SAG Search for Top Post Is Narrowed

Steve Diamond, an associate law professor and an advisor to the AFL-CIO, has emerged as the leading candidate for the top staff position at the volatile Screen Actors Guild.

A search committee led by SAG President Alan Rosenberg is expected to recommend to the union’s national board that Diamond be hired as executive director of the 120,000-member guild, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The committee reached a consensus on Diamond in the last week, selecting him over two other finalists: state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) and Laura Zucker, executive director of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, said the source, who asked not be identified while the process continued.

The entire national board will vote on the recommendation as early as next week. SAG spokesman Seth Oster declined to comment on any individual candidates, but said a decision by the board was forthcoming.

Still, word that Diamond may be in line for the job has angered some union members, who are wary of his ties to the AFL-CIO.

The labor federation supported a failed, controversial merger attempt between SAG and its sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. A number of major unions, including the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Teamsters, have deserted the AFL-CIO, saying the federation stresses politics over organizing.

If he gets the job, Diamond would run the day-to-day operations at a union that has been plagued by infighting and upheaval. He would fill a position left vacant last year after the ouster of former Chief Executive Greg Hessinger.

Hessinger had been on the job for six months when the guild’s newly elected leaders fired him, vowing to take a tougher line in talks with studios and organizing. The firing, which resulted in a payment of about $500,000 to Hessinger, deepened divisions within the union, which has since seen an exodus of several other executives.

SAG officials were said to be impressed with Diamond’s personable style, his 25-year experience in labor and his knowledge of the technology business that is transforming entertainment.

Diamond, who teaches corporate and securities law at Santa Clara University in California, negotiated mergers and acquisitions in Silicon Valley in the 1990s when he worked as a corporate lawyer. He has been advising the AFL-CIO and its affiliates since 1999 on such issues as corporate governance, finance, international law and human rights.