Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1520149
24 SAG-AFTRA | Spring 2024 | sagaftra.org For Members Union Leader Mathis Dunn Retires S AG-AFTRA's Associate National Executive Director Mathis Dunn retired at the end of March after 46 years of distinguished union service. Dunn began his journey with the union at AFTRA as contract administrator in the Twin Cities Local, and became the local's assistant executive director. In 1985, he was promoted to executive secretary of AFTRA's Seattle Local. He was appointed national representative in 1989, and in that role he negotiated broadcast contracts nationwide. Over the years, he worked on the multiple attempts to merge SAG and AFTRA, until the successful referendum in 2012. Post-merger, he became SAG-AFTRA associate national executive director, and was a key member of the team that merged the SAG and AFTRA health plans, as well as the SAG and AFTRA foundations. In 2015, during the SAG-AFTRA national convention, he received the George Heller Memorial Award, one of the union's highest honors, bestowed for exceptional service to members. In accepting the award, he stated, "… I am so deeply moved and honored to stand before this group and say, 'Thank you very much for my career.'" Dunn was a well-liked presence at the union, and while he will be missed by colleagues at work, we wish him well in his retirement and congratulate him on this new chapter in his life. The union is grateful for his decades of dedicated service. Mathis Dunn receives the George Heller Memorial Award in 2015. ANGELA WEISS/SAG-AFTRA D espite rain expected for the multi-union rally held Sunday morning, March 3, the clouds parted and the nearly 3,000 attendees began to shed their coats as a band of musicians from AFM Local 47 kicked off the festivities with rousing tunes. The Many Crafts, One Fight rally, hosted by the Hollywood crew unions — including IATSE, Teamsters, IBEW, LiUNA!, OPCMIA and UA — brought labor leaders, union members and supporters to Woodley Park in the Encino area of Los Angeles for fiery speeches and labor solidarity on the eve of the unions' negotiations with the studios and streamers. For those who attended the picket lines throughout the summer and fall of 2023, the rally was a chance to reunite with old friends. Many former strike captains who became familiar faces to picketers were in attendance to show their gratitude to their sibling unions who supported their labor action. SAG-AFTRA members and other allies turn out to support crews at the rally in the Valley on March 3. Labor Allies Support Crew Unions Ahead of Their Negotiations SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland delivered remarks along with other union leaders. "Throughout your negotiations, the studios and streamers will likely use the same, tired playbook they used with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA," he told the crowd. "There will be a public disinformation campaign aimed at sowing discord amongst industry workers. There will be messaging around how your jobs will be replaced with technology. They'll say the lack of work and the extinction of pilot season is the unions' fault. We all know the truth. The employers are the ones chasing quarterly numbers instead of pursuing a sustainable entertainment industry. But all of us here today are committed to building a future where workers stay employed and communities can once again thrive. Union solidarity is the solution to corporate greed." The contracts for the crew unions are set to expire July 31, 2024, which means the AMPTP has less than three months to make a fair deal. This is the first time in 35 years that the below-the-line unions agreed to negotiate together.