SAG-AFTRA Statement on the Passing of John Sweeney

LOS ANGELES — For over half a century, the labor movement was John Sweeney’s passion. In 1956, the son of two Irish immigrants took a pay cut to become a researcher with the International Ladies Garment Workers union. That was Brother Sweeney — whether on the picket lines or in the halls of Congress, he would throw his energy and activism into the world of workers who often faced the most grueling conditions on the job. That led John Sweeney to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in the early 1960s — a union that would be his labor home for over four decades, which grew under his eventual leadership as president, to well over one million workers. But, John Sweeney also always kept his eyes on the bigger prize: a powerful, nationwide labor movement that would support workers in every corner of the economy and help them achieve dignity, respect and power at work. When he decided to leave his beloved SEIU in 1995 to take the helm of the AFL-CIO as the Federation’s president, he sought to reinvigorate an organizing culture throughout labor because he knew that to live the labor credo “an injury to one is an injury to all” — the basis for SAG-AFTRA's Global Rule One — millions of workers needed to join the labor movement and raise their voices to spread fairness and justice across the land. Today, workers in every industry, including the media and entertainment industry, are better off because of the vision and service of John Sweeney.

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.