Local President's Message

Aloha Brothers and Sisters:

As we begin this New Year of 2015 (4721 on the Chinese calendar and the Year of the Sheep, or Goat, or Ram, depending on what you prefer), I’d like to borrow a page or two from the recent columns by President Ken Howard and Secretary/Treasurer Amy Aquino in the fall issue of our magazine, in which our local was prominently displayed in the On Location feature with the cast of Hawaii 5-0 and our peerless Executive Director Brenda Ching.

As Ken suggested, an extraordinary sense of camaraderie is growing in our expanded union. Locally this was demonstrated by, among other things, our marching together once again in the Martin Luther King Day labor solidarity march and the recent and very successful 21st SAG Awards Viewing Party held Jan. 25 at the Ko‘olau Golf Club. These were fun events, and it was gratifying to experience the bonding that we shared. The March 14 celebration of a very special Pi Day (March 14) with golf and fun with fellow SAG-AFTRA members at the Hawaii Prince Golf Course was also a great success.

Ken has also recently formed a President’s Task Force to seek ways to better engage our members in all facets of governance participation. We’ll see some of these activities in the near future.

Amy eloquently and succinctly stated the challenges that now face us as a union, locally as well as nationally: We must identify and engage successors to our existing leadership. If you didn’t get a chance to read her column, it’s well worth the time. You can read it, as well as Ken’s column, in the digital version available online.

As we enter the next biennial election cycle for almost all positions on our board, I invite you all to consider seriously how your participation as a candidate might help improve our local for the benefit of all our members.

In solidarity,

David C. Farmer, President

SAG-AFTRA members and guests enjoy their first golf outing at the Hawaii Prince Golf Course.

This item was originally featured in the March 2015 local newsletter.