Could SAG Split Into Two Separate Unions?

Things have gotten so bad that the guild leadership on the East Coast (New York) have asked for federal mediation in hopes to get the talks up and going again, however, the AMPTP reminded SAG that they already have the producer's final deal, the same one that has been on the table for nearly two months.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg stated recently that their continued working without a new contract is costing its membership about $1.7 million per week.

"All of us in New York, Hollywood and across the country should be concerned about how this failure to reach an agreement is impacting our members," said N.Y. SAG president Sam Freed. "They have already suffered significantly as a result of the WGA strike, and now they are experiencing an additional loss of work, made worse when they can find a job, by having to work without a contract under old terms and conditions. There are some who feel we have all the time in the world to make this deal. We on the N.Y. board do not."

Freed's sentiment is shared by most of the SAG members on the East Coast, where a majority of West Coast members, led by Jack Nicholson and others, believe the producers can be made to offer a better contract than that now presented. However, there are a few dissidents within the West Coast ranks concluding some pretty powerful names like Tom Hanks, George Clooney and others, who want to see this stalemate ended sooner rather than later. New York and some of those members in California see this West Coast play as nothing short than a politically motivated plan that will fail and ultimately hurt the guild and its 120,000 membership.

President Rosenberg and SAG national exec director Doug Allen don't want to see federal mediation with Rosenberg stating that the government's involvment will only hurt the guild's current position. Allen issued a statement last week that echoed his sentiment on the issue.

"Mediation does not guarantee that negotiations will accelerate to an agreement and often has slowed the process down, as recently seen in the WGA negotiations which included mediation," Allen said. "It has not, up to this point, been viewed as something the parties feel would facilitate an agreement."

The anger between New York and California as elevated to the level of name calling with Rosenberg calling East Coast leadership duplicitous, and New York calling the West Coast and National leadership political wannabes, with the desire for power more important than the welfare of guild membership.

This in-fighting is causing fractures that could become so deep that if or once, a deal is forged with the producers, have left many within the industry wondering if the guild will survive intact are become two separate actor's unions.