The Issues

If you need proof that SAG’s election season is once more underway, look no further than the outlandish claims of a group calling itself “Membership First” and their allies.

Claim #1:
Membership First: “Join us in supporting a SAG-AFTRA merger of All Actors into One Union.” (Go HERE)

Reality: Unite For Strength Candidate Ron Perlman has penned a dead-on rebuttal detailing the hypocrisy of this statement. (Go HERE) To summarize, what Membership First proposes is to somehow claim/subsume all of AFTRA’s actors into SAG (or at least the performers Membership First deems worthy).
1) Aside from the fact that such an attempt would undoubtedly end the joint bargaining partnership between SAG and AFTRA;
2) Aside from the fact that AFTRA leadership have already publicly stated that such a plan is wholly unacceptable;
3) Aside from the fact that no legal mechanism exists to accomplish this ‘goal;’ and
4) Aside from the fact that any such attempt on SAG’s part would undoubtedly trigger reprisals and lawsuits that would tie us up in court for literally years and waste millions of dollars of members’ dues monies from both unions…

This Is Their Considered Plan.

Claim #2:
Nikki Finke: “…there’s less SAG work after the big actors union under its new leadership allowed AFTRA to take away virtually all of SAG’s TV pilots this season according to a prearranged deal with the networks and studios.” (Go HERE)

Reality: “You are handing prime time and cable to AFTRA.” My words, verbatim, directed to Alan Rosenberg, Doug Allen, and the Membership First majority at a SAG National Executive Committee meeting in 2008. I was not alone in that assessment. Long before Unite For Strength’s ascendancy, Morgan Fairchild and numerous leaders from New York and the Regional Branches strenuously advised against Membership First’s unreasoning, anti-union, anti-AFTRA crusade. Board members weren’t the only ones who understood what Membership First’s position meant for the future. Check out a November 2008 Variety article entitled “SAG Stance Sends Pilots to AFTRA” (Go HERE). The Membership First majority and our former National Executive Director laughed these concerns off.

No one is laughing now.

Every step of the way, Membership First was warned that their disastrous policies would result in the situation SAG currently finds itself. Yet, they kept steering the ship straight toward the iceberg with unerring accuracy. Every vested rank and file SAG member is now paying the price for Membership First’s hubris and fiscal irresponsibility.

Claim #3:
Alan Rosenberg: Unite For Strength has “…done nothing of worth since the last election.” (Go HERE)

Reality: Working together with independent candidates like Morgan Fairchild and the New York and Regional Branch Divisions, Unite For Strength has repaired the critically damaged relationships with our colleagues within the industry, made joint negotiations with AFTRA a reality (first with the commercials contract and next with the TV/Theatrical negotiations), put national staff in place that reversed the crippling deficit spending of our dues money authorized by the previous administration, and restored the stature of SAG as a truly national union. These accomplishments are hardly “nothing.”

Enough is Enough.

Vote for Sanity. Vote for Solidarity. Vote for Unite For Strength in Hollywood and USAN in New York.

Todd Hissong