 Dissidents who blamed hard-line leaders of the Screen Actors Guild for
deadlocking contract talks with major studios made pivotal gains in the union's
national board elections on Thursday, winning greater control for moderates.
A SAG faction calling itself Unite for Strength won six of the 11 seats up
for grabs on the board's Hollywood division, including the reelection of actress
Morgan Fairchild, who ran as an independent but was endorsed by the
insurgents.
The victorious dissidents include two stars from TV's "Grey's Anatomy"
spinoff "Private Practice" -- Kate Walsh and Amy Brenneman -- plus Doug Savant
from "Desperate Housewives," "Chicago Hope" veteran Adam Arkin and film and TV
actor Ken Howard.
The insurgents also won 13 of 22 alternate board seats up for grabs in
Hollywood. Alternates are frequently called upon to fill in at board meetings
when higher-profile members are working.
The new members take office on September 25, SAG said.
The majority of the board's influential Hollywood branch is still held by a
coalition known as Membership First, led by SAG President Alan Rosenberg, who
swept to power in 2005 pledging to take a tougher stance with studios in labor
negotiations.
But Unite for Strength members can now wield effective control over the
national board by aligning with like-minded moderates from New York and other
branches of the guild who have joined Hollywood dissidents in criticizing
Rosenberg.
They accuse him of mishandling labor talks and straining relations with SAG's
smaller sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists,
through SAG's failed campaign months ago to scuttle a contract negotiated
separately between AFTRA and the studios.
"We offered members a clear choice in this election -- end the fighting with
AFTRA and instead partner with them to create a stronger union for performers,"
dissident spokesman and newly elected alternate Ned Vaughn said in a
statement.
"We look forward to working with all of our colleagues on the board to move
SAG in this new direction," he said.
There was no immediate response from Rosenberg or his allies.
Still, the election's outcome leaves the immediate future of SAG's stalemated
contract negotiations in doubt.
Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer with ties to both Hollywood labor
and management, said SAG and the studios were unlikely to make much progress
toward a settlement before early next year. He said the newly reconstituted
board could take months to even decide whether to appoint new
negotiators.
"No matter what happens, there won't be a new deal before January 1 at the
earliest," Handel said.
For now, SAG members are working under the terms of their old contract, which
expired June 30, hours after the studios presented the union with a "final"
offer.
The contract at issue covers the work of 120,000 SAG members in prime-time TV
and movies, an industry still recovering from a 14-week writers strike that
ended in February.
The studios' latest offer essentially mirrors terms of the AFTRA deal.
Rosenberg has said those terms fall short in several respects, including
payments for actors in new media, and he has sought to reopen negotiations with
the studios. Industry executives have refused to budge.
Source: Reuters/Nielsen
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