Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
SAG to meet with AMPTP next week: Guild opts for low-key approach to talks
In marked contrast with the ousted Doug Allen, the new toppers at the Screen Actors Guild have opted for a decidedly low-key approach to the upcoming feature-primetime contract talks with the congloms.
Interim national exec director David White and chief negotiator John McGuire notified members in a rhetoric-free message Thursday that SAG's negotiating task force and staff will meet with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Protesters from the Membership First faction -- which has continued to support Allen and blast the AMPTP's final offer -- have promised that they will picket the start of talks on Tuesday morning at the AMPTP's Sherman Oaks headquarters. "If they sign the deal, professional actors like me won't be able to make a living," warned Scott Wilson ("Junebug").
White and McGuire gave a bare-bones preview in their message.
"We will engage in serious discussions in an effort to reach a fair, equitable agreement on your behalf," the duo said. "We have agreed with the AMPTP to refrain from negotiating in the press and have issued a joint statement announcing the talks, but we wanted to take this opportunity to advise you directly of these face-to-face meetings next week."
The announcement's also an indication that SAG and the AMPTP are brushing aside president Alan Rosenberg's lawsuit seeking to overturn the firing of Allen and the elimination of the negotiating committee. Despite failing twice to obtain a temporary restraining order, Rosenberg has warned the AMPTP that the moves are not legally binding.
The guild's national board installed White and McGuire on Jan. 26 as part of its move to fire Allen and then fired him again Sunday. The moderate majority had grown increasingly frustrated with Allen's inability to close a deal and his insistence on pursuing a strike authorization amid concerns from members that such a step was counterproductive.
The Membership First faction, which led a 28-hour filibuster a month ago to prevent Allen's firing, has already promised that it will oppose any deal that the task force makes with the AMPTP.
"We appreciate your questions, comments and input and have been reviewing the hundreds of emails and correspondence you have sent to the mailbox as well as those comments expressed to many of us directly," White and McGuire said. "Our membership clearly has a broad scope of opinions about the upcoming negotiations, and we encourage you to continue to share your opinions with us and with the task force. Your insights and opinions are helpful, and we are listening."
The tone of the missive represents a departure from Allen's hardline stance. In a message to members last month, he said, "The AMPTP's proposal will make it impossible for actors to earn a living for work in new media."
White, who worked at SAG as general counsel between 2002 and 2006, hasn't yet signed a contract with the guild. Due to filibustering at Sunday's meeting, the agenda item covering White's contract did not come up for a vote.
Any tentative deal reached by the task force would have to be approved by the national board before it's sent to SAG's 120,000 members for ratification.
The guild's contract expired June 30 with the companies making a final offer. The move to fire Allen gained momentum after SAG failed to close a deal in November at the last round of talks.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 14, 2009 $sourceSection$sourcePage
- Rate this

-
-
We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high. If you thought it was well written, do the same. If it doesn’t meet your standards, mark it accordingly.
You can also register and/or login to the site and join the conversation by leaving a comment.
Rate it yourself by rolling over the stars and clicking when you reach your desired rating. We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high.
The comment period for this story has ended.
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to TV
-
CON >< CUSSIONS
Examining hockey head injuries
-
Random Acts of Kindness
Your encounters with goodness
-
Open Secrets
Red River students mine government data banks
-
Ski with WFP
Register here to ski Asessippi with the Winnipeg Free Press
-
Miss Lonelyhearts
Maureen Scurfield offers life advice
Poll
Most Popular
- From poster couple to problem couple
- Lesbian teen faces classmates after school cancels dance over her request to bring girlfriend
- Family erupts as driver sentenced to 42 months
- Manitoba man recovering from surgery in Australia
- Musician's mother dies
- 'We have set our tiny miracle free;' Baby Isaiah taken off life support in Alta
- Parole violator apprehended 14 years later
- Do you approve of the plan to turn Glenlawn Collegiate into an elite sports academy by enrolling Manitoba’s top 48 soccer players there so they can train daily?
- Stoughton out of Brier playoffs
- Winter roads close, leaving communities short on supplies
- Crusader up for Nobel Prize
- Police shoot and kill suspect
- On second thought, some mistakes are beyond stupid
- Manitoban wheelchair-user badly beaten in Australia
- From poster couple to problem couple
- Musician's mother dies
- Woman injured after being struck by train
- Gang showdown 'imminent'
- School slapped for bully's actions
- Looters target family's home
- Olympic-sized hypocrisy
- Crusader up for Nobel Prize
- Not wrong, just illegal
- Teacher's lapdance caught on tape, watched by world
- Students could be punished
- Is this the worst Olympics ever?
- Second video of lap dance uncovered
- Missing Stonewall man found dead
- What should happen to two teachers who performed a sexually suggestive dance routine in front of students?
- Two winners for $50 million Lotto Max jackpot
- Lesbian teen faces classmates after school cancels dance over her request to bring girlfriend
- Explore drug aids before giving up sex
- No more quick fixes: mayor
- Winter roads close, leaving communities short on supplies
- Family erupts as driver sentenced to 42 months
- From poster couple to problem couple
- Women set up peaceful protest in Hollow Water
- Harper says Canada on track, Ignatieff says Tories off rails
- You can't keep grandpa from seeing baby despite childish family dynamics
- Indian Act changing to treat descendants equitably
- Police shoot and kill suspect
- Wielding a weapon costs a life
- Aboriginal elders removed from court on Hydro hearing
- You can't keep grandpa from seeing baby despite childish family dynamics
- Lesbian teen faces classmates after school cancels dance over her request to bring girlfriend
- Gang showdown 'imminent'
- No more quick fixes: mayor
- Looters target family's home
- First Nations people pack courtroom
- Stick up for yourself at long last
- Teacher's lapdance caught on tape, watched by world
- MP may regret taking aim at Christian youth centre: Mayor Katz
- Students could be punished
- Police shoot and kill suspect
- Second video of lap dance uncovered
- More ominous issue underlies Youth for Christ flap
- Wielding a weapon costs a life
- Mounties hook ice-fishers for open beer
- Youth centre sparks dispute
- Canadian women's hockey team stunned by reaction to post-gold party
- Indian Act changing to treat descendants equitably
- Manitoba man recovering from surgery in Australia
- Schooling future soccer stars
- Flames burn brightly in hockey playoffs
- Man pepper-sprayed in Transcona home invasion
- Winter roads close, leaving communities short on supplies
- Text of Shane Koyczan's opening ceremonies poem, "We Are More"
- Centre stage
- Hotel workers enlisted to stop child exploitation
- Lesbian teen faces classmates after school cancels dance over her request to bring girlfriend
- Cabela's to open across Canada
- Manitoban wheelchair-user badly beaten in Australia
- Socialism for the rich is Tory way
- Native investment firm buys jet
- Indian Act changing to treat descendants equitably
- Gang showdown 'imminent'
- Mountie says evidence against him may be forged
- Aboriginal group calls site's ad a hate crime
- Schooling future soccer stars
- It’s The Sounds of Silence, unless you have big bucks
- Text of Shane Koyczan's opening ceremonies poem, "We Are More"
- Teacher's lapdance caught on tape, watched by world
- Olympic-sized hypocrisy
- Cabela's to open across Canada
- Oprah's on, and so is our Jon!
- Not wrong, just illegal
- Online drug pioneer tumbles
- Mounties hook ice-fishers for open beer
- No listings for buyers flooding the housing market
- Second video of lap dance uncovered
PREVIOUS

0 Comments