Solidarity

By Lauren Horwitch of Backstage

As SAG president Alan Rosenberg and national executive director Doug Allen began negotiating with the AMPTP this morning, rank-and-file guild members joined hundreds of union workers in the March From Hollywood to the Docks a 28-mile, three-day march down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles to raise awareness of union issues.

The march began this morning with a rally at the La Brea Tar Pits--about a block away from SAG's Hollywood headquarters--and will conclude April 17 at the harbor in San Pedro, Calif.

SAG national board member Esai Morales and AFTRA national board member Jason George addressed the crowd of approximately 1,000 supporters representing 350,000 union workers in Southern California.

"Corporate America has turned us into a serf nation," Morales said, adding that SAG leaders should remain strong in their negotiations. "We will not be forced into a position where we have to take less and less... . We will not be the bad guy on this. Let it be on [the AMPTP] to give us what we deserve."

Actor Michael Heister, who writes about SAG issues on his blog the Podosphere, agreed with Morales that SAG negotiators should stick to their guns in the boardroom. "I don't want my union leaders to feel that they're in any rush to get an agreement. I would rather that we wait and get a good agreement than get something not so good," Heister said.

He added that taking a strong stance does not necessarily mean SAG will call a strike this summer. "The contract's not even up until June 30, and there is nothing written in stone that says if the negotiations are going well that we would have to walk out on July 1... . It just depends on how things are going," he said.

Heister's fellow SAG supporters on the march seemed to trust Rosenberg and Allen to emerge from the talks with an improved TV/Theatrical agreement. There were about 20 marchers representing the guild.

Elizabeth Reynolds, a SAG member for 15 years and a member of the guild's Member Organizing Volunteer Efforts committee, said, "Alan Rosenberg and our very strong negotiation team have gone in with AMPTP to improve upon the DGA and WGA contracts and fight for the betterment of the membership."

Reynolds said AFTRA's decision to abandon Phase One will not hamper SAG's ability to get a fair deal. "I don't think that either union will have a tougher time without the other," she said. "I just think it's going to be very different. My feeling is that whether they go in together -- which clearly they haven't -- that they both negotiate the strongest contract possible and put the membership first."

She noted that the unions' memberships will have to vote to approve or reject a final contract, as opposed to national boards or committees making the final decision.

SAG member and marcher Aasha Davis said she has faith in Rosenberg. "I think as long as someone is out there speaking on our behalf and has our best interests in mind, that's No. 1... . AFTRA and SAG unity would be great. I would also love just fairness. I want to be able to hold on to what we have but also be able to grow together."

Davis' husband, Jesse Pforzheimer - who is not a SAG member -- said the disunity between the actors' unions is troubling. "You have two unions that are supporting many of the same people, and if you can't have solidarity between those two unions, you have trouble," he said. "If you have one union that is willing to negotiate contracts for less than the other, then that's not solidarity. Until that's figured out, you have division and then you have people who are willing to undercut. So the union members that you stand for get less."

AFTRA staffer Patricia Mordan, who marched with a handful of AFTRA members, said they were marching to herald their union's upcoming negotiations, scheduled to open April 28. "One thing that we have in common [with SAG] is residuals because it's an old structure. And, of course, new media. I think those are the two main issues."

Mordan and the AFTRA marchers did not comment on their national board's decision to opt out of Phase One.