7/5/08
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NEW YORK BOARD:
President: Sam Freed
Directors:
Manny Alfaro
Dave Bachman
Marc Baron
Mark Blum
Ralph Byers
Rebecca Damon
Maureen Donnelly
Nancy Giles
Mike Hodge
Doug Lory
Richard Masur
Ron McClary
Sue-Anne Morrow
Joe Narciso
Kevin Scullin
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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
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Who is USAN?
We are a coalition of SAG members from every branch across the country who care about this union and our careers. We are members who depend on this union and its contracts to feed our families, pay our mortgages, provide health care coverage; and we will do whatever it takes to preserve our ability to do so. In other words--WE ARE YOU!

We are dedicated to:

Bringing more work back to the U.S. with real world solutions.

Finding creative approaches to organizing NEW work.

Strengthening ties with our sister union AFTRA in order to avoid jurisdictional battles over TV, film and commercials produced using new technologies and to enhance our bargaining power.

Streamlining SAG operations, and stabilizing our health plan.

Franchising and regulating all agents.

We want SAG to once again be the most respected and effective performers' union on the planet, through honest, independent leadership that goes forward creatively and effectively, with integrity:

Here's what you get with USAN candidates:

Leadership with Integrity

Communication and honest interaction with the membership.

A diversity of working actors working for you - to bring you more opportunities to keep you working, to keep SAG strong.


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