September 8, 2008 by WW.

For those who don’t know her, Mary McDonald-Lewis is an outspoken member of the National Board, representing the RBD. She’s been a consistent opponent of Membership First.

With the campaign winding down and Membership First facing its first major challenge in an election, and its leadership admitting they expect to lose seats to the moderate Unite for Strength Slate, one of Membership First’s most hardline members, running as an independent candidate, “announced” that he’s bringing charges against Mary Mac for alleged conduct unbecoming a SAG member.

The conduct? She sent an e-mail to other 58 other RBD board members via a SAG-operated listserv, with political content in that e-mail. She recognized the mistake and apologized for it within minutes, but now, weeks later, the Membership First faction is bringing what would ordinarily be secret charges, and crowing about them - trying to rally their hard line base at the last minute.

Tonight Mary Mac sent us this response to the flap, pointing out that this is the second time Membership First has tried the same stunt:

Dear Editor —

Oh dear god, now I’m a “situation.” The McDonald-Lewis “situation,” which involves an email sent by mistake to the wrong listserve comprised of 50 or so Branch members, none of whom could vote in a Hollywood election, about the Hollywood election.

Now, a member of the Hollywood majority and a real MF-er through an through, has determined the act worthy of bringing charges of conduct unbecoming an officer against me.

To be accurate, this is the second time the MF-ers have brought charges against me — the first was during the failed commercials strike of 2000, which I vigorously prosecuted while actively criticizing those who caused it. So this is “Conduct Unbecoming 2: The Failed Theatrical Negotiations,” a direct-to-DVD if there ever was one.

The last time this happened, I assured the Guild I would prevail, and counseled it to desist. I let the organization know that the union would pay all my legal bills; that an apology would be issued in printed form; and that all costs of the trumped-up charges would be tallied and make public. Of course I was vindicated of the clumsy attempt at intimidation; of course my demands for satisfaction were met. Of course members’ money was squandered.

I assure you now the same thing will happen in the sequel. The producers will take a real bath on this one, to be sure.

The plot of the sequel’s “situation” are utterly banal, so I won’t bore you with it here, but once more members’ dues are wasted on this very unoriginal effort, and the verdict is in, I’m sure someone will pass along the results.

What isn’t boring, but in fact deeply chilling, is the playbook from which this story is lifted. An identified “pure” group; an obsession with crime and punishment; rampant attempts at intimidation and censorship; a targeted scapegoat… though, that effort was called a “problem,” not a situation, and it too ended badly for the authors.

I am neither a problem nor a situation — just a vocal member of the RBD, representing a quite small Branch in the Pacific Northwest. I wonder why I scare them so. “Conduct Unbecoming 1: The Failed Commercial Strike” did not still my voice — the sequel, which will be an even bigger bomb, will only make me speak louder.

Mary McDonald-Lewis

Posted in SAG Politics | Print | 45 Comments »

September 8, 2008 by Editor.

And that’s what I’m doing right now. Back a couple of days ago, after Jonathan Handel’s interviews with the independent candidates, I wrote some relatively complimentary things about former Membership Firster, now independent candidate Mark Carlton.

Mea cupla. Mea maxima culpa.

A number of readers pointed out Carlton’s connection to the SAG e-mail list scandal, in which somehow the supposedly confidential (hmmm, where have we heard that word recently) e-mail list wound up in the hands of Membership First.

Now we have this, written by Carlton, appearing on another website, complaining about merger proponents, who believe,:

“the fallacy that there is strength in numbers. We have negotiated our contracts jointly for twenty years and there has been no increase in strength, only new slogans! Strength comes from the willingness of members to stand together and stand firm in the face of adversity”

In this single paragraph, Carlton defies all logic by contradicting himself. First he says there’s a “fallacy” of strength in numbers. Then he says strength comes from standing together. Like, that’s not “numbers???”

He goes on to suggest that no one new is ever qualified to be on the board, assuming, “they have not done the research or have the knowledge or experience to lead our Union.”

We retract anything nice we had to say about this guy. My mistake. I was wrong. I apologize.

—

Update - File this under “if you had any doubts…” 

Only a couple of hours after this post, Carlton apparently leaked that he had filed supposedly confidential internal union charges against SAG Portland Branch board member Mary McDonald-Lewis, an outspoken critic of Membership First. The charge is that Lewis committed conduct unbecoming a SAG member when she sent a political message via the RBD listserv, apologizing only minutes later for having sent something via the wrong e-mail chain.

That started a classic union mini-flap that we debunked several weeks ago.

Our analysis: This is the kind of classic grandstanding by a candidate hungry for any publicity, and a classic waste of the union’s time and resources. Someone used the wrong e-mail group and apologized only moments later. Now, in the last minutes of a campaign, an extremist candidate files a nonsense charge. This is a classic example of why SAG can’t get out of its own way, and another reason to vote for anyone but Mark Carlton.

Posted in Union Politics | Print | 22 Comments »

September 8, 2008 by admin.

The question we have to ask is just what the Allens mean by their latest claim regarding the push poll postcard mess, posted on the SAG website. The “poll” supposedly seeks member opinion on the AMPTP’s “last, best and final” offer, but in fact is designed to serve as an endorsement of the Allens and the negotiating committee - they’ve rejected the proposal, and claim to still be bargaining, though the AMPTP says no negotiations have taken place and none is scheduled. The postcards serving as a ballot sent to members are each individually bar coded so that the Allens can track exactly who voted and how.

Here’s the latest salvo from 5757:

“…as you know, the identities of respondents are kept confidential. In fact, your response card even includes the following assurance: “The confidentiality of your response will be maintained.””

What the Allens don’t say is what they mean by “kept confidential.” It certainly seems to mean they won’t disclose it to the outside world. But many members we’ve heard from agree the real problem is that the union staff and Membership First operatives may not only know who voted and which way they voted, but then use that information in ways that are entirely outside the bounds of what’s appropriate.

We’ve heard from many who point out that Membership First was involved a few years back in a sordid incident involving the entire SAG e-mail list, and fear the same kind of misconduct now. In an environment in which the SAG staff is seen as having been politicized, the concerns are understandable, and the “assurances” seem hollow.

Posted in SAG Politics, Exhibit A - TV Theatrical | Print | 12 Comments »