SIDES MORE VOCAL IN SAG STRIKE TALKS

Web ExclusivePosted: Thurs., Jan. 8, 2009, 6:54pm PTSides more vocal in SAG strike talks
Meeting next week to decide referendum's fate
The sides in SAG's strike authorization vote battle are becoming more vocal in advance of the guild's emergency national board meeting next week to determine the fate of the proposed referendum.
The Screen Actors Guild's Hollywood leadership made the case for allowing the vote to proceed in the January edition of its "Call Sheet" newsletter that is posted on the SAG website. Meanwhile, a group dubbed SavetheBiz.org has released a short vid featuring former SAG board member James Cromwell urging guild members to vote against a strike to protect the health of the film and TV biz.

SAG's national board is skedded to meet Monday and Tuesday to consider the planned referendum, which SAG leaders had hoped to initiate earlier this month as a means of giving the guild more leverage in its long-stalled film and TV contract negotiations with Hollywood's majors.

But after protests from SAG's New York board and other branches last month, SAG prexy Alan Rosenberg delayed the start of the three-week referendum process and skedded the board meeting. The powwow is designed to address the dissent about the vote and the call from the New York board for SAG's contract negotiating committee to be replaced.

The "Call Sheet" newsletter makes it clear that SAG's Hollywood branch leaders are not backing down from its strike vote push, despite the opposition. It included a lengthy discussion of the terms of the last contract offer and a column from SAG national exec director Doug Allen telling members: "We have exhausting all other options for diplomacy. Now we need you to authorize new leverage."

SAG's first veep Anne-Marie Johnson, a staunch supporter of Allen and Rosenberg's and the strike vote push, also made a strenuous plea to members.

"Here we are at a crossroads," Johnson wrote. "We can either support our lead negotiator, senior staff and negotiating team by providing them with a strike authorization that could lead to our employers returning to the negotiating table, and more importantly indicate to the AMPTP and their clients that SAG is as strong, unified and determined... or we could capitulate."

Another letter circulated widely among members by longtime SAG activist Tom Bower warned of what he described as the devastating effect of accepting the majors' contract offer as it stands now. The crux of the SAG contract fight has been over compensation terms for new media re-use of film and TV productions, and limits on SAG's jurisdiction over made-for-new media productions.

"It is designed, (and) has been designed for a very long time, to eliminate residuals forever and ever," Bower wrote. "That would totally destroy our pension and health plan, and ultimately the union itself."

On the vote-no side -- which has been bolstered by the support of marquee names including Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Matt Damon -- the video featuring Cromwell, "Big Bang Theory" star Kaley Cuoco and former SAG Foundation prexy Mitch Ryan presents a bleak vision of the biz's future if it endures another strike amid the nation's broader economic woes.

"During one of the worst economic crises in generations, if there is a strike, with jobs and billions more lost, what would be left of film industry when it's over," Cromwell intones in the narration. The roughly two-minute spot was spearheaded by film biz lighting firm Luminys Systems Corp., and produced with a volunteer cast and crew.
Rea