National Board Member Report

By Scott Rogers
 
I was attending the national board meeting in L.A. on April 21 when I received the news that Co-President Glenn Cannon had passed. He will be sorely missed. When I announced Glenn’s passing in the national board room, a Los Angeles Board member came up to the mic and said that Glenn was her acting teacher, and he is the reason she is an actor today. Her statement moved me.
 
At this meeting, the national board moved to close brick-and-mortar offices at 10 locals across the country. The discussion was long and the decision a difficult one to make. The board has had to make some tough decisions in order to keep the union operating. The first year is always the hardest, but we accomplished a lot: our first national SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract was ratified by 96 percent of the membership. And still there’s more to do.
 
I also just attended the last board meeting of the combined national board in Los Angeles on July 27. Lots of business was addressed at this (12-hour) meeting. Like our Hawaii board, the national board is twice the size it will be after the national elections conclude in August (due to the merger of SAG and AFTRA). In late September, we’ll be having our very first SAG-AFTRA National Convention, but more on that later.  
 
In Hawaii, our election is already over. Results were tabulated on July 29. Congratulations to all the candidates! Whether they won or lost is secondary to the fact that they ran. It’s very honorable to want to volunteer your time to serve your union and it’s deserving of respect. Usually we have a hard time finding candidates for office here in Hawaii, but this year we had a plethora of qualified candidates coming from both legacy SAG and legacy AFTRA. We are very fortunate to have had so many qualified candidates vying for office.

This item was originally featured in the August 2013 local newsletter.