The League of Background Artist Voters’ 2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates Questionnaire

As Members of the Screen Actors Guild, Background Actors provide Principal Artists with the Reaction, Response & Energy that helps them connect to the moment

With thousands of Union Jobs at stake, it is essential that all Members of the Screen Actors Guild hear from the 2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates on critical issues that will affect our health, livelihood and opportunities for jobs.

So on June 19, 2019, The League of Background Artist Voters - a standing committee of the Background Artists Coalition - sent the 2019 Presidential Candidates Questionnaire (reprinted here below) to the three contenders vying for that pivotal position:

Jane Austin, Gabrielle Carteris and Matthew Modine.

And we encourage all categories of Union Performers to do the same.

As the results of this summer’s SAG-AFTRA election will indelibly inform the course of the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract Negotiations, each Candidate should welcome the opportunity to articulate their positions to the Membership.

And every Member of the Screen Actors Guild has the right to know for whom they are voting, when and where all voting takes place and the specifics of how each Candidate plans to improve the Wages & Working Conditions for all Union Members.

So the Background Artists Coalition has asked the 2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates to fill out the Questionnaire below and return the completed form by 11:59PM (ET) on June 30, 2019.

The League of Background Artist Voters, and the entire Background Artists Coalition, hopes that all of the 2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates welcome the opportunity to participate in this vital part of the Elections Process that invites the Candidates to articulate their positions in their own words.

All Unions should function as a democracy. And all Unions should vigorously advocate on behalf of their entire Membership.

So, as the Membership is entitled to know for whom they are voting and where each Candidate stands on the vital issues that will affect our lives & livelihoods, let’s hope that the 2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates agree with those fundamental principles of Organized Labor even if their own particular positions and goals may differ from those of the Background Artists Coalition.

In the event the 2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates do show the courage and courtesy to respond to The League of Background Artist Voters’ 2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates Questionnaire (re-printed here below), the Background Artists Coalition will publish each Candidate‘s un-redacted response here, so that all Union Members can read and review their replies.

So: STAY TUNED!

2019 SAG-AFTRA Presidential Candidates Questionnaire:

All Members Matter:

1. As President of the Screen Actors Guild, what specific steps will you take to advocate for the on set health & safety for Union Background Artists whose health & safety on set is too often ignored? 

And, as the historic Field Rep System is no longer cost-effective and has proven inadequate to fully and timely address health & safety issues that arise on production sets, will you support the development and implementation of The Boakes App which would provide an online portal through which Union Members would have the opportunity to rate, report and upload documentation regarding working conditions on all film & television sets in real time?

Standard Industry Practices, Hours of Background Artists Call Times and Locations of Sets & Fittings Require that Actor Workplace Safety & Transportation to & from Set is Not a Courtesy; It’s a Right that should be afforded all Union Members: 

2. As President of the Screen Actors Guild, will you support The Schmitt Clause: The Contractural Obligation for Production to Provide Safe Transportation to and from set for Union Background Artists - when Call Times, Locations and Circumstances Deem it Necessary to protect Members’ Health & Safety - as opposed to the current standard practice, whereby, SAG-AFTRA-endorsed “Courtesy” Vans are not contractually enforceable even in a November Nor’easter where Union Background Artists’ Call Time is 4:30AM when public transportation is limited? And, if not, why not?

Related to the question above, how do you propose Union Background Artists Get Paid for a day’s work after confirming their availability and receiving their Check-In Numbers - which bar the Union members from accepting other work for the same day - when Production refuses to provide safe transportation where the circumstances require it in order to protect the health & safety of Union Members? BAC 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract Demands:

3. As President of the Screen Actors Guild, will you support the Background Artists Coalition’s package of demands for the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract Negotiations which include: a.) Hourly Wage Rate $35.00 b.) The Restoration of Union Background Jobs Achieved by Raising the Minimums in production contracts across all media by 40% and c.) To call a Strike Vote prior to the 2020 Contract Negotiations so that the AMPTP knows that our Union is prepared to walk away from the bargaining table if the Contract Demands for Union Background Artists are not met. 

And if you do not support BAC’s package of Contract Demands for Union Background Artists, please provide the details for the package of demands for which you would advocate on behalf of Union Background Artists that would include the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract demand for a fair wage for Union Background Artists and if you do not believe the Hourly Wage Rate of $35.00 for Union Background Artists is justified, please specify the exact dollar amount that you believe is a fair wage to pay Union Background Actors for their work in film & television productions and for which you plan to vigorously advocate in the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract. A Reasonable Opportunity to Access Our Union Health Insurance Plan Into Which We All Contribute:

4. When Actors Equity (AEA) can offer stage performers, who have worked at least 11 weeks of a year, 6 months of health care coverage - and if the actor has worked 19 weeks of a year, the actor is entitled to a full year of health coverage - all at the very reasonable rate of $100 a quarter, please discuss the financial impediment that, to your mind, justifies SAG-AFTRA’s failure to provide health insurance to its Union actors on similar terms?

As President of the Screen Actors Guild, will you - at the very least - support The Kimbrell Option: a Union Health Insurance Buy-In Option for Union Background Artists and other SAG-AFTRA Members - who contribute to the SAG-AFTRA Pension & Health Fund - but who are unable to meet the income eligibility threshold? 

And, if not, why not and what is your to plan to assist Union Background Artists, who contribute to our Union Pension & Health Funds, but who are denied a reasonable path through which to access our Union Health Insurance Plan?

NY Law Prohibits Employees from Being Denied Due Process during the Grievance Process; And yet, SAG-AFTRA Allows Producers to Deny Union Complainants the Right to Legal Counsel during the Grievance Process: 

5. When a Union Background Artist files a Valid Grievance for Harassment in the workplace (sexual or otherwise), at present, the Screen Actors Guild allows powerful Producers to force Union Background Artists  - who decide to pursue such a grievance - to participate in what can be a daunting and traumatizing process without any legal representation (i.e., SAG-AFTRA allows producers to prohibit a Union Background Artists’ legal counsel from participating in the SAG-AFTRA Grievance process, thereby, forcing Complainants to participate in the grievance process without the right to counsel). 

As the denial of an Employee’s right to legal counsel in such a proceeding may be prohibited by NY Law, if elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, what steps will you take to ensure that all Union Members are guaranteed due process under the law, so that all Union Members have the unfettered opportunity to pursue a Valid Grievance when a Union Member has suffered severe harm in the workplace? 

https://www.lawandtheworkplace.com/2018/10/new-york-state-issues-final-guidance-on-sexual-harassment-policy-and-training-requirements-in-advance-of-october-9-effective-date/

As the obviously lopsided power dynamic of such a draconian system - where huge Multi-National conglomerate Production Companies have unqualified resources with which to manipulate the grievance process and to potentially inflict additional harm on the aggrieved Union Member - serves as a systemic deterrent to justice - intimidating many Union Background Artists from ever pursuing a valid claim of sexual or other workplace harassment - if elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, what changes will you implement to protect Union Background Artists in the Grievance process, and what specific steps will you take to ensure that all Union Members have the right to legal representation in any such Grievance process notwithstanding producers’ objections? Checks & Balances:

6. As the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) determined during its investigation into the Screen Actors Guild Pension and Health Plans that the Trustees of these funds appeared to have breached their fiduciary obligations, violated several provisions of the Federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and that “a prohibited transaction” had occurred, do you plan to ask for the resignations of the trustees under whose watch these prohibited transactions - and the subsequent and related fraudulent schemes that robbed Union Funds of a collective $5.9 Million - occurred? 

And what specific safeguards and protocols - beyond the Corrective Actions set forth by the U.S. Department of Labor - will you implement as structural checks & balances necessary to prevent future malfeasance and looting of our Union coffers?

Accountability and Transparency:

7. As Lead Negotiators for the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract - Attorneys David White and Ray Rodriguez (who were also Lead Negotiators for the 2016-2017 Contract Negotiations and who also serve as fiduciary Trustees of the troubled Union Funds referenced above) - granted themselves generous salaries and raises, and yet, for the Membership, negotiated a Union Wage that caused actual harm to Union Background Artists who lost between 1/2% and 1% of their Wage Rate over the last five years (when the Union Background Artists Wage is adjusted for inflation and the relevant cost of living increase), if elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, do you plan to ask these Trustees to resign from the Board and do you plan to ask these Trustees to resign as Lead Negotiators for the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract and, if so, by what process do you propose engaging new Lead Negotiators as we head toward the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract Negotiations?

Restoration of our Union Background Jobs:

8. As prior SAG-AFTRA Contracts have unnecessarily allowed producers to dramatically reduce the Minimum Number of Union Background Roles for production contracts across all media, please describe your plan to restore these vital Union Background Artist jobs in the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract and please articulate precisely the number of Union Background jobs (e.g., what percentage increase and/or the raw Minimum number of Union Background jobs) your administration plans to demand be restored in the 2020 SAG-AFTRA Contract?

Proportionate Representation for all Members:

9. As Union Members who work the Background Artists Contract constitute the Majority Membership of the Screen Actors Guild, how many seats on the National Board  do you believe should be designated for Union Background Artists and what specific  steps will you take to ensure proportionate representation for Union Background Artists in all Union matters?

Predatory Contracts:

10. The Screen Actors Guild has endorsed production contracts that allow film & television producers to pay Union Background Artists Minimum Wage and, in some contracts, nothing at all (not even deferred payment) for their work on film & television productions. If elected President of the Actors Union do you plan to cancel and renegotiate these Predatory Contracts?

Antiquated Sub-Standard Union Contracts Must Go:

11. For years, our Union has allowed some beloved shows - like SNL - to utilize substandard outdated contracts from the last century. If elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, will you advocate for the cancellation and renegotiation of these antiquated contracts that deny Union Background Artists, even the current inadequate Hourly Wage Rate, and which contracts fail to provide the complete package of SAG-AFTRA working conditions Contract standards for Union Background Artists?