Two Actors’ Unions Fight as One Tries for a Deal (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

LOS ANGELES — Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild publicly declared war on a fellow actors’ union at a Monday rally here, increasing the likelihood of new labor strife in an entertainment industry still recovering from a writers’ strike that ended just four months ago.

Standing outside the union’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters, Alan Rosenberg, president of the 120,000-member guild, urged supporters to reject a tentative deal reached last month between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Hollywood’s production companies.

“We are engaged in the battle of our lives,” Mr. Rosenberg told a group that appeared to number several hundred and included the actors Ed Asner, Keith Carradine, Justine Bateman and Joely Fisher. “It is essential,” he added, “that we vote down that Aftra deal.”

The crowd responded to the speeches with chants of “Vote No!” and bristled with signs opposing the federation’s contract.

About 40,000 of the federation’s approximately 70,000 members also belong to the actors’ guild. And Aftra’s Los Angeles office resides in the same building as SAG’s headquarters.

The federation’s deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which covers about a dozen television series, including “Cashmere Mafia” on ABC and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO, was approved by that union’s board Friday and is set for a membership vote in coming weeks.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sag10-2008jun10,0,6608546.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Actors hold rally to support SAG
The guild’s leaders blast a contract negotiated between rival union AFTRA and Hollywood studios as inadequate.
By Richard Verrier
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

June 10, 2008

Several hundred actors rallied outside the headquarters of the Screen Actors Guild on Monday to support their leaders and blast a contract with the Hollywood studios recently negotiated by the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

SAG President Alan Rosenberg and Executive Director Doug Allen alternately took jabs at AFTRA’s agreement, saying it offered paltry pay increases and failed to meet such key demands as ensuring that all shows created for the Web are covered under union contracts.

The federation “abandoned us to make their own deal to the detriment of actors,” said Rosenberg, as the assembled actors chanted, “Vote no!”

AFTRA President Roberta Reardon fired back. “We’re proud of what we accomplished. If that’s not good enough for SAG, then we invite them to go back to the table and bargain,” Reardon said in an interview.

The rally outside SAG’s headquarters in the Mid-Wilshire district kicks off a risky campaign by guild leaders to urge 44,000 members who belong to both unions to vote down AFTRA’s contract, which was approved Friday by the union’s directors.

SAG leaders risk embarrassing themselves if they can’t defeat AFTRA’s contract or win meaningful new concessions from the studios. The SAG campaign already has angered some moderates within the guild.

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THIS SUMMER'S BLOCKBUSTER!!!!!!

"WHEN HOLLYWOOD EATS ITSELF."

COMING SOON!!!!!

This production has no release date, producers, director, or actors, grips and all the necessary crew because of the actors union fight and lawsuits. In fact, we doubt seriously this movie will ever get made.

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