Message from the Local Executive Director

Mark Janus, a public employee in Illinois, decided that he wanted all the benefits of being in a union but didn’t want to pay. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, upended 40 years of labor law and agreed with him. What does this mean for us?

Martin Niemoller answers this question best in his famous poem, First they came… What does it mean when any of us ignore our brothers and sisters and think only of today and only of ourselves? What if, in the 1950s, Ronald Reagan, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, had decided not to fight for a new system of paying residuals to actors for re-broadcast rights and instead settled for one lump sum? What if, in 2018, SAG-AFTRA members decided that the Janus fight is not our fight? That the minimum wage fight is not our fight? That the struggles of working people in the Delaware Valley and around the country — and world — is not our fight?

SAG-AFTRA is growing. The SAG-AFTRA Philadelphia Local is growing. Our broadcast contracts are strong and intact. Theatrical production in our local is up and expected to be even busier in the coming months. Our new regional commercials code is creating more commercials work, including with producers with whom we have never before been involved. And, of course, the new New Jersey Film and Television Tax Credit program is a big deal that will add to the television and theatrical work in our region.

So while SAG-AFTRA thrives, there will be times when we will need others to be there for us. Will we be able to say we were there for them? In the Philadelphia Local, that answer is yes.

Stephen Leshinski
Executive Director, Philadelphia Local