SAG-AFTRA

Fall / Winter 2017

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14 SAG-AFTRA | Fall/Winter 2017 | SAGAFTRA.org D AV I D W H I T E A Letter from the National Executive Director "Through the courage of those who are willing to share their personal experience, we are now presented with an opportunity — a chance to initiate systemic change." in our animation agreement. We have continued to achieve positive bargaining results across the country in the growing world of audiobooks and in the challenged industry of broadcast journalism. We will soon commence talks with representatives of the music industry for our sound recordings agreement. The above represents just a piece of the work accomplished this year. We have also pushed through a groundbreaking period of organizing and contract enforcement activity. We are achieving remarkable results in our effort to organize Spanish speaking radio professionals in Los Angeles, a push that we expect to continue and expand to other markets over time. We continue to advance our goals in our commercials organizing campaign and have laid the seeds for a variety of other campaigns in the coming season. In enforcement, we face unprecedented challenges as it relates to known issues, such as safety on the set, as well as new tests such as those that arise from changing business models in our industry. In response, we are taking such steps as establishing a Safety Commission to oversee and review the range of tools that we deploy to constantly improve safety in our members' work environments. We are also working in concert with sister unions, industry partners, political allies and others to ensure that we take every possible step to respond effectively to the growing challenges our members face in this rapidly changing marketplace. There is one subject that warrants special attention in this letter and that is the issue of sexual harassment. This has been a scourge in the entertainment industry for decades but the recent revelations that have fed headlines across the globe have been truly shocking. Through the courage of those who are willing to share their personal experience, we are now presented with an opportunity — a chance to initiate systemic change that can improve the lives of many and shift an appalling practice of abuse. We must rise to this challenge. Let there be no question that SAG-AFTRA is committed to doing our part to bring about the change necessary to address the issue of harassment in our industry. Significantly, our membership has once again elected three women to the top positions of our organization, making SAG-AFTRA unique among labor organizations in this country. I congratulate them and all elected members to our national and local boards, all of whom stand firmly behind the principle of personal and professional dignity in the workplace. Working together, we can eradicate any sense of tolerance for sexual harassment in our industry. In unity and looking forward, David White Dear Member, W e are approaching the end of the calendar year, which provides an important moment for us to review our progress over the course of 2017. This has been, on just about every level, a particularly impactful year. Our operational mission is to protect and empower our members as they strive to make a living in media and entertainment. In the extraordinarily challenging era in which we live, we have been pulled in uncommon ways to advance this mission over the past 12 months. In negotiations, we have completed what are arguably the most challenging negotiations in a generation for both our TV/Theatrical and NPR broadcast agreements. The issues presented, including fair compensation in the digital age, safety on set and in the work environment, will certainly occupy our attention for years to come as we continue to adapt our contracts to the modern age. This year we successfully prosecuted the longest strike in our history against video game employers. We have developed and promulgated a new low-budget digital waiver for our commercials agreement to respond to the dizzying changes occurring throughout the advertising industry. We have embarked on the industry's first collective bargaining process with Telemundo for Spanish language television production. We have initiated negotiations

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