As talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the major studios founder, a coalition of actors is mounting an election challenge to a group that swept SAG President Alan Rosenberg into office nearly three years ago, deepening a rift inside Hollywood's largest union.
The challengers are taking direct aim at Membership First, the Hollywood-based political group within SAG that holds a slight majority on the national board and came to power in 2005 vowing to take a harder line in negotiations with the studios.
Dissidents blame the group for bungling the current negotiations and spearheading an ill-fated campaign to discredit the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. SAG recently conducted an unsuccessful campaign to defeat a contract negotiated by AFTRA, an effort that deeply divided the union.
The political infighting -- both within the guild and between the two unions -- has enabled the studios to pursue a divide-and-conquer strategy that has weakened SAG's leverage at the bargaining table. Indeed, SAG leaders blame AFTRA for playing into the studios' hands by undercutting the bigger union's negotiations by agreeing to what they view as a weak contract.
Calling itself Unite for Strength, the dissident group is running a slate of candidates to fill 11 seats in the powerful Hollywood division that are up for grabs on the national board. In addition, the group is competing for an additional 22 seats for those who serve as alternates to replace board members who often are working.
The candidates include Kate Walsh and Amy Brenneman, the stars of "Private Practice"; Doug Savant, who plays the harried husband Tom Scavo on "Desperate Housewives"; and Adam Arkin, known for his role as Aaron Shutt on "Chicago Hope."
In all, nearly one-third of the board's 71 seats will be decided in the Sept. 18 election (the deadline for declaring candidacies is today). Although Rosenberg has one more year in his term, the results could be pivotal in gauging support for his negotiating strategy and could change the balance of power in the notoriously fractious 120,000-member union.
"We think the current leadership has put SAG on a dangerous path," said Ned Vaughn, a veteran character actor and spokesman for the slate.
Vaughn helped organize a recent petition signed by more than 1,500 actors, including Meryl Streep and Charlie Sheen, that urged the board to limit contract voting in the union only to members who work at least an average of one day a year. The board rebuffed the demand.
