Election challenge arises to SAG leadership

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sag24-2008jul24,1,3221432.story

A dissident coalition says the faction that currently holds a slim majority on the board of the Screen Actors Guild has bungled current contract negotiations with the studios.
By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 24, 2008

As talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the major studios founder, a coalition of actors is mounting an election challenge to a group that swept SAG President Alan Rosenberg into office nearly three years ago, deepening a rift inside Hollywood's largest union.

The challengers are taking direct aim at Membership First, the Hollywood-based political group within SAG that holds a slight majority on the national board and came to power in 2005 vowing to take a harder line in negotiations with the studios.

Dissidents blame the group for bungling the current negotiations and spearheading an ill-fated campaign to discredit the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. SAG recently conducted an unsuccessful campaign to defeat a contract negotiated by AFTRA, an effort that deeply divided the union.

The political infighting -- both within the guild and between the two unions -- has enabled the studios to pursue a divide-and-conquer strategy that has weakened SAG's leverage at the bargaining table. Indeed, SAG leaders blame AFTRA for playing into the studios' hands by undercutting the bigger union's negotiations by agreeing to what they view as a weak contract.

Calling itself Unite for Strength,the dissident group is running a slate of candidates to fill 11 seats in the powerful Hollywood division that are up for grabs on the national board. In addition, the group is competing for an additional 22 seats for those who serve as alternates to replace board members who often are working.

The candidates include Kate Walsh and Amy Brenneman, the stars of "Private Practice"; Doug Savant, who plays the harried husband Tom Scavo on "Desperate Housewives"; and Adam Arkin, known for his role as Aaron Shutt on "Chicago Hope."


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