SAG'S INERIM DIRECTOR PLEAS FOR UNITY

Posted: Tue., Jan. 27, 2009, 1:29pm PTSAG's interim director pleas for unity
David White urges Guild to 'work together'
By DAVE MCNARY




Aiming for a truce in the Screen Actors Guild's brutal internal battles, David White has begun work as SAG's interim topper with a plea for unity -- even with president Alan Rosenberg continuing to blast White's backers.
"It is time to turn the page on the most destructive aspects of the guild's internal politics," White said in a message sent Tuesday afternoon to SAG's 120,000 members. "In this swiftly changing environment, we will not be successful if we do not work together."

White's message came 24 hours after the national board's moderate majority fired Doug Allen as national exec director and replaced him with White, who began work at SAG's Hollywood headquarters Tuesday morning.

A few hours later, Rosenberg sent a vituperative message to members that amplified Monday's accusations that the moderates had sabotaged the negotiations to create chaos and confusion. "This was done consistently and, I believe, intentionally, so that our progressive leadership would be made to appear inept, which would pave the way toward a return to the go-along-to-get-along days of yore," he added.

Rosenberg said that many within SAG believe Allen was fired because he was "simply too good, too strong and too much a unionist."

He also predicted that -- with SAG's negotiating committee replaced -- the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers will soon make a concession to close the feature-primetime deal and asserted Allen should be given the credit. "This will be given by our employers, not as an act of good will but as a demonstration of the fact that 'reasonableness' will be rewarded, while 'militancy' will be punished," he added.

White listed completing negotiations on SAG's feature-primetime contract, which expired June 30, as a priority but gave no timetable. SAG, which also replaced its negotiating committee, is widely expected to quickly restart negotiations with the AMPTP. The AMPTP had no comment Tuesday.

The national board majority -- with 53% of the seats -- used a "written assent" technique to boot Allen out after being blocked via filibuster two weeks ago. The moderates also tapped SAG senior adviser John McGuire to Allen's slot as chief negotiator.

SAG's Membership First faction, which lost control of the national board in September, was ousted from steering the negotiating committee Monday. The moderates replaced the panel with a 10-member task force that has only three slots for Membership First -- Rosenberg, 1st VP Anne-Marie Johnson and national board member Clancy Brown.

That meant David Jolliffe, who's co-headed the negotiating committee as a rep of the Hollywood division, was removed. The two other co-chairs -- New York president Sam Freed and regional division rep Mike Pniewski -- retained their slots on the panel.

Johnson told Daily Variety that she wishes White good luck but stresses that SAG's success is tied directly to achieving the strongest possible contracts. "We can't do that with a one-size-fits-all approach but, unfortunately, the final offer is nowhere close to being satisfactory," she added.More than one option(Co) Daily Variety
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(Co) Daily Variety

Membership First board members have continued to defend their 28-hour filibuster and contend that the replacement of the negotiating committee members violates SAG rules requiring each division to name its own reps.

The other members of the task force include two Hollywood reps -- Morgan Fairchild, who usually votes with the moderates, and Unite for Strength leader Ned Vaughn -- plus New York board members Mike Hodge and Matt Servitto and regional rep Nancy Duerr.

SAG last met with the AMPTP in two days of mediation in November, but those talks cratered after the guild demanded a hike in DVD residuals -- long a nonstarter for the congloms. That failure led to the guild announcing it was sending out a strike authorization, a move that split the board and ultimately led to Allen's ouster.

White also named the commercials contract negotiations, which start Feb. 23 with a March 31 expiration date, as a priority. Other goals include resolving several other labor agreements, repairing relations with other unions and addressing what he termed "a polarized political system that is perceived by too many of our members as being close to broken."

"As we confront these efforts together, my overarching goal is this: to help restore your confidence that this is a union where strong and wise decisions are made despite political differences," White said. "The greatest challenge facing this union is to find a way for democratic leadership to flourish -- for disagreement and debate to build into unity and power. The guild's diversity of opinion should, and must, serve as a source of strength and solidarity. I believe in the guild's capacity for this."

White served as SAG's general counsel between 2002 and 2006 and is regarded as a far more low-key operator than Allen.

"I did not seek this position, but I am honored to act as its temporary custodian," White said. "You have my pledge that I will direct all my energies to steadying this historic organization and ensuring its success. I thank the guild's national board for the confidence and trust they have placed in me on your behalf. And I look forward to working together, in solidarity."

Rosenberg also complained in his message that the moderate majority have instituted a rule that only White, McGuire and their designated rep may speak on behalf of the guild.

"The members now have no official voice," Rosenberg added. "I appreciate the fact that Mr. White thinks it is preposterous to silence a duly elected national officer, and so has permitted me this forum, provided I inform you that what I am about to write represents my opinion. However, although I am not writing on behalf of the Guild, I believe I do speak for the nearly 48% of the board who are deeply concerned about what was done yesterday and about how these changes were accomplished."

Board member Richard Masur, a former SAG president, quickly rebuked Rosenberg by asserting that when Allen was in power, no one was allowed to publish opinions not approved of and/or edited by Allen.

"Were that still the case, Mr. Rosenberg would not be allowed to use the Guild's communications with its members to publish his opinion that the Board was in error in terminating Doug Allen," Masur said. "Well, Mr. Rosenberg has the majority of the Board to thank for the hiring of David White, to whom it delegated the power to authorize the use of Guild resources to communicate with the members. Thanks to that action, freedom of speech has been restored to SAG. And it only took one day."

(Person) David White
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