As of earlier this afternoon, a source inside the room tells me Membership First beat back the majority (composed of moderates) on the SAG Board and prevented passage of a resolution that would have removed Doug Allen as Chief Negotiator and dissolved the Negotiating Committee and rescinded the Strike Authorization Vote.
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UPDATE: Here's SAG's press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCREEN ACTORS GUILD NATIONAL BOARD MEETING ADJOURNS WITHOUT ACTIONS
LOS ANGELES, January 13, 2009 -- SAG President Alan Rosenberg sent the following message to Screen Actors Guild national board members and alternates today:
“At the end of the National Board plenary meeting this afternoon, a group of board members submitted a document to the Guild that purports to deal with the employment of the National Executive Director and the continuing approach to negotiations. After analyzing the document, Screen Actors Guild’s in-house and outside counsel have concluded that the document does not constitute a valid written assent, for several reasons, including a lack of sufficient signatures and the absence of any language on the document demonstrating the intent of the signers to grant their assent to the proposal. Guild National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Doug Allen and the National Television and Theatrical Contract Negotiating Committee remain committed to advancing the cause of actors and our crucial contract negotiations.”
No substantive actions were taken by the Guild’s national board, which met at SAG’s national headquarters January 12 and 13 for almost 30 hours straight.
No mailing date has been set for the previously approved TV/Theatrical strike authorization referendum.
We have no further comment.
XXX
