SAG says offer's inferior

Posted 2008. 6. 26. 22:51

+ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988095.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

Posted: Wed., Jun. 25, 2008, 5:23pm PT
SAG says offer's inferior
Guild says studios are playing favorites
By DAVE MCNARY

After spending recent weeks blasting AFTRA's deal, SAG's turned its ire back on the majors and accused them of playing favorites.

With negligible progress at the bargaining table and a Tuesday contract expiration approaching, Screen Actors Guild leaders are complaining publicly that the most recent offer from the congloms is less favorable than the AFTRA deal.

SAG national executive director Doug Allen told Daily Variety and other news outlets Wednesday that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers' current offer to SAG is worth "millions of dollars" less than the deal the majors struck with rival thesp union AFTRA late last month.

Allen did not elaborate as to where the AMPTP's offer falls short, but he took issue with the majors' assertion that SAG is stalling until July 8 -- when AFTRA is expected to announce its ratification vote results. SAG has said previously that the AMPTP wasn't budging on bargaining positions, so it's the congloms' fault that negotiations aren't progressing.

"I question how much urgency there is in a negotiating position that doesn't use the AFTRA deal as a starting place," Allen added.

In response, the AMPTP put the blame squarely on SAG for stalling.

"The AMPTP has made four labor deals this year, and we are ready to make a fifth," said spokesman Jesse Hiestand. "We have negotiated with SAG for 38 days -- and counting -- far more formal negotiating time than was required to make deals with the DGA (eight days), the WGA (23 days), AFTRA Network Code (14 days) and AFTRA primetime (17 days). It is now clear that SAG is stalling for time until the results of the AFTRA vote are known in July, stalling that is shutting down our industry and putting many people out of work."

SAG and the companies were expected to move into their 39th day today.

Allen's complaint echoes a SAG lament two weeks ago that the AMPTP had not offered SAG the same terms as in the deals it made with AFTRA, DGA and WGA. His comments are a strong indication that the companies haven't yet put a "last, best, final" offer on the table.

"Clearly, the AMPTP is attempting to exploit its leverage having completed this deal with AFTRA for terms for the exact same type of programs covered by our contract," said Allen and SAG president Alan Rosenberg in a June 9 message to members.

AFTRA has defended its deal vocifierously, with more than 600 announced supporters including Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Morgan Fairchild, Sally Field, James Cromwell, Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Spacey, Loretta Swit, Jeffrey Tambor and Treat Williams. The union, which has 70,000 members, including 44,000 SAG members, has stressed gains in minimums, protection of online clip consent and union jurisdiction and residuals in new media.

For its part, SAG placed an ad in today's edition of Daily Variety with the names of about 70 supporters of the negotiators. Signers include Josh Brolin, Louis Gossett Jr., Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Amy Madigan, Viggo Mortensen, Jack Nicholson, Nick Nolte, Edward James Olmos, Sandra Oh, Rob Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, Ben Stiller, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Rainn Wilson.

Harris, Mortensen and Sheen have also lent their support to SAG by participating in videos urging a no vote. The ad complains that AFTRA's deal falls short in minimums, new-media residuals and jurisdiction, force majeuere protections and DVD residuals.

"We believe there are issues that are at the heart of every actor's acareer that remain unresolved by AFTRA," the signers said. "We believe AFTRA should go back to the bargaining table with SAG and fight for a better contract."

AFTRA leaders have already asserted that they won't bargain again with SAG. AFTRA walked away from joint negotiations with the guild in March following a bitter dispute over jurisdiction.

AFTRA belittled SAG's strategy Wednesday, noting that the guild's leadership has always been expected to take talks down to expiration despite little prospect of improving on terms of the WGA, DGA and AFTRA deals -- even with a strike.

"The great majority of the current dramatic TV schedule is made up of SAG shows," AFTRA said. "That is the source of SAG's bargaining leverage and will not change just because the AFTRA deal is ratified. SAG has the same leverage today that it had in March, and it will have that same leverage on June 30 or July 8, no matter what is the outcome of our ratification vote."

SAG still has not scheduled a strike authorization vote, which would take about three weeks and require 75% approval from those voting.

"Every informed person knew going into negotiations that it would take a strike to change the pattern on new media or to achieve an advance on DVD residuals (with no assurance of success even with a strike)," AFTRA noted. "If anyone reduced or affected SAG's leverage, it was SAG and the WGA in their timing. Once the WGA settled, the die was cast."