Voters’ messages: New York actors say A-listers’ offer ‘fair and generous’

It is day 99 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

New York actors, approaching their 100th day of strike, politely said “no thanks” Friday to an offer from top stars to improve their health care by lifting the cap on SAG-AFTRA contributions — which exceed $150 million — dollars over three years. – to be financed and renovated; the remaining payments will go to members of the union.

“As it turns out not “A great idea,” actress Kathleen Chalfant told Deadline during Friday’s rainy queues outside Netflix’s offices near Union Square in Manhattan, in response to a proposal by A-listers Thursday to raise their membership fees, thus consistently to reverse normal order. payouts are distributed so that the actors at the end of the call list are paid first.

Labor leaders praised George Clooney and others for “their creativity and genuine desire to help resolve the impasse.” However, in a letter to members, they also said the proposal “is in no way related to this current contract and will not affect or even be subject to collective bargaining.”

Those performing outside of Netflix on Friday include Christopher Meloni, Clark Gregg, Jeff Hiller, Ethan Herschenfeld and John Carroll Lynch. Some took inspiration from the union and said they appreciated the efforts of Clooney and others to get contract negotiations back on track after negotiations collapsed last week, but had concerns.

Gregg told Deadline that the Clooney Group’s offer was “fair and generous.” He added that he’s not sure how this intersects with the need for transparency and whether the promised residuals will be resolved if streaming becomes the norm.

“I think it’s a generous offer,” says actor and musician Vardaan Arora. “I would hate it if this generosity was interpreted as a split in the union.”

Arora and others stressed in the SAG-AFTRA letter that the contribution-based health insurance proposal would violate federal labor law.

“It’s not possible,” actor Eddie K. Robinson told Deadline, noting that members’ health insurance “must come from the employer, not our collective organization.”

SAG-AFTRA strike captain Sue Berch mentioned it in her usual closing remarks to strikers at Netflix and the nearby Warner Bros. offices, describing the A-listers’ proposal as “nice, but illegal.”

On their 99th day of strike, the actors also told Deadline they are confident a final deal will be reached, although they will have to adjust their expectations. The collapse of talks last week dashed hopes of a quick deal after the Writers’ Guild reached an agreement with the AMPTP after nearly five months of protests.

Abraham Sparrow said he was “absolutely” optimistic in September, but added, “I didn’t know where the end was.”…As some chants say: I’ll just keep coming out until it’s over.

Nick Sakai said that while the long, overlapping strikes by writers and actors had created positive new relations between the two unions, all parties knew that the current impasse “could not last forever.”

“I’m staying positive,” Gregg said. “I believe we will find a way to restore some form of partnership between us and our employers and we can all get back to work as we wish.”

For her part, Chalfant prepared to return to work — in the theater. She will appear in a regional touring production in Connecticut The year of magical thinkinga one-woman play based on Joan Didion’s memoir.

“I’m lucky,” Chalfant said of her film and television career, “because I’ve been doing it for a long time and I have what the union fought for: I have a pension and health insurance.” very generous about. amounts because most of the work I did was done under the old contract.