An Important Message From Your Chicago Local President

With the deadline to vote for the Television/Theatrical Contracts quickly approaching, I am reaching back out to encourage you to VOTE YES. Voting closes online or by mail at 5 p.m. PT, this Wednesday, July 22, so log in today to access your PIN, and make your voice heard before the deadline — because as with all union decisions, every member’s vote matters.
 
As union members, I can’t express enough how important it is that we all make our voices heard — yet reading the misinformation and divisiveness focused on what we didn’t achieve, has truly been heartbreaking. 
 
At a time when we should be celebrating our most lucrative contract ever, there are members attempting to minimize what we were able to achieve in an effort to divide us and hinder our growth. I get it, they wanted more out of the contract. I get that. I wanted more, too. But negotiations are not about perfection, they’re about progress. They’re about taking steps forward together — steps that position the union for the future.
 
Which is why I encourage you to vote. And after you vote, reach out to your SAG-AFTRA friends and colleagues to make sure they do the same. 
 
Now, while I do see areas of improvement for future negotiations, I see much more than that. When I look at this contract, I see gains, big gains. For us all. I see:

• The 26% fixed streaming residual increase for HBSVOD (high budget subscriber video on demand: Apple TV+, Amazon, Disney+…) over the next 3 years.
• The lowering of budget ceilings and times of new media productions, allowing more members to work under higher rates and less freely bargained projects.
• The nudity and sexually explicit scene protections include more restrictive rules on who can be on a closed audition or set; a modesty garment audition is limited to one-final call back and is not permitted at a first audition (total nudity is prohibited); 48-hours to review and negotiate a nudity or sex scene rider, and many more. 
• The new broadcast syndication formula that will allow more shows to afford to go into syndication, giving more members residuals, while allowing the current syndication to be paid under the old formula until those licenses expire.

To see the many other important and impactful gains for our members, you can review the full terms HERE.
 
The negotiating team has done its job: achieved a lucrative, forward-thinking contract with tremendous gains for all members. Now it’s time to do our jobs and stand with our National Board and VOTE YES for the 2020 Television/Theatrical Contracts.
 
In solidarity, 
 
Charles Andrew Gardner 
SAG-AFTRA Chicago Local President