Wed Jun. 10 2009 12:03:44 PM ctvmontreal.ca
A top American official with the Shriners hospital says the group has postponed its plans to build a new facility in N.D.G. after its endowment fund lost $3 billion dollars during the recession.
Gene Bracewell, the Atlanta-based imperial treasurer of the Shriners, tells CTV News that all Shriners projects are on hold for the time being until the economy recovers. That includes a proposed new hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, Bracewell said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Contradiction
A local official imediately contradicted Bracewell on Wednesday.
Gary Morrison, director of Montreal Shriner's Hospital, told CTV News that there is no delay.
"The answer is no, there has been no indication that this project is on hold," he said.
It's yet the latest turn in a saga that saw the Shriners threaten to leave Montreal for Ontario in 2005 before doing an about-face and announcing it was moving its aging facility to N.D.G. from Cedar Ave. on Mount Royal.
The $100 million Shriners hospital project is scheduled to be built next to the English superhospital at the Glen Yards near Vendome metro station.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
New Contract for SAG
Nearly a year after their previous deal expired, members of the Screen Actors Guild voted 78 percent in favor of approving a new two-year contract, effective June 10 at 12:01 a.m., covering film, TV, digital and new media projects.
Approximately 35.3 percent of SAG's 110,000 members mailed in a ballot.
SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers hammered out a tentative deal in April, as SAG's leadership—which believed it was getting screwed over financially in multiple ways—finally took a cue from its increasingly disgruntled membership and opted to put the terms to a vote.
"This is a great decision for SAG and I'm so appreciative of everything the new leadership is doing to put the Guild back on track," Monk star Tony Shalhoub said in approval. "They've obviously got the right ideas for making SAG stronger."
As when the Writers Guild of America went to battle with the AMPTP, SAG's major sticking point was new-media residuals and protection for actors as their projects go digital.
"The membership has spoken and has decided to work under the terms of this contract that many of us, who have been involved in these negotiations from the beginning, believe to be devastatingly unsatisfactory," SAG president Alan Rosenberg said in a statement.
"Tomorrow morning I will be contacting the elected leadership of the other talent unions with the hope of beginning a series of pre-negotiation summit meetings in preparation for 2011. I call upon all SAG members to begin to ready themselves for the battle ahead."
Oh, boy.
The new contract contains $105 million in wage increases for union members, though, per studio estimates, actors have also lost out on about $80 million in raises by working under the terms of the old deal—which expired June 30, 2008.
By Natalie Finn
Approximately 35.3 percent of SAG's 110,000 members mailed in a ballot.
SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers hammered out a tentative deal in April, as SAG's leadership—which believed it was getting screwed over financially in multiple ways—finally took a cue from its increasingly disgruntled membership and opted to put the terms to a vote.
"This is a great decision for SAG and I'm so appreciative of everything the new leadership is doing to put the Guild back on track," Monk star Tony Shalhoub said in approval. "They've obviously got the right ideas for making SAG stronger."
As when the Writers Guild of America went to battle with the AMPTP, SAG's major sticking point was new-media residuals and protection for actors as their projects go digital.
"The membership has spoken and has decided to work under the terms of this contract that many of us, who have been involved in these negotiations from the beginning, believe to be devastatingly unsatisfactory," SAG president Alan Rosenberg said in a statement.
"Tomorrow morning I will be contacting the elected leadership of the other talent unions with the hope of beginning a series of pre-negotiation summit meetings in preparation for 2011. I call upon all SAG members to begin to ready themselves for the battle ahead."
Oh, boy.
The new contract contains $105 million in wage increases for union members, though, per studio estimates, actors have also lost out on about $80 million in raises by working under the terms of the old deal—which expired June 30, 2008.
By Natalie Finn
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