Just like with my social life and having fun, there are definitely busy times and slow times with union related things. For a while, I felt like I hadn’t been doing much with the union and I haven’t been able to attend events. And now, it seems like there is something every week! I know it will slow down a bit again now, but it’s just going to keep picking up as it gets closer to election season.
So much of the focus lately has been regarding our new commercial contract and the vote on that. But there is a lot of other stuff happening with our union and our industry and that’s what this most recent event was about. It was the Los Angeles general meeting which has different reports from different officers and employees of the union as well as time for a Q&A for any members who want to bring up issues or questions.
I have attended this meeting in the past, but I haven’t been able to attend all of them. So when this meeting was announced, I added it to my calendar right away so I didn’t accidentally schedule something else during it. Even though the meeting wasn’t that close to my house, since it was on a Sunday the traffic wasn’t too bad and I was able to get there right when the event started.
The first hour of the general meeting is a union expo with different committees in the lobby with booths so you can learn more about the committees and what they offer. I did a lap around and was able to say hello to several friends that are leaders of committees. There wasn’t a ton of information I needed to get because I had a lot of the handouts and I know what committees I really want to get more involved in, so I headed into the main meeting room to chat with some more of my friends.
There are no photos allowed during the meeting since there are some confidential things discussed, but before the meeting starts you can take some. There is an official SAG-AFTRA photographer at events like this and she asked my friends and I to gather around for a photo. It was the only picture I got at the meeting so I’m glad I got one.
Although the photo does make me giggle because I am about a full head shorter than every guy around me. I know I have tall friends, but this proves it even more!
When the meeting started, my friends and I found some seats toward the back. I didn’t know how I would feel sitting for so many hours in a row so I wanted to be somewhere I could get up and not disrupt too many people. This ended up working out well for me because I was getting up quite a bit. It wasn’t to stretch but to find people I had to ask questions to. I also thought of something during the meeting that I wanted to ask so I added myself to the speaker list to hopefully be able to ask the question during the Q&A time.
Some big things discussed at the meeting (that I can share) were the new commercial contract and the new payment options that the contract will offer and the new direct deposit system that was set up at the union for residuals. But I think one of the biggest things and possibly the most important was about what the union is doing regarding sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment is not necessarily a new issue, but now people understand how big the issue is. And there are new things the union has been putting in place to help prevent harassment as well as support survivors if it does happen. It is now in our contracts that no meetings are allowed to take place in hotel rooms. What is so great about this being in our contracts is that the actor no longer has to feel responsible for saying no. If they are being asked to meet in a hotel room, they don’t have to worry what the other person will feel with them turning it down. They can put the responsibility on the union and tell the other person that the union does not allow meetings in hotel rooms so they don’t want to break that rule. I know that not everyone understands how important that is, but to have the pressure off of the actor and not having to feel like it is their reason they are saying no is a great thing.
Another thing that the union has done was to create a special hotline with trained professionals for members to report harassment and to get help. That hotline can also direct members to a new free service that provides counseling and helps the member find longer term care and help if needed. I hope to never need the hotline or the free services, but it is good to know that it is there and I’m glad I can direct other members to those options if needed. It helps to not feel as alone if you know there is already something set up for you to use in this type of situation.
There were other things discussed at the meeting like where things are going in the future and some of the new projects that are being worked on, but those are not things I can share just yet. But they did excite me and I’m happy that our union will be leading the way with some things that will benefit more than just our members.
Once all the reports were done, the Q&A started and they had a very organized system for this. If you had a question or a statement, you had to fill out a card and they organized them into categories and people were called to the mike to talk when it was their turn. Some of the categories were about the new contract, issues for background performers, some questions about what exactly was included with the new sexual harassment policies, actors who are also veterans, and the upcoming election.
My question was about something that I felt was missing from the SAG-AFTRA app but there was not time to get to it. Fortunately I found some staff from the communication department when the meeting was done and brought up my concern to them (they would have gotten the information from my speaker card, but I wanted to talk in person if I could). They agreed that some things on the app should be fixed and I’m glad that it is now going to be done. There is so much discussion about the idea that the union is us and not a separate entity and this proved that we do control what happens. It is silly but I felt really powerful knowing that the app is going to have a change because of what I brought up.
I was at the meeting a bit longer than I expected to be there, but I didn’t want to leave early because I did want to hear the concerns of my fellow members. I’m glad I stayed because I did learn a lot about what other people are thinking and I’m going to take those ideas into election season when it starts.
I don’t have any other union events on my calendar right now, but I have a feeling that will probably change soon and I will be in the middle of a busy season for union involvement!
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