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Headline, Industry News
AMPTP Stands Firm on Offer with SAG
Tuesday December 02nd 2008Los Angeles Times published a full-page Open Letter to the Entertainment Community from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing 350 producers of motion pictures and television currently in negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild. In the letter (attached) the AMPTP states that they are standing firm behind their offer to SAG because “It represents a pattern of hard fought agreements over the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry”.
The letter was responding to SAG’s “educational campaign” toward strike authorization which began Wednesday (26DEC08) with a pre-Thanksgiving Q&A e-mail to its members. The seven-page message was the first of many expected from the actors union in the coming weeks, leading up to a strike-authorization vote slated for December.
On Saturday Nov. 22, a federal mediator broke off a two-day, 27-hour discussion between and the studios bargaining arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. The decision to end the mediation process resulted in SAG going forward with its decision to take a strike-authorization vote from members.
In a separate message to members Wednesday, SAG president Alan Rosenberg said that pursuant to a resolution passed by the national board in October, SAG is launching its “member education campaign” and will send out strike referendum ballots to all members in December.
The AMPTP has called SAG tone deaf and its actions bizarre. In a statement Wednesday, the group continued to question SAG’s decision making.
The AMPTP feels that “SAG’s latest mass e-mail fails on three counts: It fails to explain why SAG deserves more than everyone else in the industry,” the AMPTP said. “It fails to justify why SAG members should bail out a failed negotiating strategy by striking during a time of historic economic crisis. And it fails to explain why it makes sense to strike when SAG members will lose more during the first few days of the strike than they could ever expect to gain.” SAG is unhappy with management which, as they characterize it, continues to apply “its one-size-fits-all demands to SAG actors…. while actors have unique, reasonable needs that are different, not better, but different than writers, directors and crewmembers.”
SAG also continued to insist that a strike-authorization vote does not mean the union will go on strike at all. Rather they feel that a strike authorization is a tool that will give them more leverage in negotiations and they intend to use it to try to get a fair deal. SAG has stated that If they receive ‘yes’ votes from at least 75% of the members who vote on this referendum, the national board will have the ability to call a strike, but it must vote to do that, and that won’t happen before they attempt further negotiations to reach a deal with management.
COMMENT
The question is how will the economic downturn affect the negotiations? The AMPTP has kept their offer on the table in spite of the precipitous economic decline of the last several months. Whether they will be able to continue to do so in the face of the economic downturn remains to be seen, however the open letter states that their offer still stands. SAG’s response to the the bad economy is that it is “requiring more of a sacrifice from some of our members if in fact a strike becomes necessary, but remember that this union was founded and obtained its first contract during the depths of the Great Depression. Hard times do not mean that we stop demanding fair treatment from management.”
December 1, 2008
An Open Letter To The Entertainment Industry
Our industry has worked hard this year to make six major labor agreements. These six agreements were intensely fought and aggressively negotiated by all sides, with major compromises made by everyone involved. Now, with all the other Guilds and Unions having accomplished so much, SAG is demanding that the entire industry literally throw out all of its hard work because it believes it deserves more than the 230,000 other working people in the industry.
To comply with SAG’s demands would mean SAG merits more than everyone else. Saying yes would jeopardize the trust we have so carefully established with the rest of the industry — at a time when this industry needs stability to ensure that together, we effectively evolve with shifting consumer demands. To say yes to SAG would be to repudiate the hard work and compromises made by every other labor organization in the industry over the past ten months.
Because of SAG’s failed negotiating strategy, our industry now faces the prospect of another destructive and unnecessary strike. Incredibly, this SAG strike would occur at a time when the national economy is reeling from a historic financial crisis. Just as stunningly, a SAG strike would be self-defeating from the start – with actors losing more within the first several days of the strike than they could ever hope to gain.
We have made SAG members a fair offer, the same deal we have successfully offered to all the other Guilds and Unions, and we kept that offer on the table for now despite the rapid worldwide economic decline. We hope that every concerned member of our industry will study carefully the terms of our offer — and then think long and hard about whether, at a time when millions of Americans are facing extreme financial hardship, there is anything about our offer that justifies a debilitating strike.
We are standing firm behind our offer because it represents a pattern of hard fought agreements of the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry. No single Guild or Union should be allowed to undermine the hard-won consensus over how our industry can experiment and then prosper in the speedily changing new media marketplace.
Signed,
Peter Chernin, Chairman and CEO, the Fox Group
Brad Grey, Chairman & CEO, Paramount Pictures Corp.
Robert A. Iger, President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company
Michael Lynton, Chairman & CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Barry M. Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros.
Leslie Moonves, President & CEO, CBS Corp.
Harry Sloan, Chairman & CEO, MGM
Jeff Zucker, President & CEO, NBC Universal
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
Headline, Industry News
AMPTP Stands Firm on Offer with SAG
Tuesday December 02nd 2008Los Angeles Times published a full-page Open Letter to the Entertainment Community from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing 350 producers of motion pictures and television currently in negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild. In the letter (attached) the AMPTP states that they are standing firm behind their offer to SAG because “It represents a pattern of hard fought agreements over the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry”.
The letter was responding to SAG’s “educational campaign” toward strike authorization which began Wednesday (26DEC08) with a pre-Thanksgiving Q&A e-mail to its members. The seven-page message was the first of many expected from the actors union in the coming weeks, leading up to a strike-authorization vote slated for December.
On Saturday Nov. 22, a federal mediator broke off a two-day, 27-hour discussion between and the studios bargaining arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. The decision to end the mediation process resulted in SAG going forward with its decision to take a strike-authorization vote from members.
In a separate message to members Wednesday, SAG president Alan Rosenberg said that pursuant to a resolution passed by the national board in October, SAG is launching its “member education campaign” and will send out strike referendum ballots to all members in December.
The AMPTP has called SAG tone deaf and its actions bizarre. In a statement Wednesday, the group continued to question SAG’s decision making.
The AMPTP feels that “SAG’s latest mass e-mail fails on three counts: It fails to explain why SAG deserves more than everyone else in the industry,” the AMPTP said. “It fails to justify why SAG members should bail out a failed negotiating strategy by striking during a time of historic economic crisis. And it fails to explain why it makes sense to strike when SAG members will lose more during the first few days of the strike than they could ever expect to gain.” SAG is unhappy with management which, as they characterize it, continues to apply “its one-size-fits-all demands to SAG actors…. while actors have unique, reasonable needs that are different, not better, but different than writers, directors and crewmembers.”
SAG also continued to insist that a strike-authorization vote does not mean the union will go on strike at all. Rather they feel that a strike authorization is a tool that will give them more leverage in negotiations and they intend to use it to try to get a fair deal. SAG has stated that If they receive ‘yes’ votes from at least 75% of the members who vote on this referendum, the national board will have the ability to call a strike, but it must vote to do that, and that won’t happen before they attempt further negotiations to reach a deal with management.
COMMENT
The question is how will the economic downturn affect the negotiations? The AMPTP has kept their offer on the table in spite of the precipitous economic decline of the last several months. Whether they will be able to continue to do so in the face of the economic downturn remains to be seen, however the open letter states that their offer still stands. SAG’s response to the the bad economy is that it is “requiring more of a sacrifice from some of our members if in fact a strike becomes necessary, but remember that this union was founded and obtained its first contract during the depths of the Great Depression. Hard times do not mean that we stop demanding fair treatment from management.”
December 1, 2008
An Open Letter To The Entertainment Industry
Our industry has worked hard this year to make six major labor agreements. These six agreements were intensely fought and aggressively negotiated by all sides, with major compromises made by everyone involved. Now, with all the other Guilds and Unions having accomplished so much, SAG is demanding that the entire industry literally throw out all of its hard work because it believes it deserves more than the 230,000 other working people in the industry.
To comply with SAG’s demands would mean SAG merits more than everyone else. Saying yes would jeopardize the trust we have so carefully established with the rest of the industry — at a time when this industry needs stability to ensure that together, we effectively evolve with shifting consumer demands. To say yes to SAG would be to repudiate the hard work and compromises made by every other labor organization in the industry over the past ten months.
Because of SAG’s failed negotiating strategy, our industry now faces the prospect of another destructive and unnecessary strike. Incredibly, this SAG strike would occur at a time when the national economy is reeling from a historic financial crisis. Just as stunningly, a SAG strike would be self-defeating from the start – with actors losing more within the first several days of the strike than they could ever hope to gain.
We have made SAG members a fair offer, the same deal we have successfully offered to all the other Guilds and Unions, and we kept that offer on the table for now despite the rapid worldwide economic decline. We hope that every concerned member of our industry will study carefully the terms of our offer — and then think long and hard about whether, at a time when millions of Americans are facing extreme financial hardship, there is anything about our offer that justifies a debilitating strike.
We are standing firm behind our offer because it represents a pattern of hard fought agreements of the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry. No single Guild or Union should be allowed to undermine the hard-won consensus over how our industry can experiment and then prosper in the speedily changing new media marketplace.
Signed,
Peter Chernin, Chairman and CEO, the Fox Group
Brad Grey, Chairman & CEO, Paramount Pictures Corp.
Robert A. Iger, President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company
Michael Lynton, Chairman & CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Barry M. Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros.
Leslie Moonves, President & CEO, CBS Corp.
Harry Sloan, Chairman & CEO, MGM
Jeff Zucker, President & CEO, NBC Universal
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
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Headline, Industry News
AMPTP Stands Firm on Offer with SAG
Tuesday December 02nd 2008Los Angeles Times published a full-page Open Letter to the Entertainment Community from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing 350 producers of motion pictures and television currently in negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild. In the letter (attached) the AMPTP states that they are standing firm behind their offer to SAG because “It represents a pattern of hard fought agreements over the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry”.
The letter was responding to SAG’s “educational campaign” toward strike authorization which began Wednesday (26DEC08) with a pre-Thanksgiving Q&A e-mail to its members. The seven-page message was the first of many expected from the actors union in the coming weeks, leading up to a strike-authorization vote slated for December.
On Saturday Nov. 22, a federal mediator broke off a two-day, 27-hour discussion between and the studios bargaining arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. The decision to end the mediation process resulted in SAG going forward with its decision to take a strike-authorization vote from members.
In a separate message to members Wednesday, SAG president Alan Rosenberg said that pursuant to a resolution passed by the national board in October, SAG is launching its “member education campaign” and will send out strike referendum ballots to all members in December.
The AMPTP has called SAG tone deaf and its actions bizarre. In a statement Wednesday, the group continued to question SAG’s decision making.
The AMPTP feels that “SAG’s latest mass e-mail fails on three counts: It fails to explain why SAG deserves more than everyone else in the industry,” the AMPTP said. “It fails to justify why SAG members should bail out a failed negotiating strategy by striking during a time of historic economic crisis. And it fails to explain why it makes sense to strike when SAG members will lose more during the first few days of the strike than they could ever expect to gain.” SAG is unhappy with management which, as they characterize it, continues to apply “its one-size-fits-all demands to SAG actors…. while actors have unique, reasonable needs that are different, not better, but different than writers, directors and crewmembers.”
SAG also continued to insist that a strike-authorization vote does not mean the union will go on strike at all. Rather they feel that a strike authorization is a tool that will give them more leverage in negotiations and they intend to use it to try to get a fair deal. SAG has stated that If they receive ‘yes’ votes from at least 75% of the members who vote on this referendum, the national board will have the ability to call a strike, but it must vote to do that, and that won’t happen before they attempt further negotiations to reach a deal with management.
COMMENT
The question is how will the economic downturn affect the negotiations? The AMPTP has kept their offer on the table in spite of the precipitous economic decline of the last several months. Whether they will be able to continue to do so in the face of the economic downturn remains to be seen, however the open letter states that their offer still stands. SAG’s response to the the bad economy is that it is “requiring more of a sacrifice from some of our members if in fact a strike becomes necessary, but remember that this union was founded and obtained its first contract during the depths of the Great Depression. Hard times do not mean that we stop demanding fair treatment from management.”
December 1, 2008
An Open Letter To The Entertainment Industry
Our industry has worked hard this year to make six major labor agreements. These six agreements were intensely fought and aggressively negotiated by all sides, with major compromises made by everyone involved. Now, with all the other Guilds and Unions having accomplished so much, SAG is demanding that the entire industry literally throw out all of its hard work because it believes it deserves more than the 230,000 other working people in the industry.
To comply with SAG’s demands would mean SAG merits more than everyone else. Saying yes would jeopardize the trust we have so carefully established with the rest of the industry — at a time when this industry needs stability to ensure that together, we effectively evolve with shifting consumer demands. To say yes to SAG would be to repudiate the hard work and compromises made by every other labor organization in the industry over the past ten months.
Because of SAG’s failed negotiating strategy, our industry now faces the prospect of another destructive and unnecessary strike. Incredibly, this SAG strike would occur at a time when the national economy is reeling from a historic financial crisis. Just as stunningly, a SAG strike would be self-defeating from the start – with actors losing more within the first several days of the strike than they could ever hope to gain.
We have made SAG members a fair offer, the same deal we have successfully offered to all the other Guilds and Unions, and we kept that offer on the table for now despite the rapid worldwide economic decline. We hope that every concerned member of our industry will study carefully the terms of our offer — and then think long and hard about whether, at a time when millions of Americans are facing extreme financial hardship, there is anything about our offer that justifies a debilitating strike.
We are standing firm behind our offer because it represents a pattern of hard fought agreements of the past year, and its construct is vital to the future of our industry. No single Guild or Union should be allowed to undermine the hard-won consensus over how our industry can experiment and then prosper in the speedily changing new media marketplace.
Signed,
Peter Chernin, Chairman and CEO, the Fox Group
Brad Grey, Chairman & CEO, Paramount Pictures Corp.
Robert A. Iger, President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company
Michael Lynton, Chairman & CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Barry M. Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros.
Leslie Moonves, President & CEO, CBS Corp.
Harry Sloan, Chairman & CEO, MGM
Jeff Zucker, President & CEO, NBC Universal
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
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