January Flash! A New Year's message from President Reardon.

Dear AFTRA Member:

Happy New Year! AFTRA members had many achievements to celebrate in 2010, and we have much to prepare for in 2011. Change is happening fast around us – in our industries, our communities and our personal lives – and through our union, AFTRA, we have the chance to take action and help shape our collective future.

This year is a Convention year for AFTRA. The AFTRA National Convention is our union’s highest governing body, where hundreds of delegates – who are elected by each Local’s membership from among each Local’s membership – gather together to vote on important resolutions and constitutional amendments, elect our national officers and determine our union’s course for the future. Just as important, the Convention is a place where AFTRA members from different Locals and different categories of work come together to share experiences and ideas with each other about what works, what doesn’t – and why – and build consensus about our strategy for the future. Whether you’re a new AFTRA member or a longtime activist, please consider running for election as a Delegate and, at a minimum, voting in your Local’s delegates’ election.

In 2011, AFTRA’s Interactive Media Agreement (covering videogames), Non-Broadcast/Industrial/Educational Code and Network Television Code “Front of the Book” (which covers daytime serials, dramas in first-run syndication, variety, reality, game and talk shows, sports and morning news magazine programs) are each up for renegotiation. These contracts are important to working members throughout the nation who rely on these AFTRA contracts to support their families, earn health and retirement benefits and sustain them as they pursue careers in a competitive marketplace. Please keep an eye out for W&W notices from your AFTRA Local and get involved in these discussions which affect your future!

We’re moving forward with our Presidents’ Forum for One Union discussions with our SAG counterparts, including kicking off the Presidents’ Forum Listening Tour. The tour is an opportunity for the elected leaders of our two unions to sit with working members representing a cross section of our various categories in different parts of the country, to hear their concerns, desires and their vision of the future. We’re holding several Listening Tour meetings in Los Angeles this weekend, with similar Listening Tour sessions in other Locals scheduled for late January and with more to follow in upcoming months. This process is vitally important to ensuring, as we move forward, we create a new combined national union that members want and need – and to do that, we need to listen to working members across the country.

So, from our AFTRA National Convention in July, to our upcoming AFTRA contract negotiations, to our One Union discussions, every AFTRA member needs to get involved so our union’s future work addresses your concerns and needs. AFTRA members’ shared involvement and success will help ensure that as we move forward, we will act powerfully and collectively through our union as agents of positive change in our workplaces, in our communities and in our lives.

On behalf of the AFTRA National Board of Directors and the National Officers of AFTRA, I wish you and yours a very happy, healthy and successful year in 2011.

In solidarity,

Roberta Reardon
National President
AFTRA, AFL-CIO

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