Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1401622
12 SAG-AFTRA | Summer 2021 | sagaftra.org A Letter from the National Executive Director Dear Member, I am truly honored and humbled to write this first letter to the membership in my new role as your national executive director and chief negotiator. I have been proud to call this union my professional home for more than 20 years, serving most recently as chief operating officer and general counsel. Having worked and fought side by side with SAG-AFTRA members over these years, I am keenly aware how important it is that we be agile, focused and adaptable as we look to the future of our ever- changing industry. At the most recent meeting of your National Board, I was pleased to report that overall member job counts and earnings for January through April of 2021 have rebounded to match, and in some cases even exceed, historic earnings for those same months in prior years. This return to production reflects the success of the hard work done by SAG-AFTRA along with our sister unions to establish COVID safety protocols that enabled many of our members to get back to work safely. But we must not become complacent. Even with highly effective vaccines widely available throughout the United States, our members' unique work and workplaces create vulnerabilities not experienced by others. With this in mind, SAG-AFTRA and our sister unions have worked with employers to revise the historic Return to Work Agreement to account for changing circumstances while ensuring that safety remains the top priority. Ultimately, getting the industry fully back to work requires us to bring this pandemic to an end, and so we continue to urge every member to get vaccinated if they can. Casting our eyes forward, a central challenge will continue to be how SAG-AFTRA addresses the technological evolution and revolutions underway in our industries. Most technology is itself neither good nor bad — the way its use is balanced and the boundaries set around it make all the difference. We will ensure new job opportunities always come with strong protections for members and build union services that make members' lives better. Streaming is the most obvious new(er) frontier. Despite the stiff resistance of employers to fairly share these new revenues, we can and will succeed. As one example, streamed sound recordings once generated no payments for usage outside the United States. But almost 10 years ago, we sought and achieved agreements with the major record labels, recognizing members' rights to payments based on worldwide income from streaming. As a result, member income from worldwide sound recording streaming has increased 10% or more each year since 2015. We are in a strong position within our industry thanks to the incredible efforts of our members, leaders and staff. I want to especially thank and acknowledge former National Executive Director David White. During his 12 years leading the union's staff, David firmly established this union as a trendsetter in the entertainment industry and led us through many challenges to achieve extraordinary successes. I also want to take a moment to remember and acknowledge the late Cedric Jackson, who until his passing on July 6 served as SAG-AFTRA's longtime national director of stunts and safety. Cedric devoted his life to serving others, and in particular, to making sure our members worked on the safest sets possible. Even though many members may not have known his name, thousands of members' lives and safety were protected and preserved thanks to Cedric. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and thank them for sharing his precious and limited time with us. We have so much to accomplish and, candidly, significant challenges to face. But I can confidently assure you that your staff and I are here, eager and enthusiastic to take on those challenges in partnership with our amazing, talented and extraordinary membership. Our members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform the world. It is the unity and solidarity of our members that make everything we do together possible. Standing strong together, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland D U N C A N C R A B T R E E - I R E L A N D "We are in a strong position within our industry thanks to the incredible efforts of our members, leaders and staff."