National Board Report

By Denny Delk

Well, summer is drawing to a close and it’s almost back-to-school time, the time when kids start to pout and moms can’t wait for their few hours of empty nest. Meanwhile, there are new and exciting projects going on at SAG-AFTRA that are aimed at making the members’ lives a little better.

Your Health and Retirement/Pension and Health trustees continue to meet to cobble together a real solution to divided earnings credits under the SAG and AFTRA plans. Working with our consultants who can help us make sense of all the moving parts, we are focused on making more performers eligible and continuing to cover our retirees, while not doing harm to any of our current participants. Someone compared it to trying to thread a needle in an open convertible driving down 280 at 70 miles an hour, but we are getting closer. Keep watching for announcements in the coming year. And not to blow my own horn, but as co-chairman of the AFTRA pension fund’s investment committee, we’ve realized the second-best investment performance of all the entertainment unions for the past couple of years. Lots of people set their minds to that goal, but it is something the AFTRA pension fund can be justly proud of.

Meanwhile, we are trying to reorganize the Corporate/Educational Contract. This used to be a major source of income and P&H/H&R credits in years gone by, but the nature of the business has changed. Both SAG and AFTRA were slow in understanding the changes and tried to get the industry to stick with our way of doing things, but that’s kinda like trying to tell the lava flow to turn left so it doesn’t get to the shave ice stand (people who visit Hawaii a lot will get that). It isn’t going to happen. So we have made our contracts more compatible with current industry practices, while still providing performer protection. The next year will indicate how successful that effort has been, and we’ll try a little fine tuning to make sure that San Francisco producers get answers to their particular problems.

And as some of you already know, I did not stand for election in this last ballot season. I am stepping away from the National Board. I’ve tried to be a voice for San Francisco performers, both actors and broadcasters, for more than a few years. But it is time for someone else to take up the burden. I will continue with the AFTRA trustees for as long as you’ll have me. 

I do want to take a moment to say thanks to so many of you for your help and support. People at the national union continue to look up to San Francisco. And I look forward to the next time we’re in the studio together.

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