America's entertainment unions opened the decade of the '60s by standing tall and going to war against producers.
In June 1960, Equity went out on strike for 13 days, closing all Broadway theatres. The result: the Equity-League pension and health trust funds were formed.
SAG opened the '60s with a strike for movie residuals for films sold to TV. After shutting down theatres for just over a month, the guild got what it wanted. And producers created the guild's pension and welfare plans with a lump payment of $2.65 million. The SAG-AFTRA Credit Union, a bank run by actors for actors, opened. SAG won a new contract including non-discrimination language, improved residuals, and more prominent screen credits.
Equity, a leader in civil rights for the entertainment industry since the 1940s, in 1961 bargained a significant item of justice from the League of American Theaters and Producers. The league, according to Equity's history section on its website, "agreed that no actor would be required to perform in any theatre or place of performance where discrimination is practiced against any actor or patron by reason of race, creed, or color. This policy has since been extended to prohibit discrimination based on gender, sexual preference, or political belief. Equity has also adopted policies, as a continuing priority, to help increase employment opportunities for actors of color-- as well as disabled, senior, and female performers."
In the '60s, union actors joined Martin Luther King in his march to Washington, D.C. And they suffered through his murder, and the killings of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.
In '64, Equity achieved the equalization of the rehearsal and the minimum performance salaries. A "principal interview" requirement was established, requiring producers to see Equity performers, giving a greater number of actors the chance to be cast in a show.
By the late '60s, independent filmmaking was burgeoning, and SAG created the low-budget contract.
In 1965, while New York's WINS broke the broadcast mold by introducing all-news radio programming; on the West Coast, AFTRA honored Lassie with an honorary membership card. In her brief acceptance speech, the canine heroine, according to union sources, wagged her tail and barked twice.
According to radio-history recorder 440 International's website, the first nationwide strike in the 30-year history of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists came in 1967, lasting for 13 days. "Many familiar faces were absent from the TV screen during the strike, including that of Walter Cronkite of CBS News," the website states. "A chap named Arnold Zenker, formerly a radio announcer in Wilmington, Del., got the call to fill in for Cronkite during that period. After the strike was settled, Zenker was never heard from again on network television."
AFTRA Magazine would begin publishing in 1968, and in years following would go on to win 15 awards.
In 1969, "Hair" would come to Broadway, celebrating the '60s attitude and introducing nudity to the Great White Way. Two years later, preparing to open in Boston, the production would find itself attacked by the local prosecutor who claimed that "Hair" desecrated the American flag and was a "lewd and lascivious" show.
The legal battle raged through local and state courts, with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling:
1. "To have each member of the cast clothed to a reasonable extent at all times, and
2. To eliminate completely all simulation of sexual intercourse or deviation."
Unwilling to alter the show's content, the cast closed the show on April 10, 1970.
Four days later, Equity voiced its faith in the "Hair" performers by sending them this note:
The Council of Actors' Equity Association, representing all 17,000 performers in the field of theatre throughout the United States and Canada, wishes to express to you its profound shock and dismay over the repressive and capricious action by local and state authorities in closing down the Boston production of "Hair." Censorship is to us an abomination; closing a play for its content, for its ideas, for its setting (even if that setting displays an American flag-- since when was there a valid degree as to who would be allowed to display it?)-- all this is directly contrary to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of the arts to flourish. We say: beware; when men can do as they have done in Boston, then book burning cannot be far behind.
- Theodore Bikel, Presiding Officer
AN ACTIVE '70S
By the '70s, more than 230 million TV sets glared in homes worldwide. Most were in the U.S., and the growth in viewership led to a more-and-more active AFTRA.
Through that decade, AFTRA was smokin' off-camera as it protested government agencies' non-union AV programs, intensified efforts to organize recording companies, fought for performance royalty legislation, and won additional payments based on record sales for non-royalty singers. The union also sued the networks for overseas residuals.
In 1972, a federal anti-piracy law took effect, making unauthorized sales of pirated recordings a criminal offense.
In 1974, for the first time, AFTRA and SAG jointly negotiated a new contract covering primetime dramatic programs. They still co-negotiate major contracts-- such as the commercials pact and feature-film and TV agreements-- to this day.
AFTRA and leading public-broadcasting TV stations in 1975 negotiated their first PBS contract. That same year, Chicago's Joe Slattery became the first AFTRA national president from a city other than New York or L.A. And AFTRA and the networks created an industry-wide alcohol-abuse treatment program.
By the mid-'70s, SAG had won residuals in perpetuity in its TV-film pact, and the guild had elected its first woman president, Kathleen Nolan.
In 1978, SAG and AFTRA performed a joint strike against ad agencies over their commercials contract, and AFTRA continued to seek a merger with the Screen Actors Guild.
AFTRA ended the decade with a landmark contract with San Francisco Opera for televising live performances. And San Francisco's Bill Hillman became the first news broadcaster elected to AFTRA's national presidency.
THE GOLDEN...AND NOT...'80S
The '80s would find both SAG and AFTRA celebrating their golden anniversaries. But, before that, union leaders' laughter would contort into gallows smiles as the real gold vanished.
In 1982, a jury would rule against both AFTRA and SAG in a $12 million, treble-damage anti-trust suit filed by Tuesday Productions, a jingle production house in San Diego. AFTRA filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. By '83, SAG's 50th year, the two unions had settled with Tuesday, and AFTRA began rebuilding.
SAG would also see one of its former presidents become The President. In 1980, Ronald Reagan took the oath as the nation's 40th chief executive.
Also in that decade, Equity recognized the need for, and implemented, low-budget agreements to accommodate the growing number of smaller production companies producing nationwide.
In the mid-'80s, SAG's board formed a plan for contributing to research on and education about AIDS. In 1988, Equity led other groups in forming Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
By 1987, SAG members had earned a record $1 billion in residuals. In 1989, the guild agreed to the first-ever made-for-basic-cable contract.
In 1987, AFTRA held its 50th anniversary convention in St. Louis, the site of its first national gathering five decades earlier. A San Francisco ad agency received AFTRA's first American Scene Award, given to honor employment of ethnic minorities, women, seniors, and disabled performers, thus reflecting a positive image of American society.
In 1988, the AFTRA/SAG Credit Union turned 25, and the AFTRA room opened in the Actors' Fund Home in New Jersey.
CORPORATIONS MERGE, UNIONS DON'T
With the coming of the '90s, the performers' unions would meet the challenges of melding media and a world growing smaller. Mergers of entertainment corporations, advances in satellite broadcasting, and the Internet's proliferation meant union leaders had to think and act globally.
The decade opened with SAG member Meryl Streep keynoting the National Women's Conference, expressing concern over women's declining work opportunities, pay parity, and role models. That same year, screen extras returned to the guild fold with the 88% vote approval of SAG members.
AFTRA commissioned an in-depth self-study to determine how to cope with the rapidly changing industry.
Spurred by casting protests from Equity regarding Broadway's "Miss Saigon," SAG's board adopted a resolution that performers of color receive preferential treatment for casting in ethnic roles.
By the mid-'90s, AFTRA's sound recordings contract had grown to over $100 million in earnings, and the union began to restructure and add resources. It earmarked $1.25 million to organize cable, and allocated $2 million for a state-of-the-art computer network. AFTRA's earnings exceeded $1 billion for the first time.
Also by the mid-'90s, Hollywood extras had rejoined SAG, and the background performers earned over $1 million in the first month of a new theatrical contract. As SAG leaders signed the first interactive contract, they also heard their calculators click up $2 billion in film-TV residuals, another $2 billion for commercial resids, and SAG pensions topped $1 billion. And stunt performers joined SAG.
As the century has drawn to a close, SAG and AFTRA have both taken active roles in negotiation of the World Intellectual Property Organization's treaty to protect copyrights, including those of performers' recorded voices and images. SAG has pushed for film and TV production tax incentives in the U.S. to quell "runaway production" to Canada.
In 1999, SAG and AFTRA closed a consistent 10-year effort to merge by seeing AFTRA members approve, but SAG members turn it down, following a bitter struggle within SAG's ranks.
The pro-merger SAG group, led by Richard Masur, SAG's national president, battled activists led by members of the Performers Alliance, a SAG Hollywood group formed through dissatisfaction with the 1997 commercials contract approved by SAG and AFTRA.
Pro-merger leaders argued that, among other things, major mergers by entertainment corporations were becoming a threat to the performers unions, which needed to come together for added strength.
Performers Alliance members argued that they weren't anti-merger, but they were opposed to the specific merger agreement. They cited SAG's projected $5 million deficit, proposed higher dues, and the inability to merge the two unions' health-and-pension plans as reasons for their "nay" views.
An anti-merger group also rose in New York, where background actors feared that adding AFTRA members to the fold would increase competition for extra jobs in films and TV.
SAG and AFTRA leaders, to avoid a complete fallout following the negative merger vote, began holding "summit" meetings, agreeing to continue their joint negotiating of major commercials and film-TV contracts, and to work on other issues.
With the merger issue decided, AFTRA also moved ahead to accomplish five priorities:
1. Implementing its already approved uniform national dues schedule.
2. Aggressively organizing new employers to provide more jobs for members.
3. Expanding efforts to coordinate AFTRA's bargaining to prevent "whipsawing" by major employers.
4. Boosting AFTRA's legal and legislative work.
5. Adding new member benefits and programs, including a new "watershed" retirement and savings plan, which had been recently included in the completed Network Code negotiations.
YEAR OF THE STRIKE
The unions moved into 2000 prepared to take care of their own in what turned into the Year of the Strike. SAG and AFTRA exchanged new commercial-contract proposals with the advertising industry's Joint Policy Committee. And both sides immediately began sharpening their swords over disagreements, primarily on network and cable residuals, and the Internet.
The ad industry negotiators surely knew that cable residuals would be a major sticking point in the bargaining. Actors had agreed to a flat payout on cable ads when the medium was in its infancy. But by 2000, the cable networks were now flourishing, reaping income that vies with major network advertising. And the industry knew actors would want their fair share by proposing a pay-per-play formula for cable-- a formula similar to the lucrative 50-year-old Class A network vehicle.
Evidently hoping to protect cable income for its members, the JPC negotiators came into talks with a proposal they knew the unions would never accept: changing the Class A pay-per-play to a flat one-time buyout, similar to the already antiquated cable payment system. The plan appeared to be this: keep the unions talking about network until they back off their cable residual proposal; and keep them occupied long enough to foil any attempt to discuss the Internet, where the unions wanted jurisdictional recognition.
"They don't recognize the boom in cable, such as the increase in viewership," William Daniels, SAG's national president said. "We gave them a fair buyout rate back in '87. And now, 13 years later, we're at a fee that an actor can't live on; plus actors suffer from overexposure.
"We asked for cable pay-per-play which was as fair as in network. But they refused. We came off of that and offered a tiered buyout plan, which we thought would work well for them. They turned that down. Finally, we went back to a buyout at a different rate, but the industry turned that down, too."
Meanwhile, the JPC bargainers stood by their original network proposal, which the unions referred to as a rollback.
And JPC had avoided the Internet, where SAG and AFTRA were ready to accept only recognizing their jurisdiction, and delay setting any pay rates until both sides learn more about the new but volatile worldwide network.
"I can't come to any other conclusion than they're out to break the union," Daniels observed. "They've moved very little from their April 14 proposals. I don't know where their minds are when they leave out the human quotient, in this case a decent life with food on the table when professional actors work in commercials."
The dogged attitude by both sides led to the talks breaking off, and the involvement of federal mediators.
Following the break-up of negotiations, union leaders decided to implement a nationwide boycott of Procter & Gamble, which was still shooting nonunion commercials, and which labor heads felt was the primary force attempting to break SAG and AFTRA.
High-profile actors had become more and more involved as the strike had stretched into the longest ever-- right at six months-- for SAG and AFTRA. Daniels and other leaders were hoping to use the "celebrity" card, having these stars-- whenever appearing on talk or awards shows, or at news conferences-- encourage the public to boycott the advertisers' products.
Both SAG and AFTRA are members of the AFL-CIO, which had a special section of its website dedicated to the actors' strike.
SAG and AFTRA numbered their strike force at 135,000 actors. In truth, they and their families could make only a small dent in a nationwide boycott against a major corporation. But SAG and AFTRA leaders had met with AFL-CIO execs during the strike. They all knew a dedicated boycott effort by AFL-CIO members-- which boast 13 million-- and their families could have a dramatic effect on a corporation's income.
First, the huge organization contacted its "e-mail list," resulting in 40,000 e-mails to major advertisers such as P&G and AT&T.
"We're meeting this week about whether we'll become involved in the boycott," Windham said, adding she hoped to know something by the end of this week.
Within a week, John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO's national president, was standing side-by-side with SAG-AFTRA leaders in New York, decrying P&G, and announcing that the nationwide boycott was on.
Within another week, the advertisers were ready to meet. And both sides, finally, reached an agreement.
In cable, the unions didn't get the pay-per-play system they wanted, but, in the end, they did get the JPC to agree to an increase in cable payments of more than 100% by the third year of the new pact. And union leaders consider that a victory.
As for the Internet, some union leaders suspected from the first that the JPC took its position on scrapping network pay-per-play, not only to protect cable, but to completely avoid the Internet issue.
But SAG and AFTRA held firm, and the JPC agreed to recognize their jurisdiction over both TV and radio commercials made for the Web.
Here are other major provisions the unions gained:
- Preservation of network broadcast pay-per-play residuals.
- Collaboration with the industry on studies monitoring TV and radio commercials.
- Improved payment for Spanish-language TV program spots, background actors, and pension & health funds.
- Radio performers will also receive an overall economic package increase of over 8%, plus participation in a cooperative union-industry fund, and an AFTRA individual retirement account plan.
Most union leaders agree with SAG's Daniels that the strike's trial-by-fire solidified union members' dedication to both SAG and AFTRA. It also brought stars to the forefront as the strike crawled on, which could only inspire involvement by even more of the rank and file.
AN EQUITY PRODUCTION DEAL
Equity and the League of American Theatres and Producers spent six months negotiating, and finally agreeing on a vital production contract. Its coverage primarily includes Broadway shows, national and international tours, bus & truck tours, and bus & truck split-week tours.
The four-year agreement included a 14.7% wage increase in minimum salaries over the pact's life. It also involved "various increments or payments for duties performed by chorus actors, swings, dance captains, stage managers, and understudies," according to Equity.
The two sides revised over 70 contract rules, the union reported, including implementing a retirement savings plan, adjusting producers' payments for health coverage, and agreeing to form a committee to supervise a raked-stages study.
In what the union calls a "special, landmark provision," the two sides agreed to establish a 401K retirement savings plan for actors, which will become effective the second year of the pact. Under the plan, employers will contribute an amount equal to 3% of an actor's contractual salary (capped at $5,500) to a separate fund. The actor can also contribute to the separate fund, "yielding important tax deferrals."
As for actors' health coverage, the two sides agreed to use a portion of the Tax Relief Fund to lower producers' costs for Equity's health plan. Another portion of the fund-- which consists of monies generated by a 4.5% city tax on box-office receipts-- will be used "to offset the rising costs of health benefits," according to the union.
On the raked-stages issue, despite two special sessions dedicated to hearing from numerous performers and expert witnesses, the union and producers couldn't agree on Equity's proposal to remove the inclined platforms from all production contract performances. Instead, they agreed to a joint committee studying raked stages and "stage resiliency and [to] closely monitor injury reports."
THE MISSIONS MOVE FORWARD
As the unions move toward 2001, the odyssey includes AFTRA having a host of major contract negotiations. In November of this year, the staff newspersons' agreements with the three major networks all expired, as well as a large number of broadcast contracts at local TV and radio stations owned by networks.
"In the spring, we'll be participating in primetime and theatrical negotiations, which historically we've negotiated jointly with SAG," added Greg Hessinger, AFTRA's national executive director. "We'll also be exploring in June our sound recordings code, which covers singers. We negotiate it with the record labels, and in light of all the changes in the music industry, it should be challenging. Then, in November 2001, our network code expires, which covers all entertainment programming other than prime time."
Even without the immediate and pending contract issues, Hessinger has taken the AFTRA helm at an important time in the union's history. First, moving into a new decade of a new century, Hessinger must continue meeting the union's priorities, including responding to changing technology, progress in internal restructuring, and attempting to overcome a budget deficit.
SAG also faces major issues dealing with restructuring and talent agents. The guild has received results of a major consulting study that complains of the union's lack of focus and, among many recommendations, suggests melding its nationwide offices, cutting them from over 20 to five regional branches.
The franchise agreement between SAG and talent agents expired in October, and the agents broke off negotiations in November, leaving both sides working under a 15-month grace period. But nobody's sure what will happen after that. Agents have called for expanding their capabilities to act as producers, but SAG has called that a conflict of interest.
