Tag Archives: SAG-AFTRA

Another Virtual Board Meeting (or I’m Glad I Could Join This Time)

Posted on April 18, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Virtual Board Meeting (or I’m Glad I Could Join This Time)

Before the pandemic, I was pretty good about attending the SAG-AFTRA local board meetings as an observer for a few years. I’m a little disappointed that it took me so many years to prioritize going to those, but I was glad that I finally got into the routine of attending and being much more involved in the union. And during the beginning of the pandemic, the local board meetings continued, but they didn’t allow observers into the Zoom meetings. It was sad to see something that I had grown to look forward to and appreciate not available anymore, but I understood that everyone was doing the best that they could.

They finally started to let members be observers for the local board meetings again recently. But they are still limited to a specific number of observers just like with the in-person meetings. Because these meetings are announced in emails and I get a lot of emails every day, there have been times I’ve missed the announcement for signing up to be an observer and I can’t even get on the wait list. But after that happened the most recent time, I told myself that I just needed to read all the emails I get as soon as I can to make sure that I’m not missing anything.

And that plan worked because when the most recent local board meeting was announced and members could sign up to be an observer, I did it right away. I’m glad that I was able to get a spot so I could participate in the limited manner we were able to.

Attending a virtual meeting as an observer is a very different experience from going in person. I have the same rules as an observer so I’m not participating in the meeting no matter what. But there is something different about the pre-meeting stuff when you are there with others as well as just sitting in on the meeting with other people in the room compared to seeing people on a Zoom screen. I know that a virtual meeting is better than no meeting, but I still miss the in-person ones. But I do like that I don’t have to worry about traffic and I can dress much more comfortably when I’m sitting in front of my computer.

As with all local board meetings, a lot of what was said is confidential and I can’t really say what we talked about, even in really board terms. But I can share that something that was discussed was how the union just recently bought a building. This has been a discussion for a very long time, but the timing wasn’t right in the past to buy a building. I know years ago when there was a serious search, the good options were all very far from the main part of LA and that wasn’t something the union wanted to do. I think the timing worked out this time because there are a lot more vacant commercial spaces because businesses have been closing or going fully remote. And I’m sure there were other financial factors that came into play that aren’t public that made now the right time to buy and this building the best option for us.

I will have a much longer drive there when we move to the new building since it is in the valley, but I’ll figure out how to make it work when that time comes. And there aren’t a ton of meetings I go to at the union building, so it won’t be that often. I have a feeling a lot of meetings will continue to have a virutal option, so if I can’t drive over there one day, there will be another way for me to attend or participate.

With the other things that were discussed in the meeting, a lot of them were new to me so I’m glad I was able to learn about more things that will be coming up with the union. I really do try my best to stay informed and educated, but it hasn’t been as easy the past few years. There aren’t as many opportunities to be a part of union events or meetings, so I have to take advantage of the few that are out there and make sure I RSVP in time so I can get a spot.

I don’t know when the next local board meeting will be or if there will still allow observers to attend, but I’m hoping I’ll get another change to sit in and learn. And when they do return to in-person events, I’ll be ready and excited to see everyone in person and feel much more a part of what is going on.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Union Meeting (or Getting Into The Routine Of Things) Default ThumbnailObserving a Board Meeting (or Finding A New Goal) Default ThumbnailAnother Virtual Union Meeting (Hearing What’s Happening With The LA Local) Default ThumbnailAnother Observer Opportunity (or Watching The Local Board) Default ThumbnailMore Virtual Union Meetings (or Hopefully We Will Be Back To In-Person Meetings Soon) Default ThumbnailObserving The Local Board Meeting (or The Beginning Of My Second Term As A Delegate)

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Still Trying To Be More Involved In Meetings (or It Will Be Interesting To See How This Will Work Soon)

Posted on March 22, 2023 | Comments Off on Still Trying To Be More Involved In Meetings (or It Will Be Interesting To See How This Will Work Soon)

Every time I attend the LA Communications Committee meeting for SAG-AFTRA, I wish that I was more involved. I tend to be pretty quiet during meetings for a bunch of different reasons. One is that I just don’t have a ton of ideas for articles, which usually is the bulk of the discussion during the meeting. Also, I know I don’t have a lot of time to research and write articles, so I don’t want to accidentally volunteer myself. But I try when I can and at each meeting I make an effort to speak up if there is something I have to say.

We had our most recent meeting earlier this week, and while I still wasn’t very involved in the meeting, I feel like I spoke up more often than normal. I wasn’t contributing a lot, but I did make sure that I said something when I had something to add or when there was a question among the committee that I had an answer to. It was a busy meeting and we had a lot to discuss outside of article ideas or other things we typically discuss, so I think the change in subject matter helped me have more to say and not feel as fearful about speaking up.

But we are going to have a change in these meetings that might bring my participation back down again. For several years now, all our meetings have been over Zoom. I like this since I have to work at the same time and it’s easy for me to work and stay on Zoom at the same time. Before they were over Zoom, I had to call in and listen via speakerphone, and it was very difficult to hear everything and even harder to contribute to the discussion. Also, since most of the committee members were there in person, there were handouts given that I didn’t always have access to until after the meeting. This was for a different committee than the one I’m in now, but I know that many committees worked the same way.

Our committee had a vote before this most recent meeting about how we want to continue meeting. We have the option for in-person meetings which weren’t available to us. And even though I work a different job now and I might actually be able to go in person, it would still be much easier for me to stay on Zoom. We had 3 options in our vote: only do in-person meetings, only do Zoom meetings, or have hybrid meetings with both in-person and Zoom options. And because of my past experience, I voted for only Zoom meetings so everyone would be on Zoom. I was in the minority for that vote and most people voted for hybrid meetings. And I know that a lot of my fellow committee members will be there in person. So being on Zoom may not be a great way to participate.

I really do hope that it will be different from when I called into meetings in the past. Maybe if there are a few of us on Zoom, there will be efforts made so we can see what’s going on and not feel like just an observer. I also think that since it’s being on Zoom and not on the phone, there will be more ability to participate because of the raised hand function on Zoom. But it will still be different from being there with everyone else.

I know other committees and groups will be doing hybrid meetings before my next committee meeting, so there will be opportunities for the union staff to figure out any technical issues that might come up that prevent people on Zoom from being able to fully be a part of the meeting. And maybe I’m wrong and there will be more people attending via Zoom than in person when we do have the meeting. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s been a struggle for me to be as involved as I wanted to be for the past almost 2 years, and this might add a bit more to that struggle. But I’m still determined to be an active and involved union member and get the most out of the opportunity that I’ve been given.

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SAG Awards Time (or I Wish I Had Watched More Movies)

Posted on February 28, 2023 | Comments Off on SAG Awards Time (or I Wish I Had Watched More Movies)

I know that I’m very lucky that I have so many opportunities to see movies, and most of those opportunities are free for me. Things still aren’t exactly the way they were before the pandemic, but there are still free movie screenings at theaters and screening venues, I just haven’t been to one yet. I know that I’ll start going to those again eventually, but I’m still hesitant to go to theaters. But fortunately, I also have the chance to watch things at home when we get screeners for the SAG Awards.

When I first joined SAG-AFTRA, all the screeners we got at home were DVDs. This included TV shows where we would sometimes get an entire season of a show on DVD. There was one year we got a free month of Netflix so we could watch all the Netflix shows directly on the service. And over time, we started to get more and more screeners as either digital downloads or through various online screening services. I liked the digital screeners because they were instantly available for us and we didn’t have to wait on the mail. And once I got an upgraded AppleTV, I was able to watch the digital ones on my tv instead of on my computer.

In the past few years, we were given the option to opt out of physical DVD screeners and just get digital ones. The first year it was offered, I paid attention to what we got as DVDs versus digital options. And everything that was a DVD was digital too, so I opted out of the DVDs since I didn’t need them anymore. I found the online screening services pretty easy to use, so I didn’t see any reason to get DVDs.

Most years, I make a good effort to try to watch everything that is nominated. I don’t usually make it through everything, but I try to get through the majority of them. And this year, I tried to make a plan to figure out how many movies I’d need to watch each week in order to get through all the movies before we had to vote. It pretty much came down to watching 2-3 movies a week, which is a lot but doable. Or at least it seemed doable until I got sick. I couldn’t focus enough to watch an entire movie. I also didn’t feel up to watching anything and just wanted to rest. And after I was feeling better, I had a lot of things I needed to catch up on that were more important than spending a few hours in front of my tv. So by the time we had to vote for the winners, I had only seen a handful of movies and none of the ones that were the front runners. I decided not to vote this year since it didn’t seem fair, but I still planned on enjoying the awards show and seeing what happens.

Previously, the SAG Awards were on cable. But this year was the first year the show partnered with Netflix. In the future, the show will be streamed live on Netflix once they get their live streaming service set up. But this year, it was available on YouTube through the Netflix YouTube channel.

I actually loved this new format. There were no commercial breaks, so the show was shorter than normal. In place of commercials, between awards they had short compilation clips of past winners and past shows. I really liked how that worked out and it felt much more of a celebration of the union as a whole and not just those who won. And I think those who won had a similar feeling as many of the acceptance speeches recognized SAG-AFTRA members who are not household names and are still working hard for their next role. I really felt inspired by so many of those speeches and I have a feeling I’ll be rewatching some of them in the future when I need a pick-me-up.

Even though I don’t have access to the screeners anymore, I hope that I’ll be able to watch several more of the nominated films. I know they’ll be online eventually and I’ll just have to make the effort to find them and watch them. And hopefully, next year I’ll be able to plan watching screeners better or be able to watch more movies over time if I start going to in-person screenings again.

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A Mix Of The Old And New Normal (or Waiting To See What Future Union Meetings Will Be Like)

Posted on February 21, 2023 | Comments Off on A Mix Of The Old And New Normal (or Waiting To See What Future Union Meetings Will Be Like)

Ever since things shut down, all the union meetings and events I’ve participated in have been virtual. I have been in virtual committee meetings and attended a virtual convention. There was no question for a long time that was the way we needed to do things in order to keep people safe. And for union committee meetings, I actually liked the virtual format because I never could attend in person, and being on the phone while most people are in the same room isn’t the best option. So having everyone on Zoom made it more of an equal playing field for all and I have felt much more connected to the meetings and not just feel like I’m listening in my own little world. Of course, I miss going to the local board meetings as an observer while everything has been virtual, but I knew that those meetings would likely return to being at the union headquarters again and I would be able to go in the future.

And recently, things have been starting to open up again. The union headquarters opened and there are some new guidelines for going to things there in person. It was pretty simple for me to do because it was registering through an app to include my vaccination information. There haven’t been any things in person yet for me to attend, but I’m excited to see what will be coming back and what I can be a part of again.

For some reason, when the announcement of the headquarters opening up came out, I didn’t think much about the committee meetings since I’d never attended them in person. But when I was in a recent committee meeting, someone asked the chair when we would be going back to meeting in person so we didn’t always have to be on Zoom.

That idea seemed to get a mixed reaction from others in the committee. Some of us have been happy with these virtual meetings. Not only does it allow those of us who have to work at the same time to attend, but people who don’t live close by also don’t have to worry about a commute to and from the meeting. The chair talked about how they were happy not spending over an hour each way to get to the meeting so they were fine keeping things on Zoom for now. I believe there will be a poll going out soon so everyone can have a say in what we would like to see, but I think that Zoom will always be an option because how many of us don’t have the time or ability to get to the headquarters for meetings and everyone seems to agree that Zoom is much better than just being on the phone.

It’s interesting how I really am excited to have some things back in person but I want to keep other things the way they’ve been the past few years. I still don’t go out in big crowds that often, but I also crave being social because I was isolated for so long. I don’t think everything will ever go back to how they were before, but things slowly have been going back and it’s been a mix of the old and new normal for a while. And I’m sure that as time goes on, more things will be back to the old way. But at the same time, I think we will never really be back to the old way things were and some things will always be either the new normal or a hybrid.

As long as I can continue to be involved with the union, I’m ok with things changing back to how they are or staying the way they’ve been. I think now more than ever, people recognize how some people want to be able to participate but don’t have the same ability to be in person as everyone else. So hopefully there will continue to be some accommodations or better options for everyone.

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Another Virtual Union Meeting (Hearing What’s Happening With The LA Local)

Posted on December 7, 2022 | Comments Off on Another Virtual Union Meeting (Hearing What’s Happening With The LA Local)

I think union meetings will continue to be virtual meetings for a while, but I’m glad that they are starting to pick up a bit more recently. I know there are still a lot of union meetings that won’t be done virtually where everyone can attend the way that they could attend in person, but I also know that the union is trying hard to make it possible for as many people as possible to participate in different events.

A big union meeting I used to attend in person was the LA Local Membership meeting. I loved this meeting because it was almost like going to the National Convention. You would see so many members that you usually didn’t get to see. And it always felt like a bit of a reunion or party because everyone was excited to see each other. I also loved the expo that they had at the meeting because I always seemed to learn about a new program or part of the union that I didn’t know before.

As much as I wished they could have made this meeting an in-person event, I understand why they can’t. Especially right now with the cases on the rise again, it’s just not smart to have a big event. And there are advantages to having a virtual event compared to something in-person. I like being able to be a bit more comfortable while listening to a long event. I could walk around, get a snack, and do other things than just sitting while being a part of the meeting. Also, during the Q&A section, it was much easier to raise a hand through Zoom than to stand in line for a microphone.

I don’t know how much I’m allowed to share about what was discussed in the meeting, but I know I can talk about some general terms. It was run and hosted by the LA Local leadership and the main person who was running the meeting was the LA Local President. Different officers and staff members took turns sharing their updates about what has been going on with different aspects of the union or the industry. For example, there was discussion about different committees that are having events coming up or how certain things are returning to in-person events. I’m hoping that the local board meetings return to either in-person again or they have the ability to be an observer in a virtual meeting because I miss the opportunity to do that. But there are other things coming up that I might try to sign up for since I feel like I haven’t had a chance to do much over the past few years.

During the Q&A, I was lucky to be one of the earlier members who could ask a question since the virtual line for it got pretty long. My question was about something that was brought up during the meeting and I wanted some clarification about it (I know I am being vague, but that’s how it has to be until things are officially announced). But a lot of other members brought up questions regarding keeping sets safe. That’s been a huge concern since the beginning of the pandemic. For a lot of people on set, they can keep a mask on while working or try to be spread out a bit more. But for actors, unless the show has a storyline where the characters are wearing masks, we have to be without a mask on set. There were different sides to the argument about how we’ve been doing with keeping actors safe brought up in the Q&A. I know some people feel like we need to do more and some people feel like we have been doing too much. But also, a lot of the guidelines that have been created aren’t just with our union but with other unions that are on set as well. We can’t make major changes on our own, but I know that the agreement with the various unions is going to be discussed and figured out again soon, so we should have some updates on what the plan is.

The meeting was only supposed to be about 3 hours long, but it went a bit longer than 4 hours to allow for all the members who wanted to ask a question to do so. I know that having a meeting run long can be frustrating, but I was just glad that everyone had their chance since that’s not something that always gets to happen with in-person events when we might have to be out of a room by a certain time. And I’m glad I stayed through the entire meeting so I could hear what my fellow members wanted to bring up. I know that it will be election season again soon before we know it and this will help me to know what concerns are the priority for members.

Because things aren’t fully back yet, I’m not sure what my next union meeting will be. It might be another communications committee meeting or maybe there will be a way for me to be an observer at a local board meeting. But I just know that I’m really trying my best to stay involved when I can and I’m glad I had the opportunity to be a part of the LA Local Membership meeting again.

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Back To My Normal Right Away (or One Last Committee Meeting For This Year)

Posted on November 18, 2022 | Comments Off on Back To My Normal Right Away (or One Last Committee Meeting For This Year)

After getting back from my trip on Sunday evening, I didn’t have much time before I got back to my regular schedule. I got home much later than expected and only had enough time to unpack a bit before I went to bed and had my early morning workout the next morning. It would have been nice to have a day to reset, but it’s also not bad to immediately get back to what I normally do. And this past Monday, that also included my local communication meeting for SAG-AFTRA.

The communication meetings have been happening regularly about once a month, and I have really appreciated having these meetings since I still am not able to be an observer at the local board meetings. I’m hoping that in-person board meetings happen again soon so I can go, but until that point, I just have the committee meetings that I’m a part of. I don’t know if any other committees are meeting as regularly as we are, but based on my past experience I would guess that they aren’t. But it’s possible that things have changed since all meetings are virtual now and it might be easier to organize and set up.

Almost all of the communications committee meetings have similar agendas. We go over any past agenda items to get updates as needed, we go over the articles that are being worked on and the status of those, and then there is a chance for us to suggest new articles and story ideas. I’ve suggested a few articles in the past, but none of them have been included in our newsletters yet. But I know that the staff has been working on one that I’ve suggested so it hopefully will be included in the near future.

I haven’t been the most active committee member, but I wanted to be better for this meeting. So before my trip, I decided to do a little research and see if I could find a good archive of past articles to get some inspiration. I wasn’t able to find the type of archive I was looking for, so that was something I did bring up in this meeting. It turns out, I was looking in the correct spot, but it’s just not organized the way that I thought it would be. So at least now I know where to look when I have a chance to review past articles. It just might take me a bit longer to get through them and see what inspiration I have for follow-up articles or ideas that haven’t been covered yet.

I think a lot of people were in a holiday mindset already because there weren’t a lot of new articles brought up in the meeting. But that also could be because there are so many that are currently in the works, and everyone is focused on those. And at the end of each meeting, we set the date and time for the next one. As I mentioned, typically they are every month. But with the holidays and a few other national meetings happening, our next meeting is being pushed until after the new year when there is a bit more time and availability with everyone. I don’t mind having a longer break. I know my schedule is probably going to be a bit weird for December with the holidays. And this will give me extra time to review the past articles so I can hopefully have more to present at the next meeting.

There are a few other union meetings that will be coming up between now and the next committee meeting. I’m hoping I will be able to attend them, but there are a few that currently conflict with other things in my schedule. I’m seeing what I can do to make sure I can attend as many as I can, but I know I can’t go to everything. But at least I’m trying and I know that I will have another committee meeting in the new year to keep me feeling connected to my union.

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Continuing With Regular Union Service (or Starting To Think Of More Ideas)

Posted on October 6, 2022 | Comments Off on Continuing With Regular Union Service (or Starting To Think Of More Ideas)

I had another LA Local Communications meeting for SAG-AFTRA this week. I know I always say how grateful I am that this committee has regular meetings because I haven’t been able to be a part of a lot of other union things that I am used to doing. So having these happening every month or so has been nice and something that I can look forward to so I can continue to feel connected with my union.

Our last meeting was more of a presentation regarding the union archives. I really enjoyed that meeting and learning about something I really had no idea about with the union before. I hope that in the future, the committee has more presentations like that because I know there are so many things I don’t know about. But this meeting was more of a regular meeting and had agenda items that we typically have.

Most of the committee meetings go over the most recent newsletters and what articles were included in them. And there are always updates on things we went over before and the status of different projects and requests. And after that, we go over the different articles that are in process of being completed. I haven’t written anything yet, but I have suggested several articles and one is being worked on by the staff. I’m ok with not writing the ones I suggested because they do involve things that the staff has better access to so they will have an easier time completing them.

I feel like one of my main responsibilities on this committee is helping to think of newsletter articles and ideas since that is one of the big things we are in charge of. And even though I have suggested a few in the past, many of them were not right for what we are supposed to do (for example, they would be better for the national newsletter and not the local one). But for the past few meetings, I haven’t had any new article ideas to suggest. I know that’s ok and we have a lot of articles in the works right now, but I also want to feel like I’m involved with this committee and an active participant. And the biggest thing I can do would be to have more ideas.

I was thinking about the articles in the works during the meetings and trying to see what might be missing or if something would spark an idea in my head. Unfortunately, during the meeting, I didn’t have any new ideas that I could suggest. I was pretty quiet for this meeting, which is common for me since I also am working at the same time as in Zoom. But I do wish I had something I could really contribute to the group.

When the meeting was done, we set our next meeting date. It’s about a month away, so that gives me a lot of time to keep thinking of article ideas. I’m hoping that something will hit me so I can present ideas at the November meeting. I know I can’t force inspiration or anything, but I can make a more conscious effort to look at what I see in the acting world and what might be helpful for other members to be aware of.

Maybe that will work, or maybe it will take being in the next meeting and hearing someone else’s ideas for me to feel inspired. But I really am setting a goal to try harder with being an active committee member outside of attending the meetings and hopefully when I am in the meeting next month, I will have more to contribute than I have before.

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Getting Some More Union Education (or Having A Lesson During A Committee Meeting)

Posted on September 2, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting Some More Union Education (or Having A Lesson During A Committee Meeting)

I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of a few different committees with SAG-AFTRA. Some of the committees have been national ones and others have been local to LA. And each committee has its own way of organizing meetings. Depending on the focus of the committee, sometimes the meetings are all about news specific to that committee. For example, the National Conservatory Committee usually discussed things regarding the SAG-AFTRA Conservatory with each local and what the national committee could do to support them. And the LA Local Organizing Committee was mainly about sharing industry news and events that we should know more about and could benefit all members to learn about.

The only committee that I’m in right now that has been able to have meetings has been the LA Local Communications Committee. I’m grateful that we’ve had regular meetings because there are a lot of things we want to get done within the committee. I haven’t written any articles yet for the local membership, but I have submitted ideas for several and one is being worked on by a union staff member so it can be published (some articles are written by members, but others require staff to help us and the one I suggested needs staff to work on it). And since we are busy planning articles and other forms of communication that we want to get out to the LA Local, our meetings are typically just focused on that and we don’t have a ton of additional education.

But for the meeting that we had this past week, that changed. We still spent quite a bit of our meeting planning articles and other items, but we also got to have some time to learn about the union archives and what that entailed. I know what an archivist does for museums, but I wasn’t aware of exactly what they would be storing for the union. Before our meeting, we had a chance to submit questions that would be asked during the presentation. And since I didn’t know much about what they would do, my questions were pretty basic and simple. But I figured if I was unaware there probably would be at least one other person who was clueless too. So I put down all my simple questions and hoped that they would be able to be answered.

Only a portion of our meeting was dedicated to discussing the union archive, but I think the staff that was a part of it did a great job with their presentation and going over several of the questions that we had submitted. I learned that a lot of the items that have been kept have been about the creation of the union or artifacts from the first few years of the union, such as old membership cards. And I don’t know why I wouldn’t have thought of this, but they do keep information related to past elections and contract votes. It’s smart to keep all of that since there have been so many votes regarding contracts and ratifications that are important to remember. And if someone has a question about the changes in a contract, this would provide a resource to be able to see what historically has been in contracts and what was just something that was assumed to be in there.

I do wish we had more time for the archive presentation and to learn more about how we can share more information with other members and maybe some opportunities for people to understand more about it, but I am grateful that we had some time for education about the union. With everything being virtual and board meetings not open to all members like before, I feel like I haven’t had as many chances to learn about union things. I have missed that and even though observing board meetings isn’t really a time to learn, I always had notes after being there of things I wanted to look up and learn more about. So this committee meeting having the presentation brought back a little bit of that feeling and really helped to make me feel more connected to the union again.

And besides getting to feel more connected to the union, any committee meeting or event I’m able to be a part of really just reminds me of what I’m really pushing for in my life. Sometimes it’s easy to just be sucked into the day-to-day with my day job, especially since I haven’t had many auditions lately. It can feel like I’m not really pursuing my career and just working my jobs. But this gave me some time to be a part of what I have striving for and hope to have as my main focus in life one day.

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Making Sure I Make It To Union Meetings (or Sometimes I Can’t Help My Schedule)

Posted on July 27, 2022 | Comments Off on Making Sure I Make It To Union Meetings (or Sometimes I Can’t Help My Schedule)

With my box office job, I didn’t really worry too much about when I might need to be on a phone call or Zoom for a union meeting. Of course, I wished I could go to those in person, but at least that job was easy enough to make sure I could be on the phone to attend. And since the pandemic, all the meetings are virtual so I’m not missing out on anything. But I’m only doing that job a few hours a day now since it’s no longer my main job.

And for my current main day job, I have a lot of different meetings and calls I need to be on. Most days, I have at least one meeting. And they do work around different appointments and conflicts that I have, but it’s not always perfect. Especially when a lot of team members need to be on one call. And that’s what happened the last time I was supposed to be attending the LA Local Communications committee meeting. It was during an all-team meeting and I knew that I had to be on my work meeting. There just wasn’t a way around that. And while I hated missing a union meeting, I knew there would be notes after that I could review.

So I was glad that when the next committee meeting was announced and it was not during a time that I had to be at a work meeting. It was right after one of my work meetings, but there wasn’t any overlap so that was pretty lucky. And while I did still have to continue working while I was in the meeting, I did try to pay as much attention as I could so I didn’t miss too much about what was going on.

A lot of the meeting was going over things that happened at the last meeting, so I was catching up. I wasn’t working on any particular projects or tasks since I missed that meeting, so I didn’t have any news or updates to share. But it was good to hear what other people have been working on and to get ideas for things that I might want to present to the committee in the future. We also went over preparations for our next meeting where there will be a union staff member available to answer questions. So we are supposed to come up with questions we think other members would like to know. I have some time to think about this, so I want to make sure I think of some good ones.

I know that I was quiet during this last meeting because I missed the last one and wanted to hear what had been happening, but I do tend to be very quiet during all the committee meetings I’ve been a part of. I think part of this is due to not feeling confident about the information I might think I know or the questions I would ask. I do try to stay educated as much as I can about various union issues, but I know there is so much that I don’t know about. I know that everyone has to start somewhere and I shouldn’t be embarrassed if something I say is wrong, but it’s easier to know that than it is to act that way. And maybe my time on committees now will be more about educating myself and understanding things and hopefully I will be invited on committees again and I can take more action. While this isn’t the first time I’m on a committee, it still feels different this time. And being on a local committee is different from a national committee, so I think that’s something else I’m working through.

I want to try to be a bit more vocal and participate more when we have our next committee meeting, but I know that might not happen. All I can do is to continue to learn, do my research, and be as prepared as I can for each meeting. And hope that the next meeting won’t conflict with a work meeting.

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10 Years Of A Union (or I’ve Been A Part Of A Lot This Past Decade)

Posted on March 31, 2022 | Comments Off on 10 Years Of A Union (or I’ve Been A Part Of A Lot This Past Decade)

Yesterday marked 10 years since SAG and AFTRA merged into one union. I remember the merger vote so clearly. I wasn’t a member of SAG or AFTRA when the vote was announced. I had been a member of AGVA, which is a sister union, and was planning on joining SAG soon. But when the vote was going to happen and it seemed very likely that it would pass, I joined AFTRA so I could be a part of the newly merged union. I did it that way because it was less expensive, but if I had to join SAG to do it, I would have done the same.

During the merger vote, even though I wasn’t able to vote, I was very lucky to be invited to different events that were discussing the merger and I learned a lot before I was a member. And I got to meet a lot of people who were in union service and so many of them were happy to discuss things I should know as a new member. It was really an amazing introduction to the union even before I joined.

When the merger passed, I was so happy because I knew that I was automatically a member of SAG-AFTRA, which was my goal. And even though I didn’t start my union service right away, I was making sure I was informed and learning from the moment I joined. And it was only a few years later that I was asked if I wanted to be a part of Unite For Strength and run as a delegate in the election. From that moment on, it seems like I have only gotten more and more involved in SAG-AFTRA and it’s been an amazing journey!

I know that I’m very lucky that I’ve been elected as a delegate 4 times now. Even though I haven’t been elected to the local board yet, I’m grateful I can run and I do get votes each time. And one day, hopefully, I will be elected. But even without being on the local board, I have been able to do quite a bit. I have been on different local and national committees. I’m a vice-chair of a national committee now. I have participated in a lot of different events through committees that I’m not necessarily in but are open to all members. And I have found ways to help other people to get involved as well.

The past 2 years have been tough for me since I have felt very disconnected from my acting career and the industry in general. But my union service has helped me feel involved and like I am still a part of something that I love so much. Things are continuing to return to how they used to be, but I know they are going slowly because we aren’t sure yet if things will have to shut down more again. But I think everyone is ready to get back to the old normal and I hope that I can get back to how I used to be involved before. But even if it takes time for that to happen, I know I’ll get back to doing that again one day. I’ve only started with my union service. Just like the union has only just started.

10 years down, and so many more to go!

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