Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/377629
SAGAFTRA.org | Summer 2014 | SAG-AFTRA 19 WHAT IS A LABOR NEGOTIATION AND WHY DOES SAG-AFTRA DO IT? David White: A labor negotiation is a contract negotiation between a union and a company (or, in our case, companies). It is a negotiation where the representatives of talent bargain over terms and conditions of employment with an entire industry. Ken Howard: Negotiation is how the union has achieved everything it has gained over the years, since that first contract in 1937. It's how the union works to improve its members' quality of life. Ray Rodriguez: Rather than an individual employee bargaining for him or herself individually with a company, all of the employees who do a particular type of work get together, they act collectively and they bargain together with an employer. And the union is their agent to conducting that bargaining. That's what happened here. White: It's also an opportunity for the union to keep up with changes in the industry and to make sure our members are working in conditions that are the most favorable, given technological changes and other revolutions that are happening in media. It's one of the main channels that we have to update and upgrade the provisions under which members work. WHAT SHOULD MEMBERS KNOW ABOUT THIS NEGOTIATION? Howard: It was tough, it was productive and the committee stuck together. I wish that people could really have witnessed what happened there. Every minute of it and how it transpired, it was impressive. White: I think that we will look back one day at another aspect of this negotiation and only in hindsight be able to fully appreciate how special this moment is. We had in our room tremendous wisdom from the past in both legacy organizations, a core professional team that was superb by any standard and members of the next generation, in both the membership as well as our professional team, all in the room. I don't know that we will have that mix in the same way ever again in the future. It was really quite a profound thing when you think about who was represented in that room to usher in the new era of SAG-AFTRA. Clyde Kusatsu: Everybody on the Negotiating Committee understood the value of the data being provided by staff. I think everybody saw how well represented and how well served we are. Mathis Dunn: I thought that the member leadership in this negotiation was extremely effective. They were smart. What they didn't know, they asked questions about. They were inquisitive in the process, they were fully engaged in the process and they worked well with staff and other elected leaders. Mike Hodge: Our negotiators and entire team were so incredibly professional, so incredibly smart and so incredibly gifted Marching into the Crucible O nce members across the nation shape contract proposals through their input into the wages and working conditions process, the torch is passed to member leaders and staff. This negotiating team led by SAG-AFTRA's Chair Ken Howard, the member negotiating committee, and Chief Negotiator David White and his colleagues, has the challenging task of bargaining terms with equally determined employer representatives. The union's negotiating committee includes representatives from all major performer categories and is geographically diverse. Negotiations took place over nine weeks, including some late nights and weekends, passing the contract's expiration and requiring three, short-term extensions to hammer out details. Ultimately, the committee's persistence and determination resulted in a contract that brought members a solid $200 million in increases. SAG-AFTRA magazine's Editor- in-Chief Pam Greenwalt sat down, live and via videoconference, with the elected members and staff who negotiate on behalf of membership, to find out how they approach the task and what made this negotiation unique in the union's history. SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard addresses the Negotiating Committee.