October 16, 2008 by WW.

  We’re sorry to say that actress, comedian and singer Edie Adams has died, of cancer. The New York Times says the 81 year old “both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde, especially in a long-running series of TV commercials for Muriel cigars, in which she poutily encouraged men to “pick one up and smoke it sometime.” She was 81 and lived in Los Angeles.

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October 16, 2008 by WW.

Fox exec Peter Chernin says it would be “foolhardy” for SAG to stage a TV-Theatrical strike, and no, there won’t be a sweetened offer. That’s from Variety, quoting Chernin at a TV Week conference.   “I think it’s genuinely foolhardy to think this is an appropriate time to go out on strike,” said Chernin on Thursday at a TV Week media conference in New York. “It would be devastating for the entire creative community for the actors to go out on strike.” Chernin also reiterated the congloms’ stance that they won’t sweeten their final offer to the Screen Actors Guild, which has been insisting that it deserves better terms than those in the WGA, DGA and AFTRA pacts. The two sides haven’t met since July 16, and SAG members are working under terms of a feature-primetime deal that expired June 30.

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October 16, 2008 by Editor.

So says Variety. The story says the deal means large-cast commercial shoots that had become runaways will return to Canada. Other major elements in the deal include increased rates, accident-on-set insurance, shorter work days and measures to enhance compliance with the pact.

Meanwhile, also in Canada, Wal-Mart has closed a tire and lube center in Gatineau, Quebec after the United Food and Commercial Workers succesfully organized the workers there. It’s the second store in Canada that Wal-Mart has closed rather than negotiate with a union that had been chosen by the workers.

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October 16, 2008 by Editor.

As we head into the first SAG National Board meeting with no clear majority for any faction, the big question is whether Ned Vaughn and Amy Brennerman’s Unite for Strength will be able to put together a cohesive coalition able to manage the union until next year’s election - and, if they can, whether they will continue to gain strength and mend fences. A second big question is whether they’ll move against Doug Allen.

Our answers, or, really, predictions: the coalition will stumble a bit at first, because managing a union isn’t easy for newcomers. But we expect the movement to coalesce and grow stronger as the year goes on.Their problem, of course, is that Membership First isn’t exactly sitting around waiting for this to happen. Instead, the ousted SAG faction is actively working on ways to embarass the newcomers while trying to resurrect the rejected hard line policies that have painted SAG into a nasty corner.

The first and most immediate Membership First stunt is pushing the question of requesting a TV-Theatrical strike referendum out of the Membership First-dominated negotiating committee and putting it before the National Board, complete with pious statements that it’s so important that the whole board should consider the decision. While it is an important decision, it’s also one that if Membership First really wanted to make, it would have done it by now.Instead, the faction has resorted to political gamesmanship worthy of the presidential campaign. If Unite for Strength supports the strike referendum, it gets stuck with the baggage of the failed negotiations. If it opposes the referendum, it gets tagged by Membership First as weak and complacent. Either way, the members and the union itself loses.

We’ve offered our solution already, but there are others, including kicking the referendum back to the negotiating committee. If Unite for Strength has a plan for this, they haven’t revealed it yet (at least to us!) .

Then there’s the question of Doug Allen.   

Allen has been a controversial and polarizing figure at SAG since his arrival, and has been seen as closely aligned with the Membership First majority in place when he was hired. We see it as an open question as to whether he’ll be able to work well with the new board. His relationship with many incumbents outside of Membership First is, to put it politely, strained.

Still, we’d rate it as less than 50-50 that he’s fired, at least this weekend.

One more critical item that we’ve discussed and on which there shouldn’t be much controversey (always a sign it will be very difficult!) is the Commercials Contract negotiations. As we’re hearing more about the deal between SAG and AFTRA’s leadership, brokered by the AFL-CIO, under which joint Commercials Contract negotiations would take place under the terms of the Phase 1 agreement, we’re beginning to understand a bit about why Membership First supporters first spoke in favor of the deal at the AFTRA Board meeting, then voted against it.

Yes, it was negotiated by the Allens with AFTRA’s Reardon and Hedgpeth. But apparent candidate for SAG President Anne-Marie Johnson, already positioning herself as Membership First’s hope to replace Rosenberg, may have a particularly difficult time living up to the terms of the proposed deal - and she won’t be alone. Under the proposed deal several of Membership First’s activists will have to tone down a lot of their anti-AFTRA rhetoric, and there may have to be substantial changes in SAG’s Communications, including some direct from the Allens.

That may have what frightened the Membership Firsters who started out praising the proposed deal, but turned around and voted against it.

Either way, our bet is that it passes the National Board by a decent margin, with the Allens supporting it along with the RBD and New York, and Hollywood badly divided (what else is new?).

It’s going to be a long weekend…so keep your tips and information coming, and help us get the news out to our members all around the world.

Posted in Commercials Contract, Exhibit A - TV Theatrical, SAG-AFTRA | Print | 9 Comments »