When I was running for delegate and local board in the union election, I really didn’t know if I’d be elected to the local board. I was hoping that I would, but I also knew that realistically I probably wouldn’t. I’m a bit sad that I didn’t win the local board seat, but I was prepared for that loss. I’m still very excited that I was elected as a delegate again and can’t wait to get to work at the convention. But it’s still a loss of an election and I want to do what I can over the next 2 years to try to be in a better position to win a local board seat if I have the opportunity to run for it again.
I know a lot of the elections are about who knows you and that’s why many celebrities run and get elected. Some of them do give up their seats after that to someone who doesn’t have a name, but I’m proud that the more famous people on my slate that ran did so with the intention to serve. We did have someone who had to give up their seat because they were cast in a show, but that’s not something they knew when they were running. But there are other ways to be elected besides being famous. And that’s by participating in the union so others are aware of who you are and what you have done.
I have submitted my requests to be on both national and local committees, but I’m not in control of getting on those committees. So I have been looking at things I can do that are in my control and one of those things is going to as many local board meetings as possible and being an observer.
I have been an observer in the past, but those times have usually been when it was combined with convention orientation. I have been an observer once or twice outside of those combination meetings, but I haven’t been dedicated to doing so. There have been times that my work hours prevented me from going, but I don’t have that excuse anymore. So when there was a local board meeting this past week, I made sure to register to observe it and to keep my schedule clear so I could attend.
Because of confidentiality and other policies, I can’t say too much about specifics of what happened in the boardroom. But I can share some general things. I have to say it was a very different type of meeting than I have been to before. I did see a lot of partisan things happening in the room, and that wasn’t fun to see. I watched behavior that I wasn’t happy with. And I watched things happen that people claimed happened a different way. And while I was in the room watching the meeting, I realized how important it is for all members to observe these meetings.
The Los Angeles local board meetings are open to any paid-up member of SAG-AFTRA. I know that many members aren’t aware of that or have taken advantage of that. It’s so important to see what happens in the room so that people see the truth behind some of the campaign statements. I don’t know why I haven’t seen this until now, but I have been told by many members that this was the first meeting that they ever had been to that was like this. So maybe witnessing what happens wasn’t as important back then as it is now. But it always has been important and I now understand that.
So while I have made it a goal to attend as many board meetings as I can for my own benefit, I realized that my purpose is to do so much more than that. I want to spend the next 2 years getting as many members as I can to these meetings. It is so important to be an informed union member and going to these meetings is a great way to do that. Hopefully, after seeing union politics in person, members will be more motivated to vote or to encourage other members to vote. I would love to get our turnout to be much higher, and this could be just the thing to do that.
So if you are a SAG-AFTRA member in Los Angeles, please join me for a local board meeting. The next one is November 4th, but they are announced via email so you should be paying attention to the emails we get. It’s easy to register because you just have to send in an email. And you don’t have to do anything at the meeting but observe. You aren’t allowed to speak up, which can be frustrating when watching, but it also takes the pressure off of what responsibilities you have in the room.
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