SAGWatch

Forget merger. (OK, don’t forget it, just put it to the side for a moment.)

This is the critical battlefield right now. And somebody ought to remind these guys, it’s not “piracy,” it’s stealing.

AFL-CIO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTS ANTI-PIRACY MEASURES

ORLANDO, Mar. 2 – The AFL-CIO Executive Council, at its meeting today in Orlando, unanimously adopted a statement on the subject of the theft of intellectual property. Submitted to the Council by the Department of Professional Employees on behalf of the entertainment unions and guilds affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the statement offers a detailed analysis of the harm done to U.S. workers by piracy. The statement said, in part, “Motion pictures, television, sound recordings and other entertainment are a vibrant part of the U.S. economy. They yield one of its few remaining trade surpluses. The online theft of copyrighted works and the sale of illegal CDs and DVDs threaten the vitality of U.S. entertainment and thus its working people.”

IATSE International President Matthew D. Loeb, a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, said “This is a strong statement of support from the AFL-CIO in our fight against the theft of product upon which the members of the entertainment industry unions and guilds depend. We will continue to pursue every avenue we can to stop digital theft.”

“While we support increased broadband access for all Americans, it’s important to remember that downloading illegal content is the same as walking into a record or book store and stealing a CD or DVD,” said AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon, who is also a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council. “Recording artists, for example, earn more than 90% of their income through the physical and digital download sales of their albums, and stealing their work – as well as that of actors, singers, dancers and other professional talent – seriously threatens their ability to earn a living and support their families. Moreover, the online theft of copyrighted – and uniquely American – material severely depresses the domestic job market by making it difficult for our members to find new work and continue producing the creative works that enrich our culture and our economy.”

SAG President Ken Howard said, “I’m grateful to AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and members of the executive council for their resounding approval of the resolution against digital theft. Today’s action provides important support to the tens of thousands of men and women in the entertainment industry whose jobs are threatened by illegal duplication and download of movies and television shows.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement: “The AFL-CIO fully supports entertainment workers, and stands behind them in the fight against the theft of the products they work on and create.”

Paul Almeida, president of the AFL-CIO Department of Professional Employees, who put forward the statement to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, said, “It’s critical for all union members to support any actions possible in the fight against piracy.”

This from USAN this morning:

In January, the SAG Board voted overwhelmingly to invite AFTRA to jointly negotiate the 2011 Theatrical and TV Agreement.  This past weekend, the AFTRA Board voted unanimously to accept the invitation. Under the leadership of SAG President Ken Howard and AFTRA President Roberta Reardon, our unions are moving together in a positive direction.  The negotiations will be handled under the same rules that the 2009 Commercial negotiations were successfully conducted.

Thanks to your support, and the support of members around the country, Screen Actors Guild and our sister union, AFTRA are once again back on track for cooperation, joint bargaining and Merger.

This is the e-mail message that went out last night, also posted on the Unite for Strength website:

In January, the SAG National Board directed President Ken Howard and NED David White to seek a joint bargaining agreement with AFTRA for the TV/Theatrical Contract talks scheduled to start in October. Discussions with AFTRA President Roberta Reardon and NED Kim Roberts Hedgpeth resulted in a framework for joint negotiations that was unanimously approved by the AFTRA National Board this past Saturday. Unite For Strength heartily applauds this action and urges the SAG Board to add its approval so the unions can begin coordinating joint preparation.

This step toward greater unity couldn’t come at a better time. As you may already know, the media conglomerates continue to exploit the fact that actors are represented by two separate unions. In light of SAG’s substantial coverage of existing shows, they are largely choosing AFTRA contracts for new television, seriously dividing TV work between SAG and AFTRA. Employers may hope this will provoke cost-cutting competition between our unions; thankfully, SAG and AFTRA leaders appear committed to a strong, unified approach.

Of course the most unified approach is to eventually merge SAG and AFTRA into a single performers’ union. A single union covering all jurisdictions will obviously be more powerful at the bargaining table and will yield other dramatic improvements as well: It will end pointless double dues and finally stop the destructive splitting of our pension and health contributions that makes qualifying for either harder and harder. Actors deserve to have these problems solved; that’s why UFS continues to support the future merger of SAG and AFTRA.

Right now, however, we must focus on next steps. Once the SAG Board approves the bargaining agreement endorsed by AFTRA, the unions can begin planning a joint Wages & Working Conditions process to shape the contract proposals our negotiators carry forward. Member involvement is at the heart of this process, so we’ll be sure to let you know how to participate. Whether you’re a SAG member, an AFTRA member or — like so many of us — a member of both unions, this is an important opportunity to better our lives by working together.

Unite for Strength

Jonathan Handel has first analysis and official SAG reaction to the unanimous AFTRA National Board vote earlier today to jointly negotiate TV/Theatrical and Exhibit A. Handel quotes an unidentified SAG spokeswoman as saying the vote is “terrific news for the memberships of both unions and we look forward to an effective negotiation.”

Here’s Variety, calling the vote “a major step towards reconciliation.”

The official release:

LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK (Feb. 27, 2010) — The National Board of Directors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), a national union of more than more 70,000 performers, journalists, broadcasters, recording artists and other talent working in the entertainment and news media, met today by videoconference plenary in Los Angeles and New York.

The AFTRA National Board unanimously voted to approve a recommendation by a subcommittee of the AFTRA Strategy Cabinet to formally engage in joint bargaining under Phase One terms with Screen Actors Guild (SAG) for the AFTRA Primetime Television Contract (Exhibit A of the Network Television Code) and the SAG Television and Theatrical Agreement and under the existing AFL-CIO-facilitated No Raiding/Non-Disparagement Agreement between the two unions. No wages and working conditions meetings or negotiations are scheduled at this time.

The approved motion reads:

“The AFTRA National Board approves conducting the preparation for, negotiation and administration of the 2011 AFTRA Exhibit A Agreement and SAG TV/Theatrical Agreement jointly with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) under the terms of the Phase One Agreement, as Phase One has been applied in the past, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the AFL-CIO-facilitated Agreement for Negotiation of Commercials Contracts Under the Phase One Agreement (“The Commercials Agreement”). Staff is directed to prepare and execute an agreement that is identical to the Commercials Agreement to cover negotiations of the Exhibit A Agreement and SAG TV/Theatrical Agreement and forward same to SAG for its signature as soon as practicable (with the understanding that the escrow currently held by Amalgamated Bank will be utilized in connection with the EXHIBIT A/TV Theatrical Negotiations Agreement).”

After the vote, AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon said, “I applaud the National Board for taking this important step forward today following our productive discussions with our counterparts at Screen Actors Guild earlier this week, specifically with respect to AFTRA’s heavy negotiating schedule for 2010. I look forward to continuing our work with SAG President Ken Howard and the leadership and members of our sister union as we move forward to bargain the strongest possible contracts for professional talent.”

AFTRA also said that its Health and Pension plan finances look solid, with the Retirement Fund more than 89% funded –well within the federal government’s “green zone” – and that the AFTRA Health Fund has more than a year’s reserve.

One of our favorite actresses wrote to ask whether a show in fact could be switched from one union to another after the pilot is shot. The answer, we’ve been told, is that it is possible, though it doesn’t happen often.

One of the ways it can happen is that if the pilot is shot AFTRA digital and the decision is made to shoot the series on film. AFTRA doesn’t do film. So the AFTRA pilot could become a SAG-picked up series. We’ve been told that there are other scenarios under which it’s theoretically possible to switch – but that such switches are extremely rare.

Now, that promised bit of info. We’ve heard that even Snowmageddon-3, the storm that has blasted the East Coast, will not stop the move back towards coordinated or even joint SAG-AFTRA negotiations on TV-Theatrical/Exhibit A. The AFTRA Board meeting will go on this weekend, despite up to two feet of snow that has made it impossible for some of the directors to make it to the session tomorrow.