The Time Has Come for the Screen Actors Guild to Demand a Real Raise for Background Artists

As you can see from Screen Actors Guild Member, Pete Antico's, Campaign Platform in his 2017 run for SAG-AFTRA President, the very serious issues affecting the health, safety & livelihood of the Screen Actors Guild’s Majority Membership - Background Artists - have sadly not changed.

Like an unrelenting infection determined to eat away at the core of the Union, the Screen Actors Guild’s persistent failure to demand a fair pay wage for our Union’s Majority Membership - Background Artists - coupled with SAG-AFTRA's perennial endorsement of the continued reduction in Union Background Jobs in all film & television Production Contracts in addition to SAG-AFTRA’s abject failure to advocate for an actual Raise for Background Artists for too many years to count, has allowed these critical issues to fester.

So the time has come for the Screen Actors Guild to stand up for its Majority Membership and Demand a Real Raise for Background Artists.

As all the members of the Screen Actors Guild (not just principals & stars) are entitled to a fair wage, safe working conditions, a reasonable opportunity to access our own Union Health Insurance Plan and the right to be treated with dignity, and as the Majority Membership - Background Artists - stood in solidarity with our Union Principal Actor Brothers & Sisters during the 2000 Actors Strike, the Background Artists Coalition hopes all Union Members - SAG-AFTRA and otherwise (including e.g., AEA, WGA, et al) - will stand in solidarity with Background Artists and hold the line as our Union continues to engage with the upcoming 2020 Contract Negotiations now and in the coming weeks and months.

Thanks so much and here’s the key paragraph from Antico’s 2017 Campaign Platform that tragically still rings true today:

“The following are areas of concern I have with the current contract, and proposed contract.

Background did not get a job increase. The pay for Background Actors is very close to what it was 40 years ago” By Pete Antico in 2017.

For more information about the Background Artists Coalition (BAC) and our efforts to advocate for a fair wage; a reasonable opportunity to access our own Union Health Insurance (into which we all contribute whether eligible to benefit from it or not); a Restoration of the Union Background Jobs given away by the Screen Actor's Guild in the 2017 Contract and proportionate representation on our Union's National Board, please visit the Background Artists Coalition FB Page and our website & blog here @ https://backgroundartistsc.wixsite.com/backgroundartistscoa.

And, as we are all in this together, please share this important information that affects the health, safety & livelihood of Union Background Artists with all your friends & colleagues.

#majoritymembership #sagaftramajoritymembership #fairpay #fairwage #restoreunionjobs #sagaftracontract #unitedwestand #weareallinthistogether

https://www.peteantico.com/pete-anticos-sagaftra-prez-letter-201

Background Artists add dramatic depth & texture to what an audience sees on screen