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Awards season is in full swing!
Congratulations to all the Screen Actors Guild Award winners and nominees for your wonderful diverse performances and to all our actor members for their Oscar nominations!
So many of you have passed through the L.A. Local at one point or another in your careers and we applaud your talent, discipline and true grit to achieve this life-changing pinnacle in your work’s journey.
The month of March also brings our fellow unions to the forefront, when the DGA, WGA, Cinematographers Guild, American Cinema Editors and, of course, the Academy’s Oscars weigh in with their choices on the year’s most impactful work. I am glad (due to COVID) that the awards season has extended into the beginning of spring, a time of rebirth, which is always a good time to celebrate!
I am happy to say that the union's resource conservation will slowly begin opening up throughout the coming year. With that, I look forward to when we can once again invite our L.A. members into the Los Angeles Local boardroom to observe and be more engaged in the process and see the Board leaders you elected in action!
On Feb. 23, the L.A. Government Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) Committee, chaired by L.A. Board member Pamela Guest, discussed efforts to support the CROWN Act, which ensures protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles in the workplace and public schools. L.A. Local First Vice President Sheryl Lee Ralph; L.A. Local Board members Yvette Nicole Brown, Michelle Hurd and Jason George; and L.A. member Tiffany Yvonne Cox participated in a roundtable discussion with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
The L.A. GAPP Committee is also supporting national efforts for the Performers Tax Parity Act, FAIR Act and the Violence Against Women Act. Thank you, L.A. GAPP and our intrepid union staff, for taking this legislation seriously and activating our public support!
And now, regarding our commercials negotiations taking place in New York City. To help:
Send any information you come across regarding non-union auditions to AdsGoUnion@sagaftra.org. This is super-important for the team. It gives them market research and they can sometimes turn the job into union work for members.
Spread the word about #AdsGoUnion with your colleagues and hold the line by never accepting work in non-union commercials. You can anonymously report if you spot violations by emailing adsgounion@sagaftra.org.
If a producer reaches out to you about a non-union commercial, let us know.
Look for tweets supporting the team on social media with the hashtag #AdsGoUnion.
The goal is a new contract that helps us grow commercial work, adjusts to changes in the industry, offers strong protections and fairly compensates members. We wish our negotiating team good luck and to stand strong as they go through this very important process.
And lastly, heartfelt prayers to the people of Ukraine as they fight for their right to a country free from tyranny.
May peace and love be the moving force in our world always.
Jodi Long
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