Actors unions reject consolidation

LOS ANGELES, July 2 (UPI) -- By a slim margin, members of the Screen Actors Guild have rejected a proposal to consolidate the union with the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists.

The proposal was endorsed by 57.78 percent of SAG members who returned ballots in a mail-in vote conducted over the past three weeks, but the union's bylaws require 60 percent support -- so the proposal fell short by about 1,300 votes out of more than 58,000 cast. AFTRA members voted in favor of the proposal by more than 75 percent.

"Consolidation has been defeated by a minority of the members of the Screen Actors Guild," said SAG President Melissa Gilbert. "Notwithstanding that 57.78 percent of the membership believed that the union's best chance for success at the bargaining table was to join with AFTRA to form a united front, we shall now proceed to implement plans for SAG to continue operating alone."

SAG members rejected the proposal despite an aggressive campaign on its behalf that featured endorsements from such high-profile stars as the George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Angela Lansbury, the late Gregory Peck, Robert Redford, Will Smith, Kevin Spacey and Meryl Streep. Opponents included past SAG presidents Ed Asner, Charlton Heston, Kathleen Nolan and Dennis Weaver.

The national boards of SAG and AFTRA agreed in February on the proposal to consolidate the unions into one umbrella organization with three affiliates. The affiliates would have operated relatively autonomously, representing the interests of unionized actors, broadcasters and recording artists.

SAG's national board voted unanimously to endorse the plan.

The proposal was motivated by a recognition that the unions and their members are operating in a media environment that has changed dramatically since performers first organized more than seven decades ago.

Media consolidation has placed ownership of TV, movie and commercial production companies into fewer hands, with some conglomerates owning TV networks, cable channels, movie studios and other media properties. In addition, new digital technology has taken the entertainment business into directions no one could have imagined as the basic language of current labor contracts has evolved over time.

SAG National Executive Director-Chief Executive Officer Bob Pisano told United Press International that the existing structure is inadequate to represent the interests of actors in collective bargaining with producers.

"If one were to sit down and design a labor organization structure to represent all, actors, one would not have designed two unions representing the same group under essentially the same contract," he said. "It is a historical accident. The logic of having a single union is overwhelming."

SAG Treasurer Kent McCord told UPI consolidation would have essentially marked the end of SAG and AFTRA as independent unions.

"This attempt at consolidation and affiliation is really taking all assets of both of these organizations -- names, rights, copyrights, bank accounts -- and dedicating them to a new organization," said McCord, "and thus subjugating two great unions that have existed for 70 and 65 years to subordinate entities within this new organization."

This is the second time in four years that SAG members have rejected a proposal to consolidate with AFTRA. A 1999 vote failed by a wider margin, when just 46 percent of the unions members voted in favor of a similar proposal.

"I am shell-shocked," Gilbert told Daily Variety. "I'm somewhat stunned."

But AFTRA President John Connolly told the paper opponents of the proposal used fear to bring it down.

"Fear is a powerful motivator in an election," he said. "They used everything they could to instill fear."

The outcome appears to complicate matters for SAG and AFTRA negotiators as they prepare for upcoming negotiations on a new contract with producers for movie and TV work.