The truth about staff pensions.
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They have virtually no effect on our bottom line, yet they allow us to retain top talent. Risking the loss of our most valued staff could cost us tens of millions in poor decisions and contract negotiations. Want to reduce their accrual rates? Then get ready to pay them much higher salaries to match their for-profit sector counterparts, costing us substantially more.

FIRST, SOME HISTORY:
In the early 2000’s, when SAG-PPHP agreed to cover Screen Actors Guild staff, the union was bleeding money as a result of rapidly expanding staff benefit costs. At the time, staff benefits were provided through private insurers at significant cost to the union’s general treasury. That means it was OUR dues money paying for it. So it was a tremendous benefit to members when SAG-PPHP agreed to include this small group of additional participants (literally 1% of pensioners and 2% of health plan participants), thereby reducing substantially the amount of member dues money that the union had to spend to pay for staff benefits. This freed up money for our union to focus on members.
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All of this happened under different (previous) union leadership but still, the changes to staff benefits had to be accepted by the then-current employees of SAG, including by the many internal unions that represent our staff across the country. There were commitments made to our employees about their benefits at that time and in the future. Accordingly, the pension benefit, including such things as the accrual rate for staff, cannot simply be yanked away. The union trustees surely understand the complexity of this issue and we should all understand the tremendous benefit to members to have great benefits for our staff at limited cost to the union and minimal costs to the Plans.
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IMPORTANTLY, having good benefits for our employees has helped us stop Producers from poaching our best staff and has SAVED our union money. In the past 5 years, Netflix, CBS, NBC and others have lured our staff away – after we spent time and money to train them in the business – with higher salaries, big bonuses and company stock. This is not good for members and we don’t want to go back to being the training camp for future studio executives. Having an excellent benefits package for our staff – the people who negotiate and enforce your contracts, protect and distribute your residuals and look out for you in myriad other ways – helps us retain them in the face of competition from studios, advertisers, law firms and other companies. If the union reduces their benefits, then it will have to offset that loss with higher salaries – salaries that come directly out of your dues money. In other words, it will cost members more money.

KEEP IN MIND:
Staff are our representatives, negotiators and contract enforcers. They’re prohibited from competing for our jobs, they don't earn residuals or royalties, and they could make twice as much money working against us at a studio or network. It is absolutely paramount that we attract and retain the best possible staff to fight day in and day out on our behalf.
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ACCRUAL RATES:
SAG took a big hit in 2008 by refusing to negotiate a new TV/Theatrical contract which lost SAG members over $100 million in pay raises and SAG Pension BENEFIT contributions. MF(the same people) were leading SAG. At that time both staff and members had the same accrual rate (3.5%).
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The plans took an almost catastrophic hit due to a plunge in contributions from losing TV to AFTRA, in addition to the implosion of the financial markets. In order to keep the plans on stable footing, the Trustees elected to lower members’ accrual rate to 2% with the long-term goal of raising it back to 3.5%.

This deal brought members great gains as well as leverage against the AMPTP for the upcoming TV/Theatrical negotiation.
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The terms of the agreement were all drawn from the long wish list of member proposals over the last couple of years:

• Created scale minimums for everything it produces—regardless of budget! That means no more $400/day offers from Netflix projects
• Better theatrical residuals
• Incorporates episodic/tv residual structure from last AMPTP negotiations which was a huge gain on the residual structure that was in existence before that
• Covers performance capture
• Substantially better exclusivity and options terms for performers
• Sexual harassment protections in the contract

The proposed agreement was then brought to the TV/TH standing committee which had the authority to reject and send it back or to discuss and vote on. They discussed the deal at length and then passed it overwhelmingly.

The committee then sent it the National Board with a recommendation to approve.
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The National Board passed the deal overwhelmingly. NO ONE MADE A MOTION, nor asked for it to go out to the membership, which they could have done at any time.
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Does it need to be sent out to the membership?
Per the SAG-AFTRA constitution, large, multi-employer contracts like commercials and the TV/TH contract automatically go out to the membership.

Single employer contracts, like this new contract with Netflix, do not have to be unless the board determines they should.
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Want to learn more?

There were excellent write-ups in the following magazines:

‍LA Business Journal

The Hollywood Reporter

Contrary to statements about residuals disappearing, UFS is leading the way in improving our residuals structure in HBSVOD.

The truth is complicated, but it’s important to note that with the markets evolving (fewer network reruns, etc.) we are focused on improving residuals in the areas where we see dramatic growth; like HBSVOD, where a show may live for years.

In 2017 we successfully improved the Episodic/TV streaming residual formula by over 300% and an additional 25 - 45% in 2020.

In short, no.

The Pension and Health plans are entirely separate from SAG-AFTRA.

50% of the trustees on all three plans (SAG-AFTRA HEALTH, SAG Pension and AFTRA Retirement) are union appointed. Management (AMPTP, JPC) has the other 50%, which means agreements have to be made between both sides to make changes to the plans.

In other words, the union trustees and management trustees must negotiate changes to these plans: they are not unilaterally decided solely by the union’s trustees.

The national board appoints our union-side trustees through nomination and voting. The names of the trustees are on each of the different plan pages under the “about” tabs.

Being a trustee requires the member to accept personal financial responsibility for any malfeasance to these plans: it is not a responsibility to be taken lightly, which speaks volumes for the integrity that comprises our trustees.

We have past presidents, past secretary-treasurers, past officers, members-at-large and a couple of executive staff on our trustee side.

Trustees must also participate in continuing trustee education.

In order to purchase a building, we must first ensure that contract enforcement, contract negotiations, and a solid reserve fund are in place.

When MF was leading SAG, they put the union in a deep financial hole. After the merger with AFTRA, we have been slowly and steadily repairing the union’s finances and building a reserve fund so that we are prepared in the event of a strike.

SAG-AFTRA has completed initial research and found that there are no buildings currently available that are big enough, affordable enough, and offer easy accessibility to the membership to house our headquarters.

SAG-AFTRA will continue to evaluate the feasibility of purchasing a building, but in the meantime our current lease is below the market rate and a responsible expenditure of our funds.

It is centrally located, close to the studios, and easily accessible to a substantial portion of the membership.

SAG-AFTRA is a nationwide union with 25 locals and offices throughout the country.

We are very proud of the work that we have been doing on this extremely important issue.

The work is ongoing, but the SAG-AFTRA website actually lists some of the many examples of what the union is doing to lead the way:

• Expanded our existing 24/7 safety hotline to include a specialized trauma line staffed by clinicians for those working in our jurisdiction who are experiencing, or who have suffered, sexual harassment or assault.
• Provided customized in-person training for over 100 first and rapid-responder staff across the organization which included specialized assessment and intervention training for field reps.
• Achieved new provisions in our Commercials and Network Television Code contracts including explicit personal harassment protections and the end of auditions in hotels and private residences.
• Held dozens of education and empowerment events in LA, NYC, Chicago, Georgia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Oklahoma, Detroit, and other locations.
• Hired expert staff on both coasts for intake and case management of harassment and discrimination complaints.
• Introduced a dedicated service offering confidential crisis and short-term supportive counseling, education on individual rights and legal avenues, referrals to related resources and, when needed, referrals for other clinical services. Created through a collaborative effort of SAG-AFTRA, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, and the Actors Fund, which administers the program.
• Advocated for the passage of crucial legislation that enhances and strengthens sexual harassment city and state laws in California, New York, Hawaii and elsewhere.
• Sustained significant public policy efforts to go after tools of silence, expand the statute of limitations, allow independent contractors to sue, etc.
• Sponsored and supported legislation that bans image-based sexual abuse. Specifically, two current bills that go after nonconsensual digitized nudity and sex scenes (the modern day body doubling violation).
• Focused attention through the SAG-AFTRA podcast premiere episode: “Sexual Harassment, Have We Reached a Turning Point” and another in the first season: “Who Controls Your Rights: From Deepfakes to Resurrecting the Dead.”
• Continued work with the International Federation of Actors (FIA) Sexual Harassment Work Group in developing a global code of conduct and guidelines to protect actors wherever they work.
• Released the SAG-AFTRA Code of Conduct to the Actors Guild of India for their use as a template in developing sexual harassment provisions and industry standards for performers and others workers in the massive Indian film and television production business.
• Continued our collaboration with AFL-CIO leadership and affiliated partners to create best-practice recommendations for the protection of workers across industries and geographies.
• Advocated for global protections at the FIA executive conference in Tokyo, Japan. President and NED appeared on an expert panel on best practices in preventing sexual harassment. The conference, sponsored by the Japan Actors Union, hosted several hundred guests including ranking representatives from government, the entertainment industry, and performing artists organizations.

Full list available on the SAG-AFTRA website: https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-harassment-initiative-faq-0

We have recently promulgated a new Low Budget, platform agnostic approach to low budget production. It includes substantial pay raises for members and wages indexed to our master contract. 

The SPA (Short Project Agreement) gives member producers more flexibility in shooting low budget projects without leaping through too many hoops.

The signatory process still needs improvement and remains something we are focused on to make it more responsive and communicative to both producers and members.