This vote took place on April 19th, 2009. The next step is for the actual vote to take place which according to a letter to the members of the Guild will be based on the following time line. 

Ballots will be mailed to all eligible members on May 19, 2009. Ballots must be mailed in the return envelope provided and received at the Everett, WA, post office box no later than 5:00 p.m. (PDT) June 9, 2009. Ballots received after this deadline, or at a location other than the post office box, will not be counted.

We are holding member informational meetings so that you can hear about the tentative agreement and ask questions. Member informational meetings are scheduled for Hollywood and New York as follows and will be announced for Branch locations next week.

The  special meetings are for members to ask questions and express concerns about the 2 year tentative extension of the previously existing 2005 Producer-Screen Actors Guild Codified Basic Agreement and 2005 Screen Actors Guild Television Agreements.

Here is the schedule of the meetings in LA and New York:

HOLLYWOOD

Thursday, May 21, 2009

7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Renaissance Hollywood Hotel

Hollywood Ballroom
1755 N. Highland Ave.
Hollywood, CA  90028

NEW YORK

Monday, June 1, 2009

6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Directors Guild of America
110 West 57th Street (between 6th & 7th Aves.)
New York, New York

For more information on these meetings and to read the tentative contract please visit the Screen Actors Guild Website: www.SAG.org

According the the SAG.org website, the vote margin was a narrow 53.38% for to 46.62% against proposing the contract to the members of the Guild and recommending that it be ratified by their vote.

Covering both Television and Film Actors, the contract proposes a  3.5% increase in pay effectively immediately along with increases to health and Pension contributions as well as another pay increase in the following year. Other changes may also be involved.

If the members vote to ratify the contract, it could end a Strike Threat that has put a virtual halt to numerous productions and a severe loss of new Television contracts for the Screen Actors Guild. Many of the new pilots are being produced under AFTRA Contracts. AFTRA negotiated outside of their usual joint negotiations with SAG and have had their contracts with the Producers long enough to see a great increase in new signatories.

The ball is now in the hands of the Screen Actors Guilds members, so the best we can do is hope they consider the Teams best interest  before they choose their play.

Read more at the Screen Actors Guild Website: Click Here

The following is excerpts of information sent to members regarding this meeting and it’s results:

“The proposed agreements, which cover performers working in commercials made for and reused on television, radio, the Internet, and new media, will net a three-year increase in payments to performers totaling an estimated $36 million, including approximately $21 million in increased contributions to the SAG Pension & Health and AFTRA Health & Retirement plans. The total combined value of the AFTRA and SAG contracts is projected at more than $2.9 billion for working performers, including actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, stunt persons, and extras. 
 
Additionally, the new contracts contain an agreement in principle outlining terms for a pilot study for the purpose of testing the Gross Rating Points (GRP) model of restructuring compensation to performers as proposed by Booz & Co. The two-year study will be conducted by a jointly retained consultant engaged by the unions and the industry. The study will be paid for by grants from Screen Actors Guild-Industry Advancement and Cooperative Fund (IACF) and the AFTRA-Industry Cooperative Fund (AICF). 
 
Highlights of the new agreement include:
 

• Three-year agreement, term effective April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2012, upon ratification by members of both unions.
  
• 5.5% overall increase in wages and other compensation over the life of the contracts, including a 4.43% increase, effective April 1, 2009, in Class A, Wild Spot, and basic cable session and use fees.
  
• For product moved over to the Internet or in New Media, compensation of 1.3 times the minimum session fee for 8 weeks of use and 3.5 times the minimum session fee for one year’s use.
  
• For product made for the Internet or New Media, a new minimum rate structure of 1.3 times the minimum session fee for 8 weeks of use and 3.5 times the minimum session fee for one year’s use, effective in the third year of the contract.
  
• 0.5% increases in the employer contribution rate to the AFTRA H&R and SAG P&H plans, and a 0.2% increase in employer contributions to the SAG Industry Advancement Cooperative Fund and the AFTRA-Industry Cooperative Fund, bringing the total contribution rate to 15.5%. Effective in year three, the agreement provides for a cap on P&H and H&R contributions for services covered by the contracts to $1 million per performer, per contract, per year with anticipated net gains in P&H and H&R over the term of the contract.
  
• Secured five new covered jobs for commercial extras, up from 40 to 45.
  
• Established new exclusivity compensation for made-for cable only commercials.
  
• Instituted, for the first time, a contract provision to pay extras a round-trip mileage fee of $8.
  
• Increased foreign use payments under the Spanish Language section of the contract.
  
• The across the board increase under the AFTRA Radio Commercials Contract is 5.35%, in addition to contributions to AFTRA H&R and the AICF.
  
• All of the unions’ proposals regarding diversity issues were addressed in the negotiations. ”

Read the full story from the Screen Actors Guild website: Click Here

Labor Issues: Trustees to waive payments for three months — Trustees of the Directors Guild of America’s health plan have moved to help DGA members who lost eligibility for health care coverage as a result of the 100-day writers strike.

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Labor Issues: Unions to negotiate jointly after all — SAG and AFTRA appear to have buried the hatchet on a nasty jurisdictional dispute, clearing the way for joint negotiations on their film-primetime contract in late March or early April.

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Labor Issues: Members ratify deal with ABC, CBS, NBC — Directors Guild of America members have ratified a three-year agreement with ABC, CBS and NBC that covers members who work in news, sports and operations.

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Labor Issues: Networks scaling back on pilots — Post-strike TV production in Hollywood has been getting back on its feet but remains well behind the levels of a year ago, according to permitting agency Film L.A.

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Labor Issues: Org tells guild to stop dragging its feet — AFTRA is telling the Screen Actors Guild to stop dragging its feet — and warning that it’s willing to start negotiations as early as this month without SAG.

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Labor Issues: Union will not begin talks until April at earliest — Facing growing pressure to start contract talks as soon as possible, the Screen Actors Guild has dug in its heels and announced it won’t start formal negotiations with the AMPTP until April at the earliest.

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Labor Issues: Trinh, Howze charged with conspiracy — A former WGA West assistant administrator and another woman have been charged with conspiring to embezzle $17,228 from union funds set up to pay guild members for their works that were sold, distributed and aired abroad.

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