It is with a heavy heart that I sit down to write what could be my last L.A. Local President’s Letter. When I took office, I had so many hopes for things that could be accomplished by our L.A. Local Board. But the pandemic and the staff layoffs left us with few resources to be able to serve the members as I had hoped.
Due to the limited staff during the pandemic, the National Board determined that resources would be spent on core functions. Therefore, locals across the country were not able to engage members through events and committee meetings, as we had all previously done. Very recently, we were permitted to start having virtual committee meetings on a quarterly basis. However, we still have insufficient staff members to serve our 82,000-member local. We went from 10 staff members down to two for a few months, and thankfully, as of June 1, we now have three L.A. Local staff.
Despite the limited opportunities available, know that your union did continue to work for you as well.
- We are so fortunate that our leadership was able to work with our sister unions to create a safe way for members to get back to work. We heard from so many that they felt safer on sets than in grocery stores!
- While most of our staff continues to work from home, our residuals processing team continues to report to the office, where they worked to get members paid throughout the entire pandemic.
- Despite the challenges of a virtual meeting, we still managed to schedule an L.A. Local general membership meeting to give members the chance to pose direct questions to LA Local officers, national leadership and staff. Members were so happy to have the opportunity to talk directly to our leaders.
- Your L.A. Local Government Review Committee reformed the L.A. Local replacement policy for vacancies on the L.A. Local Board.
- Our L.A. staff have been working hard to build a resource page for members, which can be found here: https://www.sagaftra.org/los-angeles/local-resources. More resources are coming soon!
- Our L.A. Communications Committee continued to generate content (https://www.sagaftra.org/los-angeles-local news) and completed two newsletters filled with valuable information.
I am hopeful, as we see the COVID numbers improving and the county planning to open up without restrictions on June 15. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Our committees have started to meet and plan for when events can resume. We thank you for your patience and hope to return to the wonderful programming that you have all grown to depend upon from your local.
Finally, I’d like to initiate a call to action. I ask that you stay engaged and educated on your craft and your union. I hope to see more new people on local committees. We had more people sign up for committees in 2019 than ever before, making our committees more diverse and adding many new members.
I hope to see more members attending events, and more participation at the wages and working conditions meetings prior to contract negotiations, more engagement in union governance, and more voter participation. It’s important to be involved; it is your livelihood and future at stake. There is an important “U” in “Union” that has been ignored by too many members.
Keeping the Membership First,
Patricia Richardson
LA Local President
Written for the Los Angeles Local Summer 2021 Newsletter.
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