2010
- Ken Howard continues as SAG president
- Roberta Reardon continues as AFTRA national president
- SAG Awards: January 23: 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. 2009 Life Achievement Award presented to Betty White.
- March 24: SAG, AFTRA, DGA, IATSE and MPAA write President Barack Obama to urge protections against growing problem of online theft of copyrighted works.
- Merger: AFTRA's top five national officers publish an open letter in AFTRA Magazine calling on union members to create a vision for a new union for entertainment and media professionals;
- Contract negotiations: AFTRA and SAG successfully negotiate new primetime TV/Theatrical contracts.
2011
- Ken Howard re-elected SAG president
- Roberta Reardon re-elected AFTRA national president
- SAG Awards: January 30: 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Center. 2010 Life Achievement Award presented to Ernest Borgnine.
- Merger: The AFTRA National Board approves a resolution formally authorizing AFTRA leadership to work with SAG on the Presidents' Forum for One Union Listening Tour, to further explore merger of the two unions; the board later approves the appointment of the AFTRA New Union Committee to work with the SAG Merger Task Force, as well as a Mission Statement; the first Group for One Union (G1) meeting takes place at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, MD in June. AFTRA members ratify a new Interactive Media Agreement which includes the first-ever cloud gaming fee paid to performers; AFTRA’s final National Convention, its 63rd, convenes in Seattle; President Reardon is elected to a third term as AFTRA National President.
2012
- Ken Howard continues as SAG president
- Roberta Reardon continues as AFTRA national president
- Merger of SAG and AFTRA will be achieved March 30.
- AFTRA’s 75th Anniversary year, which will be its last, begins.
- SAG Awards: January 29: 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Center. 2011 Life Achievement Award presented to Mary Tyler Moore.
- Merger: The Group for One Union (G1) meets for 10 days in Los Angeles to create a new constitution and merger agreement to be sent to membership for approval. Ballots go out in February to members of SAG and AFTRA to vote on whether the two unions should merge.
- Merger: On March 30, 2012, members of both SAG and AFTRA overwhelmingly approved a merger of the two unions. SAG-AFTRA is born and SAG president Ken Howard and AFTRA national president, Roberta Reardon become first SAG-AFTRA co-presidents.
- Organizing: SAG-AFTRA reaches a deal with the major record labels in June on a first-ever industrywide contract to cover dancers and other performers on music videos.
- SAG-AFTRA receives its AFL-CIO charter in August.
2013
- Ken Howard elected to two year term as first sole SAG-AFTRA president on August 15.
- SAG Awards: SAG Awards: January 27 - 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Center. 2012 Life Achievement Award presented to Rita Moreno.
- Organizing: Employees at KPCC vote to recognize SAG-AFTRA as their union in January. The new bargaining unit covers 65 reporters, producers, show hosts and news anchors at the Southern California public radio station.
- Contracts: In May, SAG-AFTRA members overwhelmingly approve new, three-year contracts negotiated with the advertising industry. The 2013 Commercials Contracts are the first major contracts negotiated by SAG-AFTRA as one union.
- Convention: SAG-AFTRA holds inaugural National Convention Sept. 26-29. The theme: “United for Our Future.”
2014
- Ken Howard continues as SAG-AFTRA president.
- SAG Awards: January 18 - 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Center. 2013 Life Achievement Award presented to Rita Moreno
- Residuals: By March, Union reduces average residuals processing time to under 30 days and has remained under 30 days since. In 2016, the union will process a record 3.8 million checks.
- Contracts: SAG-AFTRA members vote to approve the 2014 TV/Theatrical Contracts by a vote of 92.12 percent in August.
- Organizing: KNBR staff in San Francisco vote to recognize SAG-AFTRA as their union in November.
2015
- Ken Howard elected to second two year term as SAG-AFTRA president in August.
- SAG Awards: January 25 - 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Center. 2014 Life Achievement Award presented to Debbie Reynolds.
- Contracts: Members vote 96.5 percent in favor of ratifying the 2014 SAG-AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting (Network Television Code) in January.
- “Call to Arts” initiative: At the request of President Barack Obama, in March SAG-AFTRA pledges to work toward one million hours of education, volunteerism and mentorship over three years in support of the next generation of storytellers.
- Headquarters: The historic 1947 building housing SAG-AFTRA’s headquarters in Los Angeles is rededicated as SAG-AFTRA Plaza in April.
- Contracts: Following organized efforts and a #WeMakeNPR campaign, SAG-AFTRA members at National Public Radio approve a new two-year contract in July.
- Contracts: In September, members ratify the SAG-AFTRA Sound Recordings Code, which includes a groundbreaking payment formula for online streaming and non-permanent digital downloads.
- Convention: SAG-AFTRA holds its second National Convention Oct. 1-4. The theme: “Educate, Engage, Empower.”
2016
- Ken Howard continues as SAG-AFTRA president until his unexpected March 23 death.
- Gabrielle Carteris, SAG-AFTRA executive vice president, best-known for the hit TV series Beverly Hills 90210, elected by the board of directors to complete his term.
- SAG Awards: January 30: 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Center. 2015 Life Achievement Award to Carol Burnett.
- Contracts: Members ratify the new three-year Commercials Contracts in May. The union launches its member care Contact Center, which receives a member satisfaction rate of 97 percent in its first weeks.
- Health plan: in June, the merged SAG-AFTRA Health Plan is approved to take effect Jan. 1, 2017.
- Organizing: in August, the on-air talent at Spanish-language stations La Raza and MEGA in Los Angeles vote overwhelmingly to recognize SAG-AFTRA as their union.
- Privacy/Age Discrimination: In September, SAG-AFTRA leads the charge to pass the landmark “IMDb Law” in California putting a stop to the obvious promotion of member ages on casting hiring sites by requiring that the online vendors observe an opt out accommodation.
2017 – SAG-AFTRA’s 5th Anniversary year
- Gabrielle Carteris continues as SAG-AFTRA president, completing the late Ken Howard’s term, and is elected president by the membership on August 24.
- SAG Awards: January 29 - 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Center. 2016 Life Achievement Award to Lily Tomlin.
- Direct Deposit: In January, SAG-AFTRA announces it has helped design and develop a direct deposit program for residuals payments to members in a partnership supported by industry-leading banks, payroll firms and software designers.
- Mobile app: in February, SAG-AFTRA launches an exclusive member mobile app with a residuals tracker, production listings and local events calendar.
- Organizing: In an historic election that will impact Spanish-speaking actors in the United States for years to come, Telemundo telenovela performers vote in March to join SAG-AFTRA.
- Convention: SAG-AFTRA holds its third National Convention, Oct. 5-8. The theme: “Our Union, Our Strength, Our Future”.
2018
- Gabrielle Carteris continues as SAG-AFTRA president
- Jan. 21: Morgan Freeman receives the 54th SAG Life Achievement award during the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
- Feb. 23: The National Board unanimously approves a Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment to Advance Equity, which is part of the Four Pillars of Change. The goal of the program is to identify real solutions and actions that help members confront harassment while securing an equitable workplace.
- April 12: As part of the Four Pillars of Change, the union releases Code of Conduct Guideline No. 1, calling for an end to auditions and job interviews held in hotel rooms and private residences.
- June 9: SAG-AFTRA reaches a tentative agreement for its network television code. The deal with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and other producers is a successor agreement to the National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting. Negotiations began June 1.
- June 29: SAG-AFTRA reaches a historic agreement with Zeus, a subscription video-on-demand streaming service. The deal covers productions produced for the ad-free streaming service.
- July 12: SAG-AFTRA reaches a deal with TelemundoStudios to cover Spanish-language television performers. On July 21, the National Board unanimously approves the first-ever tentative agreement. The contract marks a breakthrough after 15 months of negotiations that followed a vote by Telemundo performers to unionize on March 8, 2017.
- Sept. 20: SAG-AFTRA calls a strike against advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty LLC, after the union’s National Board unanimously votes to issue a strike authorization. Members are instructed to not accept any work for BBH, which is illegally attempting to abandon its union contract with SAG-AFTRA.
- Oct. 11: SAG-AFTRA celebrates President Trump signing the Music Modernization Act into law. The statute, which SAG-AFTRA lobbied for, ensures that singers and sound recording artists will at last be justly compensated for their pre-1972 works on digital and satellite platforms.
- Oct. 16: SAG-AFTRA announces that former Screen Actors Guild President Richard Masur is the 2018 recipient of the SAG-AFTRA President’s Award.
- Oct. 19: SAG-AFTRA and the major record labels announce they’ve reached a tentative three-year agreement on a successor contract to the SAG-AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Sound Recordings.
- Oct. 31: U.S.-based journalists at Al Jazeera English vote overwhelmingly to recognize SAG-AFTRA as their union, allowing them to move forward to negotiate a first contract.
2019
- Gabrielle Carteris elected to second two year term as SAG-AFTRA president
- Jan. 27: Alan Alda receives the 55th SAG Life Achievement Award during the 25th Annual SAG Awards.
- May 8: Members overwhelmingly ratify the 2019 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract and the 2019 SAG-AFTRA Audio Commercials Contract. The contracts introduce innovative and flexible alternative compensation models to promote growth of union-covered commercial work. The vote follows the National Board’s unanimous approval of the tentative agreements.
- July 20: SAG-AFTRA signs a contract directly with Netflix. The three-year deal for live-action, scripted production also covers performance capture and dubbing, including international live-action and animated productions dubbed into English. It is the first agreement signed directly with a global streaming service.
- Also on July 20, the National Board reveals that the 10-month strike against the Bartle Bogle Hegarty is over. The ad agency agrees to sign the union’s newly negotiated commercials contract.
- Aug. 29: Gabrielle Carteris is re-elected president and Camryn Manheim is elected secretary-treasurer.
- Sept. 4: As part of the ongoing campaign for a first contract with Spanish Broadcasting System, SAG-AFTRA members and leaders from local worker-rights organization Arise Chicago and the Chicago Federation of Labor hold a press conference outside SBS’s radio station La Ley 107.9 (WLEY-FM). They demand that SBS negotiate a fair first contract with SAG-AFTRA that includes paying professional wages.
- Sept. 10: SAG-AFTRA announces the development of protocols for intimacy coordination on sets.
- Sept. 17: SAG-AFTRA announces that six of the advertising industry’s largest signatory service companies will now operate as bona fide employers when hiring union performers, which allows the union to enforce the standards established in its Commercials Contracts.
- Sept. 20: SAG-AFTRA reaches a deal with the major record labels on a successor contract to the Music Video Agreement. The new, three-year deal achieves important economic and safety gains for performers working in music videos.
- Oct. 10-13: SAG-AFTRA holds its fourth national convention, with members voting on resolutions and hearing speeches from the union’s top officers. The theme of the three-day event is “Unconventional.” At the biennial convention, Rebecca Damon is re-elected executive vice president.
- Oct. 30: Journalists at WHYY-FM in Philadelphia vote to recognize SAG-AFTRA as their union with 99% voting in support.
- Nov. 8: SAG-AFTRA holds a ribbon-cutting for the Member Imagination Center at the union’s headquarters in Los Angeles, where members will have a dedicated space in which to tape auditions, learn digital film and television production techniques, attend seminars with world-class technology thought leaders, and participate in classes aimed at building their knowledge and experience in a digital production environment.
- Dec. 20: SAG-AFTRA announces an investigation into Fremantle Media, triggered by complaints filed by members Gabrielle Union and Orlando Jones.