A letter from a New York State government official asking that AT&T stop filming commercials using nonunion actors has elicited objections from the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) on Talent Union Relations. At press time, the JPC—representing the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA)—was in talks with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), raising hopes for a settlement of the nearly five-month-old strike by the actors’ unions against the advertising industry.
H. Carl McCall, comptroller for the State of New York, sent the letter, dated Aug. 31, to AT&T chairman C. Michael Armstrong, and a week later issued a corollary press release. In the letter, McCall noted that he serves as "sole trustee of the State’s Common Retirement Fund. The fund holds more than 9.5 million shares of AT&T with an estimated value of nearly $300 million." McCall then expressed his concern that "AT&T’s continued filming of nonunion commercials will prolong the dispute with SAG/ AFTRA and be detrimental to the company’s public image and economic value." He wrote that "as one of the largest members of the board of the Association of National Advertisers, AT&T has the ability to play a pivotal role in the negotiation process and guide the parties to a fair and expeditious settlement."
The press release from McCall included excerpts from his address to a Sept. 7 rally of New York-area actors at Broadway’s Royale Theatre. The release also contained a concluding paragraph claiming that the JPC’s proposal to change the residual system of payment for network television commercials would cut actors’ recompense by 60 percent, and that "representatives of the ad industry have refused to negotiate on these demands, as well as future payments for commercials on cable and new technologies like the Internet."
That paragraph from McCall’s release in particular drew the ire of JPC co-counsels Ira Shepard and John McGuinn of Washington, D.C.-based law firm Schmeltzer, Aptaker & Shepard. In reply, they wrote to McCall: "Your statements are factually incorrect," referring to both the meetings that the industry has had with SAG/AFTRA and the allegation of a 60 percent decrease in wages. McGuinn and Shepard’s letter read: "The industry’s proposal provides a significant increase—and a guaranteed one at that … not a 60% decrease as was asserted in the press release." The JPC correspondence criticized McCall for "not talking with any industry representatives" to get their side of the story.
McGuinn and Shepard also wrote that McCall’s statements in both his letter and press release were unwarranted and ill advised. The JPC attorneys cited as legal precedent a 1986 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court issued an "admonition to local and state governments to stay out of private industry labor disputes, which are the exclusive domain of federal regulation." Furthermore, McGuinn and Shepard’s letter warned, "The Supreme Court also held that monetary damages could be awarded against local governments for interfering in a private industry labor dispute that is pre-empted by federal law from state or local regulation."
The letter additionally chided the comptroller for his reference to being sole trustee of the state retirement fund. McGuinn and Shepard interpreted that reference as being "a not-so-veiled threat … that you might use that ownership stake to force AT&T and other companies into changing the industry’s bargaining position … ," and concluded, "The way to end the strike is for the talent unions to engage in real collective bargaining instead of seeking an edge through the exercise of illegal coercion by state or local politicians, which is pre-empted by federal law."
The JPC lawyers urged McCall to withdraw his letter and "the veiled threat to AT&T and other companies with dispatch and not use any of the powers of your office in regard to this ongoing labor dispute."
At press time, McCall’s office had not formally responded to the JPC’s contentions. A spokesperson for the comptroller wasn’t even aware of the JPC letter. Shepard and McGuinn had not returned SHOOT phone calls; they were both in the midst of talks with SAG and AFTRA. ANA executive VP of government affairs Daniel Jaffe expressed the hope that the JPC response will serve to satisfy McCall’s concerns.
The dispute between McCall and the JPC is the latest skirmish between governmental officials and the industry related to the strike. For example, the aforementioned ’86 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has been brought up by the JPC in contesting other recent efforts by local governmental bodies to get involved in the SAG/AFTRA strike—the most visible being proposed bans on filming of commercials using non-union performers. These proposals have been made—and since stalled—in such cities as New York (SHOOT, 8/4, p. 1), Chicago (SHOOT, 7/28, p. 1), Los Angeles (SHOOT, 7/14, p. 1) and West Hollywood (SHOOT, 8/18, p. 1).
