SAG-AFTRA

Summer 2019

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For Members N E W S , I N F O R M AT I O N A N D B E N E F I T S 16 SAG-AFTRA | Summer 2019 | sagaftra.org SAG-AFTRA AND BBH REACH AGREEMENT, ENDING STRIKE A fter a 10-month strike and media campaign against advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty U.S. Inc., BBH will once again be a signatory to SAG-AFTRA's Commercials Contracts pending final approval from the National Labor Relations Board. In November of 2017, BBH served SAG-AFTRA with notice of its intent to withdraw as a signatory to the contracts. In response, SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB and called a strike against the agency. In May, an administrative law judge affirmed SAG-AFTRA's legal position and ruled that BBH engaged in unfair labor practices when it stopped recognizing SAG-AFTRA as the representative of commercial performers. The judge directed BBH to negotiate with the union, and negotiations with the ad agency began shortly thereafter. BBH will now produce all commercials under our contracts, providing union wages as well as health and pension T he SAG-AFTRA National Board met in a one-day videoconference plenary on July 20 and approved an industry-transformative contract with global streaming service Netflix covering dramatic live-action productions. The first-of-its- kind deal between the union and the global streaming service recognizes performance capture as covered work and includes coverage of dubbing, which applies to Netflix's foreign-language live-action and animated motion pictures dubbed into English (see story on page 28). The board also announced that, subject to final approval by the National Labor Relations Board, ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty U.S. Inc. will sign the newly negotiated Commercials Contracts, ending a 10-month-long strike and media campaign by SAG-AFTRA. BBH will produce all its commercials under these contracts, providing union wages and pension and health contributions to performers (see story below). In other business, the union announced that it will collaborate with Alicia Rodis, the associate director and co-founder of Intimacy Directors International, the intimacy coordinators with IDI and other trained providers to standardize, codify and implement guidelines for on-set intimacy coordinators. The guidelines will seek to establish new, relevant policies for nudity and simulated sex; define the duties and standards for intimacy coordinators on productions; and specify acceptable training, vetting and qualifications of intimacy coordinators (see story on page 32). The board also voted up the 2019-20 TV/Theatrical proposal package for contract negotiations with the AMPTP. Details of the proposal package are confidential and per standard practice will not be released. In addition to the above, the board heard a report on the recent victory that SAG-AFTRA won at the National Labor Relations Board against Spanish Broadcast System for failing to engage in meaningful bargaining. In 2016, employees at an SBS radio station in Los Angeles voted to organize and be represented by SAG-AFTRA. Some of the employees who had engaged in union activities were let go, and SAG-AFTRA filed a complaint that the company's actions were unlawful. The NLRB agreed, and in January 2017, eight employees were reinstated with back pay. Now, SAG-AFTRA has won a second victory, with the NLRB agreeing that SBS engaged in delaying tactics, and was only going through the motions of negotiating. SAG-AFTRA is demanding SBS get serious about negotiations and compensate union employees. NATIONAL BOARD MARKS MILESTONES ON MULTIPLE FRONTS Major New Developments on BBH and Harassment Prevention, and a New Contract with Netflix BBH continues on page 21 SAG-AFTRA's BBH Black Sheep campaign appeared around New York during the strike.

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