A letter I wrote Sam Rubin, who will be having Alan Rosenberg on KTLA5 this morning:
Sam,
I’ve watched you continuously since the beginning…the old days…you’re a fantastic entertainment reporter BUT…
You obviously have some personal debt, or connection, to Alan Rosenberg because of the deferential treatment you give this man.
The last 2 years of SAG discord falls squarely on his shoulders. Never in the history of the guild has one person been so solely responsible for fomenting such internal discord. AND YET, AGAIN TODAY, YOU’RE HAVING HIM ON TO SPEAK OF THE DEAL!?!?!?!
Perhaps you’re not aware HE IS LEGALLY ENJOINED FROM BEING SAG SPOKESMAN. Since January 2009.
This guild ratified by nearly a 4 to 1 ratio on a record 35% vote, and yet you’re going to give this lunatic another forum to take his negative stance further. DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE MECHANICS OF THE BUSINESS YOU REPORT ON?
You seem to be no better than Nikki Finke, who prints rumor and innuendo as if fact and allows NO contrary viewpoints.
You SHOULD have John McGuire or David White on. They are LEGALLY running the guild these days and DO NOT LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH THE WAY ALAN DOES.
You’re going to lose me, and a large segment of the acting community if you keep this up, Sam.
Neil Hassman
A VERY vested personal manager.
Yeah, Sam, don’t lose Hassman, you’ll never work the Kibbitz room again.
We’re all still waiting for that promised “Mea Culpa”, VN. It’s really easy…”I was wrong”…and considering the nearly 4 to 1 margin on a record turnout, pretty much required.
Have you spoken to Matt today? We’re all waiting for his, too. ROFLMAO.
Until then, (your anti-semitism aside), you (and your Fizzler buds) are CLEARLY irrelevant.
BTW, gratefully there was breaking news and the walking-corpse-looking guy known as Alan Rosenberg was cut very short.
To his credit he did illuminate the audience that he couldn’t speak for the guild, only himself, then Sam showed a clip of Assner lauding AR as a Hero and trashing Sally, Tom, Alec, et al.
No harm, no foul.
I think the 22% support the Poisonberg faction got is around the same percentage of American colonists who supported the Revolution. It doesn’t take a majority to set things ablaze. If you take your eyes off this festering sore, you can be certain Poisonberg and his ilk will sing again.
Stuart…do you have the date time and place where the original statement you quote (re legal suit being dropped) was made?
thanks
Marisa
David,
Back in the day when I worked political campaigns in the real world, we had a general rule of thumb; a major party line was worth 20% of the vote. In the simplest of terms, this means that in a two party election, 40% of your voters don’t care who is running, only what banner they’re running under. The standard joke was that a dead man could count on 20% of the vote if it got a party line, and I think that still applies, outside of Missouri, where they tend to actually elect dead candidates.
If that formula applies to SAG, then MF has strayed pretty close to dead man status on a national basis. They, like many an annoying rash, may never go away completely, but if Hollywood’s numbers start to approach that National 20%, the overall union will be fine. You’re right about the need for vigilance, but it shouldn’t be a major job.
Marisa, I quoted the post at the top of this thread. It refers to her THR interview, which includes this bit (notice she never says she’ll drop the lawsuit):
Probably, Fred – but given the quality of the singing, eternal vigilance is necessary.
Thanks Stu for reprinting…it can be implied by her “no” as being an answer to the second part of the interviewers question.
I guess we as members have to request that they do drop it. Maybe in letters to her, Alan, the other two and to the press.
Marisa, I wonder if a petition is in order to ask the four plaintiffs to act for the good of the Guild and withdraw their lawsuit given that (a) they can’t win it, (b) even if they did by some miracle win it, they wouldn’t undo any of the actions they objected to, from the firing of Allen to the hiring of White to the ratification of the contract, and (c) every day the suit remains active, the Guild racks up more legal fees.
I can’t see how they can publicly defend keeping the suit alive at this late date. Of course, recognizing logic and reality is not really their strong suit.