Urgent Call to Action | Email your Representative Today

There are so many industry people out of work. Here's something productive to do to help, from your social distancing home...

Action Alert: Email your reps TODAY to ensure relief packages include SAG-AFTRA members. Members may not be independent contractors or traditional full-time employees. Tell your stories!

Link to original SAG-AFTRA article or read below.

March 17, 2020 

This is a challenging time for all of us. Our lives and our industry are changing in many ways.  One of the things we are deeply focused on is legislative support and relief for SAG-AFTRA members worldwide who are in crisis due to the loss of employment in motion picture, television and live performance productions.

SAG-AFTRA, in collaboration with fellow media unions, is calling on city, state and federal governments to put forward emergency relief packages. We support any legislation that will cover members who have lost work, whether that happens in a targeted bill or as part of a direct cash stimulus for families. American media workers are being sent home, not knowing when or if production will resume.

Please email your senators and representative today to urge them to act now. Tell them union entertainment workers are a unique workforce and are not independent contractors or traditional full-time employees, and WE NEED HELP NOW.

The Trump administration and Congress are negotiating relief packages to respond to mass unemployment. Now is the time to act to make sure families in our industry are included in that relief. 

Due to the short-term nature of entertainment jobs, traditional emergency leave or unemployment benefits are less accessible to media workers. State unemployment insurance benefits can provide some relief but local, state and federal governments must do more to get money into the hands of our industry’s displaced workers.

Please act now to help all SAG-AFTRA members in need.

Email your senators and representative today to urge them to act now.

Strength in unity,

Gabrielle Carteris
President

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How to Message Your Elected Officials

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to your elected officials about the impact the COVID-19 crisis is having on media workers. It will be most effective if you speak from the heart, and if applicable, speak to your own job-loss-related experience. To help you come up with the words to write, we are providing this general guidance:

• Always thank your elected official for listening to your concerns. This is a stressful moment and it is natural to feel angry; however, we want to welcome elected officials to join us in our effort. 
• Inform them that you work in the media industry. Communicate the industry jobs you have (e.g. actor, director, broadcaster, writer, etc.) and that you are a member of the union SAG-AFTRA. 
• Tell them your story and how this crisis has already impacted you. Have you lost jobs already? Are you worried about finding new work? Do you have dependents to care for? 
• Ask the office to work with the entertainment unions, including SAG-AFTRA, to ensure relief packages protect media workers.