Best-dressed at SAG Awards confident that negotiations will be fruitful...
The ongoing battle over contract negotiations for union actors is still at a fever pitch and continues.
In fact, the spirited talks have been so rancorous in Hollywood, that the top brass at the Screen Actors Guild are sending out a poll to fathom up how the membership feels about current negotiation efforts by union reps.
The polling cards are for paid-up members of the Guild, only.
Documentation inside the mailers alert members to the fact - "that the polling card is not a ballot or a ratification notice or referendum voting card" - to ensure there are no misunderstandings about its purpose.
Mindful that a rebellious few may attempt to fraudulently influence the polls - to gain the upper hand - the Guild devised a surefire method of thwarting any interference by any nefarious contingent out to upset the apple cart.
For instance, the response card bears a "unique bar code" to prevent fraudulent reproduction of the response cards.
And, to ensure there is no misunderstanding about who may participate, the sampler clearly states on its face:
"This postcard includes a unique bar code to ensure that only active members in good standing participate in this poll."
The bar code was devised to be unique to individual members for two reasons.
For starters, to ensure only one card would be returned and counted per individual member - and ultimately - to prevent anyone from skewering the results of the poll by reproducing the cards in large numbers and returning them filled in by persons unknown or unqualified to vote.
The unique bar code was also devised to elicit a demographic analysis that would be representative of the community.
For example, Guild organizers believe that if a response is statistically similar to the distribution of membership at any particular branch and/or division, it may be more reliable as an expression of overall membership sentiment.
The Guild asserts it will also be able to analyze the results to determine important earnings data.
This information may be helpful - in view of the fact that one faction of highly-paid union members - recently sought to eliminate actors in lower-earnings brackets from voting on contract issues because they had allegedly "less at stake".
Response cards returned to the Guild in a timely manner will be submitted to Integrity Voting Systems, and subsequently, scanned to determine their authenticity.
Once verified, Integrity Voting Systems will tabulate the results of the poll.
The information will be shared with the Negotiating Committee at the Screen Actors Guild.
A demographic analysis will be done in the aggregate, as well.
However, none of the reports generated will contain any information disclosing the identity of the individual member, nor will any of the options an individual member chose on the response card be disclosed to third parties.
The polling document is intended to be a sampling of membership views on the AMPTP proposals being set forth in the TV/Theatrical contract negotiations.
The Negotiating Committee will access the data with the specific aim of proceeding with contract negotiations with a better awareness of the wishes of Screen Actors Guild members at heart.
Disgruntled actors walk picket line at Studios...
