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Post by Finaddict on Feb 28, 2009 12:14:44 GMT -5
Do you thinking having someone new will help? I certainly hope so. Thanks for th updated.
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Post by rambabe on Apr 8, 2009 18:16:05 GMT -5
Hard to believe this is still going on. Thanks to KatRose at the USA Board. www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib022d07c4ee57d29e57d5a97766da251SAG task force updated on contract talks Breakthrough unlikely before next national board meeting By Jay A. Fernandez April 7, 2009, 09:13 PM ET The wheels of progress continue to turn, ever so slowly, on the labor front. But don't expect any breakthroughs before the Screen Actors Guild's next national board meeting set for April 18-19. SAG's TV-theatrical negotiations task force convened Tuesday for two-plus hours to hear an update on negotiations from interim national executive director David White, who has been engaging in informal talks for several weeks with heads of several of the studios and networks represented by the AMPTP. White and chief negotiator John McGuire delivered a report to the 10 task force members assembled that outlined potential modifications to the AMPTP's last offer delivered in February. The contentious issue of the proposed agreement's expiration date -- a deal-breaker for the guild -- remains unresolved. The likelihood of an agreement hinges on which side will move on the date in exchange for improvements in other contract terms. The studios are pushing for a new end-date three years from official ratification, while the union wants a shorter, retroactive term that sees the new agreement ending June 30, 2011. That would put SAG's contract expiration in synch with those of AFTRA, the WGA and the DGA and allow all to present a united front in talks. These "opportunities," as one person cagily described them, open the door to at least a tentative resolution to the impasse before April 20. After that, the AMPTP can unilaterally impose part or all of its most recent "final offer," though such a move is potentially incendiary and seen as unlikely. McGuire and White plan to continue behind-the-scenes discussions with company toppers in hopes of improving the offer to the point that they can recommend it to the national board for ratification. The SAG national board rejected the AMPTP's latest offer on Feb. 21. SAG's last TV-theatrical contract expired June 30. The membership has worked under the parameters of the old deal since bargaining sessions ground to a halt in February. In concert with AFTRA, SAG did cut a tentative new commercials deal with the advertising industry April 1 that awaits approval by the joint board and a ratification vote by the membership. If the next 10 days of informal talks prove fruitful, McGuire could use the national board meeting to outline a tentative deal for the board to consider and vote on. No sitdown with the AMPTP need take place beforehand if all parties agree on the shifted terms in a "memorandum of understanding," but a new formal agreement that includes modifications to the LBFO would need to be finalized before it could be sent to the AMPTP and SAG boards for ratification. After that, the union's membership would have its say, with a simple majority of voters dictating whether the new proposed deal is acceptable or not. SAG president and MembershipFirst partisan Alan Rosenberg and his allies have repeatedly opined that the current offer is nowhere near acceptable, so the rank-and-file ratification process would likely be contentious. Guild factions opposed to the current offer have set the latest in a series of weekly rallies for Thursday at AMPTP's Sherman Oaks headquarters. In early 2008, back-channel talks between WGA negotiators and Disney topper Robert Iger and News Corp. president-COO Peter Chernin greased the wheels for an end to the writers' months long strike and a new pact.
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Post by Finaddict on Apr 9, 2009 17:39:16 GMT -5
Unbelievable that this has gone on so long. Thank you so much for posting the update.
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Post by rambabe on Apr 17, 2009 19:03:14 GMT -5
SAG, AMPTP reach tentative dealThanks to SpyBarbie at svufans.net April 17, 2009 www.variety.com/article/VR1118002545.html?categoryid=1066&cs=1SAG, AMPTP reach tentative deal Guild's national board expected to approve By DAVE MCNARY In a move that had been widely expected, SAG leaders and the congloms have reached a tentative agreement on a new two-year feature-primetime contract -- opening the door for a pitched battle over ratification. Announcement of the tentative deal came Friday afternoon, nearly 10 months after the previous pact expired, via a brief joint statement from the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The last major point to be settled centered on SAG insisting on an expiration date in June 2011 in order to stay in synch with the WGA, DGA and AFTRA expirations. Three days of official talks cratered in mid-February over the expiration date - even though both sides had agreed on other issues -- with the companies demanding a three-year deal that would have expired in 2012. The statement said that no details would be disclosed until Sunday following review by SAG's national board at its previously scheduled meeting. That panel, which saw control shift last fall to a moderate coalition, is expected to approve the terms of the pact and trigger the mailing of ratification ballots to its 120,000 members. The ratification process will take about three weeks. SAG president Alan Rosenberg and his allies in the hardline Membership First faction, which lost its board majority to the moderates, has vowed it will urge members to vote down the deal on grounds that it falls short in on on multitude of areas, particularly new media. The deal comes following two months of back-channels talks between SAG toppers and moguls such as Disney's Robert Iger and Warner Bros. Barry Meyer with SAG's chief negotiator John McGuire and AMPTP exec VP Carol Lombardini executing the specifics of the new pact. SAG's board ousted Doug Allen in January as SAG national exec director for allegedly botching the negotiations, replacing him with David White as interim national exec director and McGuire as chief negotiator. Membership First has been protesting the presumed deal ever since Allen was fired and the negotiating committee was abolished and replaced with a task force. Scott Wilson, a SAG member who was on the negotiating committee, told Daily Variety that he'll continue advocating a "no" vote in order to persuade the companies to sweeten the terms. "If all that's been changed is the term of the deal, it is up to the members to step up and claim their union by voting this down," he said. The AMPTP's counter on its website asserted Thursday that SAG actors have lost $66.6 million in pay gains as a result of spurning the final offer, which it valued at $250 million. The counter had been taken down on Friday. SAG members have worked since the expiration under terms and conditions of the expired deal.
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Post by Finaddict on Apr 18, 2009 19:59:29 GMT -5
I hope that this will finally be over. Thanks again for the update.
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Post by rambabe on Apr 20, 2009 12:11:45 GMT -5
SAG National Board approves tentative deal with conglomeratesnews-briefs.ew.com/2009/04/sag-national-bo.htmlSAG National Board approves tentative deal with conglomerates Apr 19, 2009, 10:37 PM | by Lynette Rice Categories: Television One major hurdle down, one major hurdle to go for the Screen Actors Guild: the union's National Board on Sunday narrowly approved a two-year, tentative deal with the Hollywood studios. The SAG brass must now persuade the union's 120,000 members to ratify the deal, and opposition is expected, according to Variety. SAG President Alan Rosenberg told the trade paper that he'll oppose ratification because the new deal didn't achieve residuals on some new media projects. Undaunted, the SAG brass issued statements of hope that the proposed deal should fly with the members. Film and TV actors have been working without a contract since June of 2008. "This tentative agreement increased contributions to the SAG pension plan, increased minimums ... and it tracks the new media provisions achieved by other entertainment industry unions," said chief negotiator John McGuire. "The term of the agreement puts SAG in sync with the other unions." "We're eager to get our members back to work," added interim National Executive Director David White.
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Post by rambabe on Jun 10, 2009 10:32:02 GMT -5
Finally!! news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20090610/en_movies_eo/128393SAG Votes Overwhelming "Yay" on New Contract Natalie Finn – Tue Jun 9, 10:08 pm ET Los Angeles (E! Online) – Oh, those showbiz folk. Such divas, always running late. Nearly a year after their previous deal expired, members of the Screen Actors Guild voted 78 percent in favor of approving a new two-year contract, effective June 10 at 12:01 a.m., covering film, TV, digital and new media projects. Approximately 35.3 percent of SAG's 110,000 members mailed in a ballot. SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers hammered out a tentative deal in April, as SAG's leadership—which believed it was getting screwed over financially in multiple ways—finally took a cue from its increasingly disgruntled membership and opted to put the terms to a vote. "This is a great decision for SAG and I'm so appreciative of everything the new leadership is doing to put the Guild back on track," Monk star Tony Shalhoub said in approval. "They've obviously got the right ideas for making SAG stronger." As when the Writers Guild of America went to battle with the AMPTP, SAG's major sticking point was new-media residuals and protection for actors as their projects go digital. "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," SAG president Alan Rosenberg said in a statement. "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." Oh, boy. The new contract contains $105 million in wage increases for union members, though, per studio estimates, actors have also lost out on about $80 million in raises by working under the terms of the old deal—which expired June 30, 2008—for the past 11 months.
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Post by Trublu on Jun 11, 2009 8:22:55 GMT -5
I think this comment from Diane Neal sums it all up: "Not much going on work wise. Sag contract not ratified until TODAY, a year after it expired!!!" twitter.com/DianeNealNow, I can't say I sympathise with SAG at all. Should actors be properly compensated in proportion to the different medias where their work is being run? Sure. Do they get paid waaaaay too much already in comparison with people who do just as much work? (Writers, crew members, etc.) Oh yes.
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