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The workers are joining the National Organization of Legal Services Workers, which already represents organizing staffers at the performers’ union.
By Katie Kilkenny
Enterprise Reporter, TV & Labor
SAG-AFTRA has voluntarily recognized a union for its communications and marketing staffers after a card count found that a majority were in support of organizing.
After a third-party checker examined union support cards this week, the union, aligned with National Organization of Legal Services Workers, United Auto Workers Local 2320 (NOLSW), was certified. NOLSW already represents organizing staffers at SAG-AFTRA.
Staffers joining the union after the vote include writers, magazine staffers, social media workers, audio and video producers, event planners and publicists.
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“We sincerely appreciate that SAG-AFTRA has been an efficient partner in this process,” the organizing committee said in a statement. “The certification of the SAG-AFTRA Communications Staff Union is a positive step toward a brighter future for the SAG-AFTRA Communications & Marketing Department, and we look forward to productive bargaining on our first contract.”
SAG-AFTRA moved quickly to gauge support for the union after staffers went public with their organizing drive on March 26. In their initial statements, the organizing staffers made clear that they were seeking to improve wages and establish guardrails around the use of generative A.I. within the union.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the union’s organizing committee said they were responding to “the skyrocketing cost of living in Los Angeles” and emphasized that they wanted to ensure that SAG-AFTRA members “always get top-notch, human-made content from their union.”
Now, both sides will begin the process of bargaining a first union contract. In a statement, a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson said the union looked forward to “productive” negotiations with its newest union. “We have a long and successful history of working with represented staff, who make up close to half of our employees, including staff represented by OPEIU, NOLSW and Teamsters,” the spokesperson added.
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