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SAG’s Chief Negotiator Decries AMPTP’s Offer

Jul 18, 2008  •  Post A Comment

Further bickering between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers continues to make the entertainment industry uneasy, as SAG’s chief negotiator Doug Allen flatly said the producers’ June 30 contract proposal is “not a good offer.”
In a statement posted Thursday on SAG’s Web site, Mr. Allen indicated his major complaint about the proposal is a lack of union jurisdiction on Internet productions and lack of new-media residuals.
Mr. Allen said the deal proposed to SAG is similar to those signed earlier this year by the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.
“The template doesn’t protect actors, and while we may be the last union to come to the table, we still have the obligation to address the issues that are most important to you,” Mr. Allen said. “We have had the extra time to effectively assess the impact of rapid technological and marketplace changes, and after careful analysis, we don’t believe the template works for SAG members.”
In a response on its Web site, the AMPTP continues to state that the deal it has offered is fair and complete.
“By refusing to accept the AMPTP’s offer, SAG’s negotiators are ensuring that SAG members will continue to work indefinitely under the old contract—a contract negotiated by SAG that has allowed for non-union Internet production since 2001,” the producers said.

17 Comments

  1. This may not be the best deal, as you’ve indicated. However, we all know timing is everything. The economy and the country is in chaos. A ‘not as good as could be deal’ is certainly better than ‘no deal.’ The writer’s strike cost billions and created dire hardships and unredemable losses for thousands of people in the business (not writers)those who work below the line and will never recover. Let’s move on and go back to work.

  2. Sharon, I’m with you 100%. As was pointed out elsewhere, they can always renegotiate in 3 years.

  3. Yo Sharon, I agree with you 100%!

  4. And in 3 years the issue will still be the same as AMPTP will stonewall with New Media just as they have with VHS in the 1980’s, Cable TV in the 1990’s and DVD in the early 2000’s…. Why?
    Because the studios have the money and diversity to ride out a work stoppage. 95% of the actors don’t. The top 5% don’t really need a union to argue their deals…they have the money to hire lawyers and CPA’s and former Studio-types to haggle and look out for their cuts. The rank and file has only SAG to look out for them.
    The major reasons the other unions took the deals they have and hope for “…a better day..” concerning New Media is because of the economy. It’s understandable but if anyone thinks the “Sunset Clause” is going to bring things any closer to a mutually-acceptable resolution… I’d have to say ya’ll haven’t done this enough to realize how the studios/AMPTP works. It’s going to be a rerun of this in 3 years.

  5. To everyone who reads this,
    All of the posts, the negotiators for SAG, as well as those for the AMPTP, are all missing the point…
    When something is inherently good for one individual, or union, in spite of the overall picture, it does, by rote, fail to be good at all. All of this nonsense really comes down to that. Yes, SAG should make the best deal that it can, and yes, the AMPTP needs to loosen the purse strings and share some wealth, but under no condition can this industry, this city, or this nation, survive another strike. Period.
    Put away the agendas. Put away what we wish was reality. Put away the egos, and make a damn deal, before it is too late for all of us…

  6. Good points Christopher but how do you get the AMPTP to come around? I lived through a couple strikes and while tough, I survived it. I know that the AMPTP doesn’t do anything unless an event disrupts their cashflow…plain & simple.
    They never have and just like the scorpion in the fable….it’s plainly just their nature or modus operandi.
    Forget ego… I’ve worked in projects where I don’t get anything for VHS / DVD . . . and I see the same thing taking place for new media.
    Make the deal… darn right…but who’s willing to blink first? AMPTP apparently doesn’t seem to. So are we to take another lousy offer with New Media as in VHS/DVD?
    Otherwise it’s just same ol’ biz as usual… accepting less becomes our standard and the AMPTP got that with the WGA, DGA and AFTRA….but when should we draw a line in the sand? If not now when…and if not SAG…then who?
    That’s the point. While a strike will be a bitch…we’ll survive just as we did in the 80’s otherwise we’ll quit, head home and sell insurance or real estate, do community theater and not worry about it and forget about all this BS & drama.

  7. The Amptp has got the giuld right where they want them. They have put them in the position of “the bad guy”. 3They fully realize that if the 6uild goes on strike it could cause irreparable damage to many industry related companies as well as numerous individuals still reeling from the WGA strike. I absolutely believe that there are some contractual points that shouldn’t be accepted as is yet at the same time there needs to be some type of compromise on the more pressing issues. The hopes of thousands are relying on the abilities of SAG leadership to work out a truly fair agreement and it would be much more possible if the internal coalitions would let the negotiators do their job.

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