|
This letter from Sam Freed, Screen Actors Guild NY President and 2nd National VP, should have appeared in the current issue of SAG's Screen Actor Magazine. Members of a political faction in Hollywood censored this letter. It seems they believe that the membership is only entitled to see or hear their point of view. Consequently, this ad is the only way to make Mr. Freed's thoughts widely available to the members. If you are as appalled by this as we are, please, contact National Executive Director Doug Allen and President Alan Rosenberg and let them know that you don't want any more of your dues money to be used to censor your elected representatives.
A Letter from Sam Freed
2nd National Vice President
"...it is easier to have an enemy than to find a solution."
from the play The Overwhelming by J.T. Rogers
That is an uncomfortable truth. It is much easier to place blame than it is to come to a difficult reconciliation. It may be politically expedient to create a bad guy but it is bad policy. As your newly elected New York President and 2nd National Vice President, I am determined to work towards thoughtful, strategic solutions that benefit the members and protect the Guild.
In 2003, you, the members of this union, voted by a significant majority - 58% -- to consolidate SAG and AFTRA. After the referendum a statistically valid, scientifically accurate poll of the membership was conducted by a professional polling organization. That poll revealed that 79% of you wanted the SAG National Board of Directors to continue to work toward merging our two unions.
Why? Because, unlike many of the current Hollywood leadership of the union, you recognized that a jurisdictional conflict over digital media would be damaging to our guild and the members. You understood then that what lay ahead was a race to the bottom, as your unions fought for jurisdiction.
In the last issue of this magazine, our new National Executive Director, Doug Allen, laid out his case for why AFTRA is a bad guy. His article by his own admissions contains inaccuracies. It represents only a selective picture of basic cable digital contracts. It places blame but does not offer a strategic plan.
All the finger pointing does nothing to move our unions toward a solution to this competition. There are only two possible roads to travel. One is all-out jurisdictional war. The other is a process of genuine deliberation and an effort to force your Board of Directors and Mr. Allen to do what you asked of them - to bring our two unions together to make one powerful union.
I believe Mr. Allen, President Alan Rosenberg, and the leadership in Hollywood have chosen the first road - all-out war. We are on the verge of splitting our two unions apart. The agreement which has protected actors interests and allowed our two unions to successfully negotiate major contracts together, the Phase One Agreement, is under assault.
The New York Board and I will do every thing we can to protect these agreements and relationships and prevent a disaster. But we need your help.
If Phase One ends, decades of cooperation between SAG and AFTRA end.
Don't let that happen.
Contact:
Doug Allen - DAllen@sag.org
and
Alan Rosenberg - President@sag.org
|
