Nevada 2012:06
President’s Remarks
by Barbara Grant
I am most gratified that we are seeing more work in our Local. Not only because I got to get out on a couple of sets, but because of the checks our members are getting to cash are much-needed here in Nevada. Kudos to all of you who have worked so far this year, and pray it continues.
Our Local Board met for the first time under the new union, SAG-AFTRA, in May. Some of you may not have noticed, but the ratified merger agreement changed us from a council and a Branch to a board and a Local. It also changed us from the Nevada Branch to Las Vegas Local. For many reasons, the Local Board felt this was not the ideal name change (mainly to be inclusive of our members in the northern and western parts of our local) and voted unanimously to change it back to the Nevada Local. We also voted unanimously to accept the Local Constitutional Committee draft and to forward our new Local constitution to the National Board for their approval. My thanks to Arttours Weeden, Kim Renee, Mary Ann Hebinck, Rick Rockne, Scott Mirne and John Burnside for their participation on this committee and the hours it took to prepare a draft for the Local Board to review.
Two other items of major import were setting up a committee for Commercials Wages and Working Conditions and our National Board Member’s report. First, my thanks to Art Lynch for a superlative report on the National Board’s movements forward in the new SAG-AFTRA. While the merger itself was only a first giant step in strengthening our great performer’s union, it was heartening to hear some of the details and difficulties of putting our two cultures together and how the elected and staff are working so diligently to make this happen and limit adverse effect on the members. One truly terrific tidbit was the National Board extending the contract of our national executive director, David White, for three years. In my heart and soul, I truly appreciate the job David has done for all of us.
Regarding the Wages and Working Conditions (W&W) Committee, I will chair this committee with the assistance of Scott Mirne (co-chair) and Rick Rockne. The purpose of this committee is to provide Nevada context to the 2013 National Commercials Contracts team. While I believe we have a great Commercials Contract in place, I would dearly love to hear from the Nevada membership about any issues that could be improved. Please let me or any members of the Local Board know if you would like to serve on this committee. We will probably meet for the first time in a couple of weeks.
I hope to see some of you this summer at the conservatory or on set this summer, but regardless, I wish a safe and happy summer for all of you. Take care, Barb!
National Board Report
By Art Lynch
My dad was a unionist, his father before him and his grandfather and great-grandfather, going back to riots and the hard-fought battles for unions to exist early in the last century.
I know what unions are, what they do, how a very powerful and well-financed force has been fighting hard to undermine our rights to collective bargaining and organizing. I know that much of what people say when they put down unions is because of the greed of the few, and a lack of knowledge of what things were like before unions and will be like if they are allowed to fade away.
Make no mistake, SAG-AFTRA is a union, fighting for all performers, regardless of their area or work, how often they work or where they work. You are a part of our union.
Since I work with Steve Clinton and staff on the overall content of your newsletters and communication, I would like to let the remainder of the electronic publication speak on the issues I might normally address in this column. Please bear with me as I make a very personal and heartfelt appeal for our union and our future.
I believe in a union based on the rights of all talent, regardless of experience level or credits, or professional backgrounds. My belief comes from the basics of the union movement as experienced and taught to me by my father and my upbringing in Chicago, where for those who do not know, early unionists died for their rights to wages, working conditions, contracts and the ability to earn fair compensation for their talents and efforts.
Testimony of unions and the fraternity needed for success became clear to me with the large number of union sisters and brothers who paid their tribute at my father’s wake and funeral so many years ago.
Too much has changed as we move even further from the generations that remember why unions were so needed in the first place. We need to get back to the roots of representing all talent in earning a decent wage, benefits and safe working conditions, while practicing the crafts we love so much.
I am very optimistic about the future of our union and our contracts.
Multiple voices, remembering the little guy and working together in fraternity and camaraderie are what make unions work and grow.
With SAG-AFTRA now one of the largest unions in Hollywood, unity with the other Guilds has never been stronger. Together, we represent considerable numbers and influence against management that increasingly feels it can work around, rather than with, unions.
As we work toward recovering from this recession, and experience major shifts within our own industries, there remains a strong and growing need for unions.
It takes positive faith, belief and motivation to build a union, particularly where there is little work or hope of work. It takes a belief in everyone, every background extra and student, every retired actor and child who has experienced the passion and joy of acting and performing, regardless of whether or not they have earned a paycheck. It takes believing that what we do is special and should be treated with respect, regardless of where we live or if our incomes are under contract. It takes a willingness to move forward, not for selfish reasons, but for future performers and the future of our country.
I will continue to serve as a voice in a minority that speaks up for the little guy, the small local, those who need a voice to assure the future of a union they believe enough in to be members of, regardless of their chance of ever grabbing the brass ring and making enough money to be fully accepted by “working actors.”
A sincere thank you to Barbara Grant, Steven Clinton, the Nevada Local officers and Local board for the work they are doing on all of our behalves. There is far more going on behind the scenes, and many more hours of committee work than anyone outside of the council process realizes.
Our Local needs union blood to help turn the work force union in our hostile, so-called “right-to-work” state. We need to stand up against those who work both sides of the street, to speak loud and clear that the only true professional is someone willing to stick his neck out and carry a union card, in solidarity and with great pride.
The union heart is beating.
Join your Local board and elected officers through active participation and the passion only you can bring to building the Nevada Local!
Contact me through Steve Clinton to share your views of where our union should go and how we should take on the challenges before us.
We are building a new merged union.
Join me in making my dad proud!
SAG-AFTRA Co-Presidents Ken Howard and Roberta Reardon (front), with National Executive Vice President Ned Vaughn and National Board member Rebecca Damon at the first meeting of the SAG-AFTRA National Board on May 19.
NEVADA BACKGROUND PERFORMERS: 20 YEARS OF NEVADA SAG JURISDICTION
by Art Lynch
It will be 20 years this summer since the Screen Actors Guild took over the jurisdiction of what I describe as the failed Screen Extras Guild. As long-time locals will remember, Nevada was the home of a very strong and aggressive chapter of the Screen Extras Guild, and fought for SAG to pick up the ball and run with it.
A merger attempt failed, so at the time the board had to take emergency action to claim jurisdiction in SEG zones. Since that time, the battle with management has been to bring pay and numbers of union background actors on the sets back up to levels that existed under SEG, and secondarily under levels that exist in New York.
New York was not SEG, as background in New York was already under SAG jurisdiction. Many actors in New York worked all contracts, with little stigma attached to being an extra. Actors sought any work to earn money under contract (and thus P&H), and to work in the trade.
In Nevada, we have fought to expand the zone. In the beginning, the zone was limited to the then-much smaller Las Vegas city limits, excluding the Strip, the airport and the university, where much of past shooting occurred. During the 2009 national negotiation, SAG was finally able to increase the zone by using a fixed radius from the courthouse downtown. This negotiated expansion increased the zone to now include most of the greater Las Vegas community and greatly increased the need for background performers.
Nevada was the last issue on the table at those negotiations, with our expansion the last “victory” for SAG’s contract. We have to thank those who negotiated on your behalf for every hour’s work that is outside the Strip and the traditional Las Vegas city limits.
Other issues under discussion by the National Background Committee are expansion of numbers on the set, increased pay and compensation, increased legal protections, fighting paid call services and Internet listing services, the expansion of synthetic thespians replacing background actors, fair practices in calling people to work from “the sheets,” and various alleged discrimination issues.
If you wish to have your voice heard on contract issues or in preparation for the next round of contract talks, please contact Nevada Local President Barbara Grant and ask to be a part of the next local Wages and Working Conditions Committee discussions. They are open to all active Nevada members in good standing.
