Reardon Re-Elected AFTRA President
New York actor Roberta Reardon was re-elected president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) at the union’s convention in Seattle July 23. Reardon, who also serves as an AFL-CIO vice president and member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, told delegates:
“I am a proud member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It is a tremendous privilege and an honor to represent AFTRA in the great halls of labor at the AFL-CIO, and to know that when I speak on behalf of AFTRA, I am representing this wonderful, complex and interwoven tapestry of members.”
The entertainment industry is changing, says Reardon, and AFTRA members need to address those changes.
We understand that companies have consolidated their power, and that we face corporations who have learned that diversification is the key to their success. We know that union members need more power to deal with these international giants, more power as we face the digital era that is fast upon us and more power as we struggle with increasing demands of a work world that has become more unorganized as it grows. AFTRA members believe that one of the best ways to grow that power is to do what we have always done in the face of adversity: lock arms and stand together.
Unions Back New Plan to Battle Intellectual Property Pirates
Intellectual property theft—anything from pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters and popular music to counterfeit brand-name airplane parts—steals American jobs and hurts the economy. This week, the Obama administration outlined a new strategy to stem the global flood of pirated property.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other union leaders applauded the new battle plan. Says Trumka:
Intellectual property fuels some of the most vibrant sectors of the U.S. economy. When digital thieves steal entertainment, or counterfeiters make cheap copies of quality products, they rob American workers of jobs and income.
Next Up with Lee Camp and Jeremy Redleaf
The 400-some participants at the first-ever AFL-CIO Young Workers Summit were hard at work all weekend, sharing their ideas with us and with each other as they strategized ways to move the union movement forward. But they also had fun.
Two comedians, Lee Camp and Jeremy Redleaf, entertained the crowd, which met June 10–13 here in Washington, D.C.
Camp, a political activist whose Friday evening routine traversed from Einstein to Gov. Rick Perry, and from breast cancer to death row, emphasized the role of humor in grassroots activism.
“Comedy…can take your one voice out of a million and make it 10, make it 20, make it 30 voices—multiply it a little bit. This isn’t a new idea. Comedy and activism have been around for ages.
“Comedy also makes it a little easier to get facts out that make people uncomfortable and that they wouldn’t be listening to if it wasn’t somewhat funny.”
Comedian Jeremy Redleaf, a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and a voice on MTV, told the group on Saturday that being an actor is a great way to make a living, but
it wouldn’t be a great way to make a living if there wasn’t a union because the thing about acting is that everybody wants to do it, and if there wasn’t a union, we’d probably do it for free.
And that ain’t no joke.
SAG, AFTRA Members Ratify Commercials Pact
In a nationwide mail ballot completed yesterday, members of the Screen Actors (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) overwhelmingly approved new three-year contracts with the advertising industry. The new agreements cover performers working in commercials made for and reused on TV, radio, the Internet and new media.
The unions estimate the contract will raise members’ earnings by more than $108 million over the three-year agreement. The deal also establishes a first-ever payment structure in commercials for the Internet and new media. The new payment structure goes into effect in the third year of the contract.
AFTRA, AFM Call for ‘Fair Play for Air Play’
You can take a stand for the folks in the band today and tomorrow. Let your congressional representatives know that it’s time that radio stops stiffing musicians and recording artists and pays the piper…and the singers, guitar players, drummers, keyboardists….
When a song is played on what is known as “terrestrial radio”—the radio you receive over the air—the men and women who play and sing do not receive a single penny in royalties for the music they created. But if that same tune is played on satellite radio, streamed on the Internet or piped in through cable TV music channels, the band gets paid.
SAG, AFTRA Reach Tentative Contract on Commercials
Just hours after the old contract expired, the Screen Actors (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) reached a tentative three-year commercials contract.
The tentative deal with the Joint Policy Committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers must be approved by the SAG/AFTRA Joint National Board and the membership of both unions. The contract expired at midnight Tuesday.
It’s Crazy That Musicians Don’t Get Paid Royalties for ‘Terrestrial Radio’
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When you hear a song on your car radio, the boombox you’ve got in your garage or some other form of what’s known as “terrestrial radio,” you probably figure the folks who made that music are getting paid. The artists who wrote the music do receive royalties for airplay, but the men and women doing the singing and playing get squadoosh, nada, nothing.
However, if that same tune is played on satellite radio, streamed on the Internet or piped in through cable TV music channels, the band gets paid.
It’s time to close that loophole in copyright law, Paul Almeida, president of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE), told a House committee.
Performers Call for Fairness in Radio
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Frank Sinatra couldn’t get them. Dionne Warwick hasn’t gotten them in nearly 50 years, and Sheryl Crow and Herbie Hancock still can’t get them. For more than four decades, musicians and singers have been trying to get royalties, also known as performance rights, for music their fans listen to every day on the radio.
Here’s the deal. If music you perform is played on satellite radio, streamed on the Internet or piped in through cable TV music channels, you get paid a royalty. But due to a loophole in copyright law, if the music is played on FM or AM radio, only the composer gets a royalty and the performer gets nothing. The United States is one of only a few countries that do not provide fair performance rights on radio. The others include Qatar, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and China.
Actually, U.S. performers get stiffed from royalties twice. Because U.S. radio stations do not pay a performance royalty for foreign artists either, American artists are not compensated when their music is played on stations around the world.
Yesterday, more than 90 members of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) from across the country met with members of Congress from their home states to call for full performance rights in sound recordings broadcast over AM/FM radio. They asked lawmakers to support the Performance Rights Act (H.R. 848 and S.379), which if enacted would bring the United States in line with almost every other nation in the world.
AFTRA to Honor Four Entertainment Giants
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| AFTRA will honor legendary Motown recording artist Smokey Robinson and others at its annual awards ceremony. |
For five decades, music lovers have sung, danced and rocked to the tunes of Smokey Robinson. The list of his songs reads like a history of rhythm and blues. He sang or wrote such hits as “Shop Around”—Motown’s first number one hit—and such favorites as “Who’s Loving You,” “My Guy,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and “My Girl.”
Now Robinson, the man Bob Dylan proclaimed as America’s “greatest living poet,” will be honored for his lifetime achievement by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ (AFTRA‘s) Foundation during its Media and Entertainment Excellence (AMEE) Awards ceremony on March 9.
Along with Robinson, AFTRA will honor broadcaster Vin Scully, actress Jeanne Cooper and the late Don LaFontaine, a voice-over artist. The AMEE awards recognize members of the union who have made a significant contribution to American culture.
AFTRA Foundation President Shelby Scott says:
The AFTRA Foundation is proud to honor AFTRA members Smokey Robinson, Vin Scully, Jeanne Cooper, and Don LaFontaine for their lifetime of achievements that have entertained and informed audiences around the world.
Nurses Rally in Texas for Patient Protection and More Bargaining News
Hundreds of registered nurses in Texas, represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, rallied for the Texas Hospital Patient Protection Act of 2009—and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND ACTIONS
CNA/NNOC, Texas: Hundreds of registered nurses in Texas, represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), rallied at the state Capitol in support of the Texas Hospital Patient Protection Act of 2009, which cracks down on unsafe hospital practices.
