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AFTRA FLASH
Your Voice - in Music, Entertainment and News &
Information - Your Union
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May 2004
In this issue
Please click
on the following links to take you to the news...
AFTRA NEWS
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
BROADCASTING ISSUES
UPCOMING EVENTS
MEMORIALS
Preparations are underway for AFTRA’s
National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting
(“Network Code”) negotiations. The Network Code expires
November 15, 2004. The types of programming that are covered by the
Network Code are daytime dramas, talk shows, reality programs, game
shows, syndicated dramatic programs, non-prime-time dramatic programs
appearing on any broadcast network, dramatic programs appearing on
cable during any day part, sports programs, variety programs and promotional
announcements. AFTRA Locals are gathering input from members for the
negotiations, using the wages and working conditions (“W&W”)
process. To get involved, check your AFTRA local website for information
on W&W meetings in your area.
In partnership with Rock the Vote, AFTRA is
offering online voter registration in every state. Click on the distinctive
Rock the Vote banner in the left-hand corner of the AFTRA National
home page at www.aftra.com
to register or change your voter information. The banner may also
be found on your AFTRA local page. No matter what state you live in
get registered TODAY!
In mid-May, the AFTRA H&R Funds will mail
health fund premium invoices to participants for the July 1, 2004
quarter. Be on the lookout for your premium invoice, and please return
it to the Funds promptly to avoid loss of benefits. If you have not
received an invoice by May 28, contact the Funds office immediately
at 1-800-562-4690 to get a replacement. Premium payments for the July
1 quarter must be received by the Funds office no later than June
15.
AFTRA issued a statement last week regarding
the WGA negotiations, encouraging the AMPTP to work diligently and
creatively to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with the Writer's
Guild. Go to http://www.aftra.com/press/pr_20040505_wgatalks.html
to read the full statement.
In a stunning rebuke to the White House, the
Senate voted to block the implementation of regulations that would have
eliminated overtime pay for millions of American workers. The fight
to save overtime now continues in the House. Visit http://www.saveovertimepay.org
for updates.
California is close to strengthening SB 1687,
the law that protects artists from having to make upfront payments
for unsuccessful job placements. Approved by the Senate Labor Committee,
the bill will now move to the Senate Appropriations Committee and
eventually the Senate floor. John Connolly sent a letter to the Committee
in support, noting in part, “This bill will insure that aspiring
young performers - especially children - are protected from being
charged advanced fees as the current law clearly intended.”
Check out the AFTRA website to stay tuned.
Notwithstanding an intense campaign waged by
the Washington D.C. AFTRA Local, the Maryland State Senate failed
to ban non-compete clauses in broadcast contracts. Non-compete clauses
prohibit employees from working for a competitor of a former employer
for a period of time, often up to a year, after the termination of
that employee’s employment. To learn more about non-compete
clauses and what AFTRA is doing to defeat them, go to http://www.aftra.com/legislative/noncompetes.htm.
As part of its ongoing efforts, AFTRA,
along with a coalition of broadcasters, artists, public interest and
professional organizations petitioned the FCC to reconsider the Golden
Globe Award decision, which reversed the ruling that Bono’s
use of an expletive last year was not indecent. To read the petition,
go to http://www.aftra.com/aftra/DOCS/golden%20globes%20pr%204.19.04.doc.
If you oppose the Broadcast
Decency Enforcement Act (SB 2056), which would raise fines for performers
from $11,000 to $500,000 for live or taped material, while levying
lower fines on the corporate licensees who control what is actually
broadcast, send a message to the Senate at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/sb2056.
To read President Connolly's
comments on the indecency issue, go to http://www.aftra.com/aftra/letter.htm.
The third of six scheduled FCC Broadcast Localism
Hearings will be held May 26 in Rapid City, South Dakota. The objective
of the hearings is to determine how broadcasters are serving the local
community through radio and television broadcasting. Members of the
public are invited to participate. Past hearings were held in San Antonio,
TX and Charlotte, NC. And future hearings are tentatively set for Monterey,
California and Washington D.C. Go to www.fcc.gov/localism
for more information.
Join NPR host and AFTRA’s First
VP Bob Edwards on his upcoming book tour to promote
his new book Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism,
May 5 - June 1. Edwards will be stopping in Virginia,
Kentucky, New York, Seattle, California, Georgia, Philadelphia, Washington
DC, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, and Illinois. Check out www.npr.org
for dates and locations.
AFTRA has endorsed and urges all AFTRA members
and Locals to support and participate in 2004’s Cover the
Uninsured Week, held May 10-16 in cities nationwide.
Cover the Uninsured Week is a non-partisan event held annually
that seeks to draw attention to the plight of the over 44 million
Americans who do not have health insurance. Events are planned in
all 50 states. On Friday, May 14, at events in several cities, people
will be offering testimony about their own personal crises caused
by lack of health coverage. For more information, go to www.covertheuninsuredweek.org.
Voices for Working Families, a non-partisan
organization focused on voter registration among working Americans,
will be hosting a fundraising event at Harlem's Apollo Theater on
May 11th. Guest appearances feature former President
Bill Clinton, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and AFTRA members The
BlackEyed Peas, John Mellencamp
and Rosie Perez as the Master of Ceremonies. For
tickets and more information, visit www.voicesforworkingfamilies.org.
All entertainment professionals are invited
to the Complementary Medicine & Alternative Medicine Annual Health
Fair May 13 from 10 am- 4 pm at Actors’ Equity,
presented by Better Wellness And You (BWAY) and The Actors’
Fund of America’s Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic. The fair
will feature: Chiropractic Exam and Evaluation, Ask-A-Doc: A Physician
to Answer Your Health Questions, Nutritional Information and much
more. For more information, contact the Al Hirschfeld Clinic at (212)
489-1939.
AFTRA is co-sponsoring the Global Entertainment
Media Summit (GEMS) June 12-13 in Los Angeles. John
Connolly will be representing AFTRA on the panel “Health Care
for Musicians: The AFTRA Deal and Other Alternatives” on June
13. Simon Abou-Fadel, Manager of The Actors Fund and Lee Ballinger,
associate editor of Rock & Rap Confidential and co-founder of Rock
A Mole Productions will also be presenting. Joy Gonzales, AFTRA’s
Director of Sound Recordings, Los Angeles will be present to address
specific questions regarding the Sound Recordings Collective Bargaining
Agreement. For more information on GEMS, go to www.globalentertainmentnetwork.com.
Comedian and actor Alan
King died May 9 at the age of 76. King was an AFTRA member
since 1953. Appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show 93 times, King
made famous his rants on suburban life. King acted in and produced
television shows, films and Broadway shows, and authored numerous
humor books during his long career. He hosted the New York Friars
Club's celebrity roasts, which appeared on Comedy Central. In 1961,
he was the emcee for part of President Kennedy's inaugural party;
he also hosted the Oscars in 1972.
Alistair Cooke,
veteran broadcaster and AFTRA member since
1953 died on March 30 at the age of 95. Cooke was the host of BBC’s
Letters to America for over 58 years and Masterpiece Theatre for over
20 years. Cooke was well known to many who grew up listening to him;
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair exclaimed “He was really one of
the greatest broadcasters of all time, and we shall feel his loss
very, very keenly indeed.” He received four Emmy awards, three
George Foster Peabody awards for broadcasting, and was made an honorary
Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire.
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