Working Life

   Let’s see where this goes: That’s the second big win for Ken Howard this week. Members of the Screen Actors Guild have elected the veteran character actor, who just won won an Emmy on Sunday for his role in HBO’s "Grey Gardens," as the union’s new president, capping a bitter election campaign that sharply […]

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   After many months of internal debate, members of the Screen Actors Guild said "yes" to a new contract with the big studios: Members of the Screen Actors Guild have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract with the major Hollywood studios, ending a nearly year-long standoff. The delay resulted in the union’s missing out […]

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  I’ve watched the internal divisions at the Screen Actors Guild with sadness. A united SAG, and a strong creators’ labor movement, would be a great boon for all workers. But, it seems to be getting worse. Here is a short primer–and why you should care.   I’ve written about the building strife recently. The […]

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   I pause for a moment from the discussion about the auto industry to check out what is happening in the actors’ house of labor. It ain’t pretty. Some of you may have read that there has been a long on-going internal fight in the Screen Actors Guild since…well, really, this goes back 20 years […]

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   On Monday, Reuters had this piece: Tensions Mount Inside Actors Union Over Contract By REUTERS Filed at 9:28 p.m. ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Tensions within the Screen Actors Guild mounted on Monday as the union’s Hollywood-based leaders rejected a call by SAG’s New York branch to bring in a federal mediator to break […]

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    Sometimes getting a deal made isn’t the last word. Yesterday, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced that its members had approved the deal it had struck with producers. The margin was fairly healthy–62 percent–but not as large as previous contract votes. But, to get to the contract deal, AFTRA had to […]

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    I don’t make a habit of referring to articles written by one of the worst reporters on the face of the earth but I will make an exception today. Yesterday, Michael Cieply had this story in the Times: Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild publicly declared war on a fellow actors’ union at a […]

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    I recently bemoaned the unfortunate conflict between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). Well, little did I know that it could get worse: Attempting to throw a monkey wrench into a new contract between the Hollywood studios and the American Federation of Television and Radio […]

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    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 […]

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