Dear Member,
Exciting developments are in the works in New York State. Thanks to the efforts of SAG-AFTRA and our fellow industry unions, the State Senate and Assembly one-house budgets that came out last week both support increasing the Film and TV tax credit from $420M to $700M a year. This will mean more union jobs for New Yorkers! Our staff and volunteer leaders have been laboring to move this forward. I want to thank them for their dedication and persistence.
Now we need your help to get this over the finish line. Watch your emails for the next calls to action. Follow our SAG-AFTRA NY Local social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook, and retweet and share your support using the hashtag #FilmedinNY. It all makes a difference.
March is Women’s History Month, and there are two significant dates this month that highlight the part that unions can play in progressing rights for women. March 14 marked National Equal Pay Day, a date which symbolizes the moment when full-time working women’s wages equaled the wages earned by full-time working men in the prior year. March 24 is the annual commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, a horrific tragedy that in 1911 killed 146 workers, most of whom were young women. The public outrage led to the creation of health and safety regulations in the workplace and strengthened the early organizing efforts of unions.
The fight for women’s rights continues. Earlier this month, SAG-AFTRA released an open letter in support of reproductive rights, calling for collective action to “safeguard the right of all persons to make their own health care decisions without persecution and punishment.” Please read the letter and add your name to the open letter here. There is strength in our numbers.
Finally, SAG-AFTRA has joined a broad coalition of industry leaders as a member of the Human Artistry Campaign which has been formed to ensure that as new technologies emerge, the valuable contributions of human beings who write, create and perform will not be sacrificed. The union recently reaffirmed our position that terms and conditions involving rights to digitally simulate a performer to create new performances must always be bargained with the union. Members who believe that employers are asking them to surrender A.I. rights should email their agreement to aiquestions@sagaftra.org.
Forward together,
Ezra Knight
New York Local President