SAG-AFTRA posts record income and dues
The most recent financial reports from SAG-AFTRA, the actors union that represents roughly 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcasters, dancers, singers, songwriters and other people in the entertainment industry, showed that the organization’s income went over the $200 million mark for the first time, and dues topped $100 million for the first time.
SAG-AFTRA
The union filed a detailed report to the U.S. Department of Labor that noted that the union’s net assets have almost quadrupled during the past four years. Part of the rise may be due to the fact that staff salaries are down by 17%, but much of it has come from investments, which are up 25% from four years ago – when SAG and AFTRA merged – at $45.6 million.
The union collected $105 million in dues during the past year, up 35% from the year following the merger. Strangely, there are fewer active members than in 2012, meaning those members are making more on their union contracts, thus paying more in dues.
Not everything is rosy for everyone in the union, however. Funds held in trust for others have increased by 4.5%, which on the surface sounds positive, but several artists have had issues with the accounting of those funds, especially those that relate to “foreign royalties.” According to a story by Variety, the union insisted in 2014 that the bulk of those funds held in trust relate to production security deposits and residuals reserves, and just a small portion to foreign royalties. It has never given a specific breakdown of those funds by their categories, however.
A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson said this, according to the Variety story:
“The performers residuals payments category declined because distributions greatly outpaced deposits in the core residuals payments line. In the foreign royalties line, we collected slightly more than we distributed for the period.”
A suit led by Ed Asner and 15 other members was filed in May 2013, alleging the union had improperly withheld $132 million in funds and had not given proper information about the money held in trust. That suit was dismissed by a federal judge in January 2014, but the fight may not be over.
So long as SAG-AFTRA continues to earn record numbers, lawsuits may increase as well.