SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AND MEAA ANNOUNCE GLOBAL RULE ONE AGREEMENT FOR AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTIONS

Los Angeles- Screen Actors Guild and Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the Australian performers union, today issued a joint statement to reaffirm the solidarity between the two organizations and to announce a detailed agreement on the implementation of SAG’s Global Rule One on Australian productions. Global Rule One is the rule ensuring that SAG members are able to retain the protections of SAG contract provisions wherever they work.

The MEAA avowed support of the SAG campaign and recognized the mutual goal of improving wages and working conditions for all performers. SAG addressed the Australians’ concerns with regard to indigenous low-budget productions.

Global Rule One Co-Chair Karen Austin was very pleased at the news. “Global Rule One was initiated to assure that SAG members receive their union’s protection worldwide. The Australians have been terrific. The cooperation SAG has received from MEAA is absolute evidence that performer unions working together can achieve enhanced protections for all artists,” stated Austin.

“This agreement is a testament to what is achievable by performers' representatives through friendly negotiation and a desire to achieve a working solution that will benefit all members. It acknowledges the importance of protecting the rights US performers enjoy in their profession without negatively impacting on the work and conditions in our own part of the world,” said Susan Lyons, Federal Equity section president of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.

Highlights of the agreement include;

All performers will receive the highest levels of protection on productions that have a genesis and creative control in a country other than Australia.
SAG and MEAA will work with Screen Producers Association of Australian (SPAA) to persuade the Australian government that direct contributions shall be made to the pension plan which will be of greatest benefit to the performer.
Australian citizens, permanent resident, New Zealand Citizens and non-US citizens will be exempt from Global Rule One in certain circumstances provided they work under the terms of the relevant MEAA collective agreement, especially with regard to Australian-generated productions.
Citizens and residents of the USA, under certain criteria, will be permitted to perform in lower budget productions under the appropriate MEAA agreement provided that pension and health payment are made in accordance with SAG basic agreements.
Low-budget, indigenous Australian productions will not be impact by Global Rule One.
SAG and MEAA will require verification of budget and citizenship, where relevant, by a means to be agreed with SPAA.
SAG and MEAA will meet on a regular basis to ascertain the effectiveness and progress in achieving the goals of both organizations.

SAG Rule One, stating that SAG member shall work under a Guild basic minimum agreement, has been enforced on productions shot in the United States since the Guild’s inception and began worldwide enforcement on May 1. Earlier this year, the English-speaking performer unions of the International Federation of Actors (FIA) met during an international conference in Toronto on global protection for actors. The SAG-MEAA agreement is the first formal agreement to come out of those discussions.

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