SAG, AFTRA Bosses Bravely Unite For Common Cause Of Walking to San Pedro
Mere days after the meltdown of their negotiating partnership in upcoming labor talks with film and TV producers, SAG president Alan Rosenberg and AFTRA boss Ron Morgan appeared at a press conference Tuesday to proclaim their unity in the face of looming crisis — at least when it comes to walking 25 miles from Hancock Park to San Pedro:
[The pair] appeared at a news conference to build awareness for the "March From Hollywood to the Docks" that will start April 15 next to the La Brea Tar Pits and conclude two days later with a rally at the Port of Los Angeles.
During Tuesday's news conference, Rosenberg and Morgan refrained from any attacks and professed the importance of union solidarity in pushing forward on bread-and-butter issues such as wages, health-care coverage and retirement. Morgan, who's also veep of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, noted that AFTRA has already negotiated its network code and sound recordings deals this year.
Asked about the contradiction of professing unity in the wake of the ongoing jurisdictional battle, Morgan said, "This is a really good example of us being civil to each other while trying to do what's best for our members and not attacking each other."
It was the least of the shit-eating Morgan could do as the unions' apocalyptic "jurisdictional battle" also came into sharper relief on Tuesday, when the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers shrugged off conventional wisdom and agreed to start contract renegotiations with SAG on April 15. Thus outmaneuvered once more by its glitzier cousin, and without an AMPTP meeting of his own, Morgan quietly assigned an intern to spend the remainder of the day plotting alternate routes to the Port as part of his highly civil new "We'll Get There Faster on Western Ave." strategy.