AFTRA Comes to Agreement with Producers
SAG urges joint members to vote against deal.

BY Carrie L. Kaufman

Even though the Screen Actors Guild started first, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists appears to have gotten the deal done. AFTRA’s national board last week sent out a new 3-year primetime TV contract for member approval. The union came to agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on May 29, after less than a month of negotiations.

SAG, meanwhile, has been accused by the AMPTP of deliberately stalling negotiations. SAG president Alan Rosenberg said on June 12 that he didn’t think the guild and producers would come to agreement by the time their contract expires June 30.

And AFTRA—and SAG’s East Coast branch—are accusing SAG of trying to undermine their proposed contract by urging the 44,000 dual union cardholders to vote against it.

SAG officially denies the charge.

Yet, the New York branch of SAG sent out an e-mail last week that started with, “The New York members of the Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors unanimously disavow the decision of SAG’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to mount a campaign to persuade AFTRA/SAG dual-card holders to vote ‘no’ on the AFTRA Primetime TV Contract.”

The letter went on: “More importantly, the NY Board opposes this unconscionable attempt to interfere with the internal business of a sister union because it has no strategic value for our negotiations, because it will waste $150,000 of the members’ dues money, because it may result in costly legal battles for the guild and because it will forever tarnish our image as a union.”

AFTRA’s leaders were amazed by the move, but not surprised.

“It’s kind of breathtaking,” said AFTRA president Roberta Reardon. “They decided in their incredible wisdom that instead of negotiating their own contract, they’re going to spend their time trying to defeat AFTRA’s contract.”

What SAG doesn’t seem to like about AFTRA’s contact is that it is too similar to the deals the writers and directors made earlier this year. That is, it doesn’t have any gains in DVD residuals, it got no deal on product placement—and implicit endorsements—on TV shows, and it did not improve on the 30 cents a mile reimbursement when actors drive to locations. Reardon said the last point “has real relevance,” but that producers would not budge.

“It’s not great, but it’s not bankrupting people.”

Reardon also said AFTRA tried to get a bump in DVD residuals and product placement, but the producers wouldn’t budge.

“There’s a lot of money left in DVDs, but it’s not increasing, it’s flat,” said Reardon, citing studies done by the Directors Guild of America.

“We tried very hard to get something on product placement and product integration,” said Reardon, who was hopeful that AFTRA might at least get a rule that prior notice must be given to actors before the produced is put in their hands. “What we found was that kind of product placement is not planned months in advance.” She still feels that the issue is a “concern. But it’s not anything anyone’s going to strike over.”

What AFTRA did get in their deal was a 4 percent overall pay increase, and P&H increases over the three years of the contract. They also got 10 percent increases in major role minimums and overtime pay for 3-day players. They kept coverage for shows made for internet and new media, and the principle of performer consent for use of clips on new media. They also agreed to collect and share data on new media transactions, along with a sunset provision on new media agreements, so they can come back to the table in three years with data on new media usage and when and how much union members got paid.

“We got a lot of good, solid increases across the breadth of our jurisdiction,” said Reardon. “We didn’t just help a handful of people. Everybody got something.

“We’re happy with our deal. We’re proud of our deal.”

SAG leaders, though, are not happy with AFTRA’s deal, and they vocalized their concern at a rally last week. According to Reardon and AFTRA negotiating committee chair Matt Kimbrough, the rally, which was supposed to mobilize members to stand tough against the AMPTP, was really about AFTRA.

“Speaker after speaker got up and condemned AFTRA,” Reardon said.

“Since returning to the table two weeks ago, word is that the SAG negotiating committee in caucus spends far more time talking about AFTRA than about the issues embedded in theirs and management’s respective proposals,” Kimbrough wrote in an e-mail.

And the AMPTP accused SAG last week of stalling until July 7, when the votes for ratification of AFTRA’s contract will be announced. The ballots went out this week.

AFTRA is talking with the AFL-CIO about SAG’s perceived interference in their contract. Reardon wouldn’t speculate on any possible lawsuits.

Meanwhile, Reardon thinks SAG is only hurting itself by blaming AFTRA.

“I can’t imagine the producers are sitting their thinking, ‘These are reasonable people, let’s deal with them.’”