The two major actors unions in Hollywood, SAG and AFTRA are both trying to get new deals with the studios, but in doing so they are also both now going to war with each other.
The simplistic short version is this… AFTRA is making progress with the AMPTP (The same producers group the writer’s union were negotiating and fighting with) and is already signing deals. They’re getting ready to send a new major deal to the AFTRA members for ratification. Got that?
Ok, now SAG (the other actors union) does not like the deal AFTRA is getting ready to sign. There are 44,000 members who hold memberships in both SAG and AFTRA. So SAG is trying to get its members who also belong to AFTRA to vote against ratifying the AFTRA deal with the producers.
AFTRA is pissed at SAG’s interference and is now threatening to take legal action against SAG for interfering in the internal affairs of another union .
Variety gives us this:
Hedgpeth and Reardon blasted the SAG effort in a sharply worded reply to Guild counterparts Doug Allen and Rosenberg.
“We are reserving judgment about the accuracy of statements SAG elected leaders and staff intend to undermine the merits of our members’ tentative agreement and disrupt our ratification process,” the duo wrote. “Such unprecedented interference in the internal affairs of another union is the antithesis of good unionism.”
In addition to the “solidarity” rally today, SAG’s also scheduled a townhall meeting Wednesday at the Harmony Gold Theater. The Writers Guild of America, which received extensive support from SAG during its 100-day strike, issued a call to its members to attend the rally.
“We all remember how SAG members turned out in numbers to picket, march and rally with us during our contract campaign and strike,” the WGA said. “Now it’s our turn to be there for them.”
SAG and AFTRA are negotiating separately for the first time in three decades due to bitter jurisdictional disputes triggered when AFTRA leaders asserted they could no longer trust SAG leaders. The majors have indicated they’re unwilling to give SAG a significantly better deal than AFTRA received.
This is going to get really messy. It doesn’t look like SAG is doing a very good job convincing its members who also belong to AFTRA to vote against the AFTRA deal… which tells me the actors in Hollywood don’t want another WGA strike situation and they basically like the deal… but SAG leadership isn’t listening.
