In announcing that the TV and radio actors’ union (AFTRA) and the movie actors’ union (SAG) would conduct their commercials contract re-negotiations together, Variety reported that AFTRA’s president Roberta Reardon said that it took the help of the federation of unions (AFL-CIO) to get them to this point.
I almost wish that I could have been a fly on the wall for that meeting, because I’m pretty certain the AFL-CIO guys would have said the same thing I’ve been thinking for months: SAG, you’re looking like a tool in this fight, and you’ve lost so much ground. If you want to get anywhere, you’re going to have to either bend a little, or bring a different weapon to the table.
Still, it’s so very hard for me to feel sympathetic towards SAG, especially in light of the current financial bailout, the knowledge that since studios get their operating money from investment firms, there might not be any extra money for new media residuals to go around, and my lack of knowledge about how much the average SAG actor—a working actor who isn’t a big celebrity, but someone who still manages to work on enough sets—is affected by the stalled movie contract.