3 Seek to Void Screen Actors Guild Election Results

Widening an already deep schism in Hollywood’s biggest talent union, two dissident Screen Actors Guild directors are seeking to overturn the September election that swept President Alan Rosenberg and his supporters into office.

Paul Christie, SAG’s New York branch chief, and New York Vice President Sam Freed alleged in a Labor Department complaint that Rosenberg and his supporters were trying to “cover up election improprieties” involving obtaining e-mail addresses for more than 17,000 union members and other information, including Social Security numbers.

SAG spokesman Seth Oster declined to comment, saying the guild had not reviewed the complaint. But he noted that SAG election challenges were common.

Federal law bars election candidates from having direct access to such personal information. To ensure privacy, they instead must communicate with members through a third party.

Christie and Freed are being joined in their complaint by Eileen Henry, a former national board member and New York president.

The SAG members allege that a union election committee ignored their complaints.

“This is about trying to rectify an inequity and perversion of the election process,” Freed said.

Rosenberg’s slate was elected promising to be tougher with studios in negotiations.

Members in New York and other regions fear that Rosenberg and his supporters in Hollywood are too strident. Rosenberg has said that although he will fight for members, he is not committed to striking.

Tensions between the groups escalated in October, when the Rosenberg-led board ousted moderate Chief Executive Greg Hessinger and three other executives.

Christie criticized the firing as “probably the most unethical and dishonorable thing I’ve ever seen done here.”

The last SAG presidential vote to be overturned came in 2001, when a committee cited irregularities in nixing the election of Melissa Gilbert as president over Valerie Harper. Gilbert easily won in a new vote.