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April 19, 2003

SAG Watchdog just received word that the big Solidarity Picket sponsored by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor held today at 1:00 pm was a HUGE SUCCESS!

Arlin Miller

The rally was held at the Pavilions Market in Hollywood at the intersection of Melrose and Vine! Spotted in the crowd of five hundred union supporters were SAG Board Members Jeff Austin and Tess Harper along with notables Steven Barr and Anthony DeSantis.

Congratulations guys WAY TO GO!

Also keep checking with SAG Watchdog for information about Saturdays Amazing Popsicle Guild!

SAG Watchdog Editor & Chief A.L. Miller

*You’ll notice by SAG Watchdog standards the photos of our gallant group is unusually flattering. Which just goes to prove that if you do good, SAG Watchdog will assure that you look good…
…ah, of course not as good as our incredible Hunk and Editor & Chief A.L, Miller.

April 19, 2003

SAG Watchdog proudly announces the Amazing New Demi-DeBUNKolator! And it is , Babe!

Arlin Miller

When we told the Amazing DeBUNKolators inventor the Amazing Abner Furbish the 3rd that we wanted to use it to debunk a statement by SAG’s Secretary/Treasurer James Cromwell, he simply scoffed and said “That would be the equivalent of shooting a gnat with a Howitzer!” Well, after some persistence on our part we finally convinced Mr. Furbish who is relaxing at his summer home in Bakersfield to construct a Demi DeBUNKolater!

Amazingly, he dashed off the plans for his Amazing Demi DeBUNKolator quicker than you could say “Partnership For Power!” Then his Amazing DeBUNKolator Technicians constructed it in half the time it takes The Current Restore Respect dominated board to say “Minority Report Denied!”

Once the amazing device was completed, his DeBUNKo-interpologists immediately inserted a recent amazing statement by James Cromwell into the amazing apparatus!

Here is Mr. Cromwell’s amazing statement concerning the new proposed commercial agreement: “Under the circumstances, without a strike authorization — which we did not have — this is the very, very best deal that we could have gotten.”

Well, the Demi DeBUNKo-irony/VUmeter immediately peaked into the red! Then the print out shot violently from the device! It read “Is this guy —-ing kidding? Wasn’t it his — —- side that got into power by campaigning that a strike WASN’T NECESSARY to get a good —-ing deal from the JPC? And now he has the b—s to claim they got the very, very best deal that they could without a strike authorization! These people are un—-ing believable!”*

Indeed, SW Editor & Chief A.L. Miller

*Apparently, the Amazing Demi DeBUNKolator has a short fuse. Fortunately, the Expletive Delete-olator was functioning fabulously as this is a GP rated website.

April 19, 2003

Crowell bemoans “Without strike authorization this is the very, very best deal that we could have gotten!” All the details in the enclosed Variety Article!

Arlin Miller

Posted: Sun., Oct. 12, 2003, 2:13pm PT

Ads deal defended

Cromwell opposes McCord’s push

By CLAUDE BRODESSER, DAVE MCNARY

HOLLYWOOD — Newly elected SAG secretary-treasurer James Cromwell returned fire late Friday at allies of the former SAG treasurer Kent McCord, who are urging SAG and AFTRA members to vote against ratifying the tentative commercials deal reached last month.

Cromwell, in his first interview with Daily Variety since taking office, suggested the SAG membership would do well to accept a multitude of modest gains in an uncertain economic climate, rather than risking a harried, piecemeal renegotiation done with the unions’ back against a wall.

“Under the circumstances, without a strike authorization — which we did not have — this is the very, very best deal that we could have gotten,” Cromwell said of the pact, adding “We didn’t get everything that we wanted. We didn’t get a firm monitoring (agreement). But in terms of keeping people working in this economy, this is a gain. It’s ‘a plus,’ and it was negotiated honorably.”
McCord’s Membership First has been sending emails to supporters and waging a campaign exhorting members to reject the deal as insufficient.

McCord urges no vote
“Your no vote will send this ill-conceived agreement back to the negotiating table,” says part of a fiery Membership First missive.

SAG prexy Melissa Gilbert and AFTRA prexy John Connolly have both strongly backed the tentative deal, reached Sept. 24 after only two days of negotiations, and have cited the hike in pension and health contributions, increases in all wage categories and the absence of any rollbacks amid a tough economic climate.

The McCord faction’s opposition is based on three key areas: dissatisfaction with the 5% increase in cable fees, (compared with the 140% gain achieved three years ago); unhappiness with the pace of development of a television ad monitoring system to ensure payments are made to actors; and the dissenting board members’ inability to get a “minority report” issued by the board to the membership about why they think the pact is a meager deal.

Cromwell especially defended the newborn package’s gains in cable ads.

Don’t mess with it

“The great gains in cable (in 2000) were accomplished on the backs of people who did other kinds of commercial work, whether it was voice-overs or what-have-you,” Cromwell said. “We’d diminished our package for other people in order to make dramatic gains in cable — which is not sustainable. That level of increase cannot be sustained without, of course, screwing your package.”

Membership First, however, kvetched that the proffered cable hike translates into a raise from $2,460 to $2,581 for a quarterly cable buyout. “Actors who appear on cable commercials will continue to be victimized by overexposure (which prevents you from getting further work) — and for this, you will be compensated about a hundred bucks — and there will be no raise for another three years,” the opponents said.

The org also complained that there is no guarantee that an ad monitoring system will be instituted. The 2000 contract set aside $1 million annually to develop a monitoring system amid pervasive complaints that thesps are shortchanged residuals; SAG and the ad industry pledged just last month to create an online searchable database that’s reviewable by performers. But that system won’t be in place until next spring at the earliest.
Into the fire

Cromwell said such dickering now is hugely dangerous to the membership, because brinksmanship with advertisers could devolve into chaos and ultimately net losses for actors.

“If you send this back,” Cromwell warned the SAG membership, “they will not negotiate now. They will hold our counteroffer until five days before they have to. And then they will open up the entire package. They’ll start horsetrading little bits off little bits. And then, with two days left, you’ll have to go to the membership to ask them for a strike authorization, and you are in deep (expletive).”

Instead, Cromwell pleaded for conciliation and closed ranks, not recriminations and division.
“For everybody now, the thing to do is to heal, heal our two unions, and to be able to put people to work in this economy without a stoppage. To sit there and pick the contract apart because you think it doesn’t live up to some abstraction that you have in your head is counterproductive, and is a detriment to the membership, and would lead to nothing but another horrendous strike which neither the industry nor our union can afford.”

In 2000, 96% of the SAG membership voting ratified a deal that was hammered out after a bruising six-month strike. Of the 124,724 members receiving ballots, 34.3% voted with 41,064 approving, 1,623 voting no and 53 ballots ruled as invalid.

Ratification ballots were sent last week to the unions’ 128,000 members with an Oct. 27 deadline for return. The current three-year contract expires 48 hours later.

—-

So, Cromwell proclaims without a strike authorization this is the best deal we could get! Well, here’s an outrages thought! Duh! Get a strike authorization !!

A. L. Miller SAG Watchdog Editor & Chief

Photos and formatting are SAG Watchdog’s!

April 19, 2003

SAG Member shows solidarity with UFCW and joins their picket line!

Arlin Miller

1066009983 67.119.154.115

One of our rank and file SAG members and heroes of our recent strike showed solidarity with the UFCW today by joining their picket line! And from all reports they were very appreciative! While expressing their gratitude, they invited more SAG members to join them.

As any SAG member who was on the picket lines during our recent six month ordeal remembers, any show of support is a real shot in the arm. You can help by not crossing their picket lines. You can help by grabbing a picket sign and joining them for an hour or so. And you can help by getting the word out to friends and fellow members by reminding them that we are all union members–and we all realize the importance of standing together in union brotherhood.

Just so you know, members of the UFCW showed support for us during the strike of 2000 by bringing us food! So now is the time for us to reciprocate by showing support for them.

Your Editor and Chief is making up his own Picket Sign and will show his support by joining them on Monday!

Oh, by the way to our first SAG member to get out there on behalf of the rest of us, all we can say here at ECM is “Thanks, you are a real Peach!”

SW Editor & Chief A.L. Miller *puff

PS, Remember the stores NOT to patronize are Von’s, Pavilion’s Ralph’s and Albertsons!

April 19, 2003

SAG Watchdog Exclusive! Inside the Joint Board meeting when the Majority Whip snaps into action to get the Go-Along-To-Get-Alongs to Go Along To Get Along!

Arlin Miller

1065845539 64.165.229.226

It was a joint board meeting of the Go-Along-To-Get-Alongs and the We-Can-Do-Betters!

So far things were going the way of the Go-Along-To-Get-Alongs. They had got their GATGA contract approved! It was one of the weakest in their history! Everyone was getting less than usual, except for the smiling Talk-a-Lots who where getting a nice little bump! But to the Go-Along-To-Get-alongs, it was an acceptable deal because, well, ah, they were Go-Along-To-Get-Alongs!

Anyway, it was now time to decide if the Kept-In-The-Darks would once again be, ah, well Kept In The Dark. As the vote was called, the GATGA Chairperson, squinched up her button nose with a perplexed expression when she noticed that several of the GATGA’s including the Frumpy Blonde and Bony Worldly Gentleman had their hands raised in favor of leading the Kept-In-The-Darks out into the LIGHT!

What the hell where they doing? Damn! She knew that if the KITD’s where NOT kept in the dark, there would be dark days ahead for her and her agenda. So, she immediately switched off the Light by calling an end to the vote. Ah, there seemed to be some confusion, she muttered! So, ah, in, well, in the meantime, she’d let a couple of more speakers, ah, Speak.

In the meantime, she gave the high sign to her Majority Whip, who immediately whipped into action as she went along to get the “confused” Go-Alongs to Go-Along with the Go-Alongs! In a matter of minutes she had whipped them into shapeand on the next vote they went along and the Keep-In-The-Darks would once again be, ah, well, Kept In The Dark. As the Bony, Worldly Gentleman raised his hand to keep the KITD’s in the dark, he had the expression of a guy who had definitely been POLICY WHIPPED!

So, it looks like once again the KITD’s will be kept in the dark, and will remain there unless of course they stop going along to get along and DEMAND that the lights are turned on! If they don’t there will definitely be DARK DAYS AHEAD !!

With flashlight in hand, your Humble Award Winning, SAG Watchdog Editor and Chief A.L.Miller

*The enclosed photograph is not an actual cartoon of the GTGA Whip but a cartoon look-a-like!



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