Mar 28, 2024
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Headline, Industry News

Fiery Rosenberg exits

With his turbulent tenure as SAG president coming to an end, Alan Rosenberg isn’t offering any apologies for the past four years.

“I would not change anything I’ve done,” Rosenberg told Daily Variety. “Maybe a few little things, but nothing major. I’m very proud of what we’ve done — acting like a real labor union, standing up at negotiations and really getting the members to talk about the issues.”

Rosenberg came into office in September 2005 after defeating Morgan Fairchild and Robert Conrad. That election represented a profound shift in the political alignment of SAG as the self-styled progressives of Membership First gained power for the first time in four years.

But Rosenberg and his allies were unable to remain in power. The moderates regained control a year ago, tapping into member frustration over the lack of a new feature-primetime deal, and they are expected to maintain their majority on the national board in the upcoming election.

A day from now, Rosenberg will be the former president, since current election results will be announced Thursday. He opted to step aside this summer in favor of supporting Anne-Marie Johnson — who’s running against Ken Howard, Asmar Muhammad and Seymour Cassel — and admitted he’d become such a polarizing figure that Johnson, in his estimation, had a better chance of being elected than he did.

But stepping aside as president hasn’t dimmed Rosenberg’s fire. He’s still running for a national board seat, attending recent campaign events in New York and Philadelphia. He co-hosted a fund-raiser with Ed Harris on Tuesday night at Rosenberg’s Santa Monica home.

“I’m optimistic that Anne-Marie’s going to win,” Rosenberg said. “Everyone that I talk to says they want a strong union, and that’s what I always try to hammer home about our side. And I hope I haven’t been demonized to the point that I can’t get elected to the board.”

Rosenberg remains bitter over January’s ouster of national exec director Doug Allen and the negotiating committee out of frustration with Allen’s inability to close a deal, followed by an unsuccessful suit by Rosenberg, Johnson, Kent McCord and Diane Ladd to overturn those moves.

“What happened to Doug was a real shame because it essentially told the AMPTP that they could choose the negotiators for us,” he asserts. “The other side said that they wanted strong contracts, on the one hand, and on the other, they fired Doug Allen and the negotiating committee.”

As part of replacing Allen, the moderates brought in David White as interim national exec director and decreed that Rosenberg could no longer be the official public voice of SAG.

Rosenberg contends that SAG’s feature-primetime deal — ratified by a surprisingly high 78% of members who voted — will accelerate the trend of rank-and-file actors not being able to make ends meet due to what he sees as unacceptable pay rates in the booming new-media sector. And he accuses the Unite for Strength ticket, led by Howard, of being too willing to accommodate the needs of employers.

“I believe that Unite for Strength isn’t interested in SAG being a real union,” he added. “They’re far more interested in helping AFTRA and the AMPTP rather than standing up for actors. I don’t think they’re being honest about that.”

Key points in the moderates’ platform are promises to work more closely with other unions and to begin exploring a merger between SAG and AFTRA. Johnson’s advocated moving toward a revamp of SAG and AFTRA jurisdiction, with SAG representing all acting work.

Rosenberg’s pleased that his tenure saw creation of organizing and emerging technologies departments and remains a strong supporter of Allen, who served only two of the three years in his deal.

“I think Doug Allen is the best thing that ever happened to this union,” he added.

With the day-to-day duties of his presidency at an end, Rosenberg’s hoping to revive his acting career — highlighted by playing attorneys. The biggest credit during his tenure was as a police investigator on the film “Righteous Kill” alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

Source: Variety

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Headline, Industry News

Fiery Rosenberg exits

With his turbulent tenure as SAG president coming to an end, Alan Rosenberg isn’t offering any apologies for the past four years.

“I would not change anything I’ve done,” Rosenberg told Daily Variety. “Maybe a few little things, but nothing major. I’m very proud of what we’ve done — acting like a real labor union, standing up at negotiations and really getting the members to talk about the issues.”

Rosenberg came into office in September 2005 after defeating Morgan Fairchild and Robert Conrad. That election represented a profound shift in the political alignment of SAG as the self-styled progressives of Membership First gained power for the first time in four years.

But Rosenberg and his allies were unable to remain in power. The moderates regained control a year ago, tapping into member frustration over the lack of a new feature-primetime deal, and they are expected to maintain their majority on the national board in the upcoming election.

A day from now, Rosenberg will be the former president, since current election results will be announced Thursday. He opted to step aside this summer in favor of supporting Anne-Marie Johnson — who’s running against Ken Howard, Asmar Muhammad and Seymour Cassel — and admitted he’d become such a polarizing figure that Johnson, in his estimation, had a better chance of being elected than he did.

But stepping aside as president hasn’t dimmed Rosenberg’s fire. He’s still running for a national board seat, attending recent campaign events in New York and Philadelphia. He co-hosted a fund-raiser with Ed Harris on Tuesday night at Rosenberg’s Santa Monica home.

“I’m optimistic that Anne-Marie’s going to win,” Rosenberg said. “Everyone that I talk to says they want a strong union, and that’s what I always try to hammer home about our side. And I hope I haven’t been demonized to the point that I can’t get elected to the board.”

Rosenberg remains bitter over January’s ouster of national exec director Doug Allen and the negotiating committee out of frustration with Allen’s inability to close a deal, followed by an unsuccessful suit by Rosenberg, Johnson, Kent McCord and Diane Ladd to overturn those moves.

“What happened to Doug was a real shame because it essentially told the AMPTP that they could choose the negotiators for us,” he asserts. “The other side said that they wanted strong contracts, on the one hand, and on the other, they fired Doug Allen and the negotiating committee.”

As part of replacing Allen, the moderates brought in David White as interim national exec director and decreed that Rosenberg could no longer be the official public voice of SAG.

Rosenberg contends that SAG’s feature-primetime deal — ratified by a surprisingly high 78% of members who voted — will accelerate the trend of rank-and-file actors not being able to make ends meet due to what he sees as unacceptable pay rates in the booming new-media sector. And he accuses the Unite for Strength ticket, led by Howard, of being too willing to accommodate the needs of employers.

“I believe that Unite for Strength isn’t interested in SAG being a real union,” he added. “They’re far more interested in helping AFTRA and the AMPTP rather than standing up for actors. I don’t think they’re being honest about that.”

Key points in the moderates’ platform are promises to work more closely with other unions and to begin exploring a merger between SAG and AFTRA. Johnson’s advocated moving toward a revamp of SAG and AFTRA jurisdiction, with SAG representing all acting work.

Rosenberg’s pleased that his tenure saw creation of organizing and emerging technologies departments and remains a strong supporter of Allen, who served only two of the three years in his deal.

“I think Doug Allen is the best thing that ever happened to this union,” he added.

With the day-to-day duties of his presidency at an end, Rosenberg’s hoping to revive his acting career — highlighted by playing attorneys. The biggest credit during his tenure was as a police investigator on the film “Righteous Kill” alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

Source: Variety

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Headline, Industry News

Fiery Rosenberg exits

With his turbulent tenure as SAG president coming to an end, Alan Rosenberg isn’t offering any apologies for the past four years.

“I would not change anything I’ve done,” Rosenberg told Daily Variety. “Maybe a few little things, but nothing major. I’m very proud of what we’ve done — acting like a real labor union, standing up at negotiations and really getting the members to talk about the issues.”

Rosenberg came into office in September 2005 after defeating Morgan Fairchild and Robert Conrad. That election represented a profound shift in the political alignment of SAG as the self-styled progressives of Membership First gained power for the first time in four years.

But Rosenberg and his allies were unable to remain in power. The moderates regained control a year ago, tapping into member frustration over the lack of a new feature-primetime deal, and they are expected to maintain their majority on the national board in the upcoming election.

A day from now, Rosenberg will be the former president, since current election results will be announced Thursday. He opted to step aside this summer in favor of supporting Anne-Marie Johnson — who’s running against Ken Howard, Asmar Muhammad and Seymour Cassel — and admitted he’d become such a polarizing figure that Johnson, in his estimation, had a better chance of being elected than he did.

But stepping aside as president hasn’t dimmed Rosenberg’s fire. He’s still running for a national board seat, attending recent campaign events in New York and Philadelphia. He co-hosted a fund-raiser with Ed Harris on Tuesday night at Rosenberg’s Santa Monica home.

“I’m optimistic that Anne-Marie’s going to win,” Rosenberg said. “Everyone that I talk to says they want a strong union, and that’s what I always try to hammer home about our side. And I hope I haven’t been demonized to the point that I can’t get elected to the board.”

Rosenberg remains bitter over January’s ouster of national exec director Doug Allen and the negotiating committee out of frustration with Allen’s inability to close a deal, followed by an unsuccessful suit by Rosenberg, Johnson, Kent McCord and Diane Ladd to overturn those moves.

“What happened to Doug was a real shame because it essentially told the AMPTP that they could choose the negotiators for us,” he asserts. “The other side said that they wanted strong contracts, on the one hand, and on the other, they fired Doug Allen and the negotiating committee.”

As part of replacing Allen, the moderates brought in David White as interim national exec director and decreed that Rosenberg could no longer be the official public voice of SAG.

Rosenberg contends that SAG’s feature-primetime deal — ratified by a surprisingly high 78% of members who voted — will accelerate the trend of rank-and-file actors not being able to make ends meet due to what he sees as unacceptable pay rates in the booming new-media sector. And he accuses the Unite for Strength ticket, led by Howard, of being too willing to accommodate the needs of employers.

“I believe that Unite for Strength isn’t interested in SAG being a real union,” he added. “They’re far more interested in helping AFTRA and the AMPTP rather than standing up for actors. I don’t think they’re being honest about that.”

Key points in the moderates’ platform are promises to work more closely with other unions and to begin exploring a merger between SAG and AFTRA. Johnson’s advocated moving toward a revamp of SAG and AFTRA jurisdiction, with SAG representing all acting work.

Rosenberg’s pleased that his tenure saw creation of organizing and emerging technologies departments and remains a strong supporter of Allen, who served only two of the three years in his deal.

“I think Doug Allen is the best thing that ever happened to this union,” he added.

With the day-to-day duties of his presidency at an end, Rosenberg’s hoping to revive his acting career — highlighted by playing attorneys. The biggest credit during his tenure was as a police investigator on the film “Righteous Kill” alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

Source: Variety

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Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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