Aftra Members Ratify A Prime Time Deal, But SAG May Fight On

There was little surprise in Hollywood Tuesday evening when word came that the membership of the American Federation of Television and Recording Artists voted was 62.4 percent in favor of ratifying the prime time television agreement their negotiators reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

This vote reflected some influence by Tom Hanks and others (versus the contrary view point from Jack Nicholson and his cadre) in calling for actors to accept the Aftra terms.

But a quick exchange of press releases between an optimistic Roberta Reardon, president of Aftra, and a still agitating Alan Rosenberg, president of the Screen Actors Guild, made it clear that a quick,similar  settlement by SAG with the producers' alliance is still far from guaranteed.  Rosenberg even bought space for a SAG ad in the local paper in Sun Valley, Idaho, where the moguls have gathered for the Allen conference.

Though the turnout figure was not released, presumably the 44,000 dual SAG-Aftra members among the Reardon constituency of 70,000 cast a good percentage of the votes against ratification. Rosenberg, who's been lobbying hard for the agreement to be turned back, issued a statement that called the Aftra agreement "inadequate" and said in part:

Screen Actors Guild is the actors union with more than 95% of the work under this contract, jurisdiction over all motion pictures, and over 4 billion dollars in member earnings under the SAG agreement over just the last three years. We will continue to address the issues of importance to actors that AFTRA left on the table and we remain committed to achieving a fair contract for SAG actors.

Having pointed out that the agreement generally mirrors that signed by the Directors and Writers Guilds, Reardon also put out a statement, noting:

To those of us for whom labor solidarity is more than just a slogan, the idea that politically-motivated leaders of one union would use their members' dues to attack another union is unconscionable. Working people do not benefit when their union is under attack.

SAG announced last week that they would present their response to the AMPTP's final offer at the alliance's headquarters this Thursday at 2 p.m. Their offer is certain to contain enhancements to the existing Aftra agreement that may well make the AMPTP take a hard line similar to their stance during a crucial point in negotiations with the writers, when the companies walked away from talks.

Rosenberg's key card to play would be asking the SAG members for a strike authorization vote. But although the Aftra ratification vote represented a sizable subtraction from that union's 93 percent ratification in April of a daytime television contract, few believe Rosenberg, given the added pressure of a stalled economy, can marshal the 75 percent vote needed from SAG members to authorize a strike.

Meanwhile, as over 300 indie features continue work under waivers from SAG, and a handful of features have proceeded with a hinge in their shooting schedule to maneuver around any job action, forthcoming television productions--and eventually, the feature pipeline--remain in jeopardy.