Ah, internal labor strife all around…I’m on my way to Puerto Rico for the SEIU convention where, I’m sure you’ve heard, there will be quite the debate. Every time I think about writing something about the debate in and around SEIU, I get a headache–partly from reading the shallow and knee-jerk coverage emanating from the mainstream and "progressive" press–but mainly because, frankly, it’s depressing.

    But, I’m not thinking about THAT internal labor strife right now. There is so much to go around…what about the scuffle between the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)? Now, there is an internal strife with no reason where two unions are in a really dumb pissing match that, as far as I can tell, has devolved into a power struggle and ego match. Did I say dumb? No, this is really stupid–which I’ll get to.

    So, here’s the brief upshot.

    There was a long-time agreement between AFTRA and SAG called "Phase 1": basically, it called for joint bargaining over the industry’s prime-time television contract. AFTRA had 50 percent of the seats on the negotiating team even though AFTRA members only covered 10 percent of the work in the jurisdiction of the TV contract. No biggie, really, because the truth is that AFTRA and SAG have a huge overlap in membership (probably 40 percent of the 120,000 SAG members and the 70,000 AFTRA members are members of both unions). Seems like you can live together, no? Well, here’s where it turns into the Hatfields and McCoys.

    Here is the Utne Reader version of the recent squabble: SAG decided that it didn’t like the even allocation since AFTRA members only covered 10 percent of the work. The SAG leadership sent AFTRA a letter saying it was going to change the formula. AFTRA took umbrage. SAG, then, backed off. But, it was too late. The day before the negotiations began with the industry, AFTRA said it was ending Phase 1 and was going to go into negotiations on its own–after, as SAG sees it, sitting in discussions with SAGA and utilizing SAG’s much deeper research and negotiation resources to flesh out the proposals.

    And, in this environment, the two squabbling unions went into negotiations with the industry–not united, not coordinating, not strategizing together on a contract that would effect all their members. Insane. AFTRA cut a deal announced Wednesday that essentially mimics what the Writers Guild negotiated after its long strike. AFTRA’s view has been that it has achieved "ground breaking" advances but it was really a me-too deal, in particular, virtually identical to WGA’s deal on new media-though some of the details are still a bit fuzzy (mainly, what AFTRA agreed to on the right of the industry to use clips of films in new media).

    Rather than dissect the specifics of the deal (because your eyes would glaze), what we’re left with is this sense of amazement at the inability to work together. SAG is furious that, effectively, AFTRA has undercut SAG in the negotiations–there is nowhere for SAG to go now…it will have to make a deal that will toe the line of other deals struck. That may have been the end result anyway–it’s not clear SAG members would want to endure another industry strike (since when the WGA walked out, SAG members’ work was shut down, too).  But, a sister union should not put another union in that bind. As SAG sees it, AFTRA was dishonest about the terms and whether a deal had been made–finding out about the AFTRA deal in the media, not directly from AFTRA’s leadership. But, SAG leaders also set the stage for this by pouring gasoline on a smoldering fire–the long-time feeling in AFTRA that SAG doesn’t respect AFTRA and doesn’t consider AFTRA an equal partner.

    I like leaders and staff people in both unions–which is why it makes me sad to say: Folks, this isn’t about your individual sandboxes. Yes, SAG does have more power and money–but when you are the bigger "sibling" it seems to me that you have to go the extra mile to show some humility. And AFTRA may feel generally bent out of shape when it is disrespected but, really, this isn’t about some feud in the streets. Remember who you are fighting.

    A few years ago, I tried to interest the various guilds and unions in the media industry in something called the Creators Federation. I even wrote a very basic strategic power analysis of the industry–which was meant to be very accessible for rank-and-file members. When I met individually with folks, no one disagreed with the concept that there had to be much more unity and coordination. Frankly, a Federation is a modest step. What is really needed, in a massively consolidated industry, is ONE SINGLE UNION. Yet, that has never happened. Why?

       I concluded that this was largely a result of ego and power and money. The large unions in the media industry–SAG, AFTRA, the Directors Guild, Writers Guild of America–have been run by staff directors who make a ton of money, usually at least $300,000 and often as high as $600,000 a year (not including perks). Not a single one of them will give up those positions for the greater good–a unified organization that does the best for its members. It will not happen. And that is a tragedy.

    There is no larger-than-life figure who commands the respect of all the union’s leadership, who could sit the unions down in one room and say, "we have to find a better path here, we have to work together for the greater good." And that is how we end up with an AFTRA-SAG feud that is pointless and damaging.