Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541667
60 SAG-AFTRA | Fall/Winter 2025 | sagaftra.org technology. "We must fully modernize our entire operation," he said. Determined to help the union feel more personal to members while elevating union literacy across the 160,000-strong membership, Astin believes that education is the secret sauce to maximizing the organization's power. "We are responsible for over 200 contracts. Our negotiators need to know that there is an army behind them. When the members are engaged, the results are manifestly better," he said. Collaboration and communication are important parts of Astin's approach. "I want this building and this work that we do to be about demonstrating every day that our volunteer leaders and staff have members' backs, not just emotionally, but in every way that we are charged with supporting them: protecting their finances, their safety and everything else," he said. DESIGNED FOR SUCCESS Astin credits his achievements to his instinct to seek advice anywhere and everywhere he can get it. "I collect mentors," he said. Looking to apply that wisdom to the Above, following his election, Astin's wife, Christine, framed one of his mother Patty Duke's business cards recognizing Duke's tenure as Screen Actors Guild president from 1985–88. He keeps it in his office at SAG-AFTRA Plaza. Above right, Duke became the second woman elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1985. Right, then-National Board and TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee member Astin addresses the crowd outside Disney Studios in Burbank for the National Day of Solidarity rally held Aug. 22, 2023, during the TV/Theatrical/Streaming strike. Bottom right, in a photo captured by SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, newly-elected Los Angeles Local President Joely Fisher, left, and Astin view the news announcing the 2025 election results at SAG-AFTRA Plaza on Sept. 12. ROB LATOUR / SHUTTERSTOCK DUNCAN CRABTREE-IRELAND RAY BENGSTON/ SAG-AFTRA ARCHIVES Listen: New Podcast President Astin On His Day-One Priorities Part 1