Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/39968
For Members NEWS, INFORMAT ION AND BENEFITS SAG, AFTRA MEMBERS RATIFY CORPORATE/EDUCATIONAL & NON-BROADCAST CONTRACTS M embers of Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have approved three-year successor agreements to the SAG Industrial and Educational Contract and the AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Non Broadcast/Industrial/Educational Recorded Material. The results, announced in June, showed that overall, the memberships of SAG and AFTRA voted 95 percent to 5 percent in favor of the new agreement. "The voting results show SAG and AFTRA members embrace the gains being delivered by this agreement," said SAG Deputy National Executive Director for Contracts Ray Rodriguez. "We expect this contract will also provide a foundation for increasing the number of non-broadcast, industrial and educational productions, providing additional work for our members." "The voting results show SAG and AFTRA members embrace the gains being delivered by this agreement. – RAY RODRIGUEZ, SCREEN ACTORS GUILD The agreements are effective retroactive to May 1, 2011, and will continue through April 30, 2014, and call for all minimum rates to be increased by 2 percent at the start of the contract and by another 2 percent effective November 1, 2012, as well as a 0.2-percent increase in total contributions to the SAG-Producers Pension and Health Plans and the AFTRA Health and Retirement Funds. Specific language has also been added to require a 0.3-percent contribution to the AFTRA-Industry Cooperative Fund. In addition, programming for new media is defined and specifically covered. To more clearly reflect the type of work produced under these agreements, the contracts have been renamed the AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Corporate/Educational Recorded Material and the Producers-Screen Actors Guild 2011 Codified Corporate/Educational & Non-Broadcast Contract. " UNIONS FORM MERGER WORKGROUPS G roups from SAG and AFTRA have taken the next step in the process of a possible merger between the two performers' unions. Over the weekend of June 17-19, the SAG Merger Task Force met with AFTRA's New Union Committee at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland to form the SAG and AFTRA Group for One Union, also known as G1. The group, comprised of members including actors, performers, recording artists and broadcast professionals, established six workgroups based on areas of concern identified by members during the SAG and AFTRA Presidents' Forum for One Union nationwide Listening Tour. The six workgroups are: 1. Governance and Structure 2. Finance and Dues 3. Collective Bargaining 4. Pension, Health and Retirement 5. Operations and Staff 6. Member Education and Outreach The workgroups will meet throughout 2011 to formulate recommendations for how the successor union should address each area. The recommendations will be brought back to the G1 for approval in late August, and will inform the group's work on a merger agreement, national constitution and uniform dues structure that each union's national board has required for review by January 2012. All the latest information on the proposed SAG and AFTRA merger is available on SAG.org/oneunion or you can send comments to SAG at oneunion@sag.org. ONE UNION HELP ORGANIZE COMMERCIALS: SAG is seeking to learn more about non-union casting calls for commercials in order to better serve our membership. If you have any recent knowledge of non-union casting calls, please take a few minutes to fill out an anonymous survey online at SAG.org/commercials-survey. SAG.org Summer 2011 - SCREEN ACTOR 13