SAG-AFTRA Health Plan to Reimburse Travel Expenses for Abortion Care

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA members have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract with Netflix that allows actors more freedom to work on shows on other platforms. The union announced that 89.03% voted in favor of the agreement, which is expected to cover the next four years. The union had been focused on addressing “exclusivity,” under which TV actors have generally been blocked from working on other shows during hiatus periods. Under the new agreement, Netflix will have to designate a three-month period after each season — “a conflict-free window” — during which actors will be allowed to work on any show they want.

Members of SAG-AFTRA have voted resoundingly to ratify a new contract with Netflix. According to the guild, the vote was 89.03% in favor of ratification, although it didn’t release the actual vote count or how many of its 171,000+ members voted.

By an overwhelming 89.03%, SAG-AFTRA members have ratified its new 2022 contract with Netflix, guild leaders announced Wednesday.The contract was tentatively approved by the SAG-AFTRA board on Aug. 8; voting by general membership began Aug.

Lily Moayeri About six weeks ago, locals and visitors to the famed intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street saw one of the bare walls in the area begin to show some shapes and colors. Over on Instagram, posing at the same spot, Los Angeles urban pop artist Tristan Eaton wrote on July 17, “My dream wall is finally happening!” On Aug. 25, the six-story mural, which adorns the south-facing side of the Aster club and hotel, had its official reveal in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The mural was created with spray paint and executed in Eaton’s signature collage style, which mixes pop art and traditional techniques. It’s a salute to Hollywood groundbreakers such as Judy Garland and Sidney Poitier, whose likenesses are the largest figurative elements of the work. Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft, and granddaughter, Vanessa Richards, were among the guests who attended the ribbon-cutting.

Kate Garraway is devastated at the idea of not spending her wedding anniversary with husband Derek Draper, according to reports.

Vogue Williams has hit out at trolls who have sent her vile messages about her baby son Otto and shared a screenshot of comments she's recently received online. The 36 year old took to her Instagram Stories to provide an example of the trolling she's been receiving in her inbox, with one vile social media user targeting baby Otto.

A confluence of hard bargaining and legislative lobbying helped secure significant gains in two new agreements SAG-AFTRA reached earlier this month covering exclusivity, which are standard provisions in TV contracts that can hold TV series regulars off the market and unable to work for unreasonably long periods of time, guild leaders said in a podcast released on Thursday.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterSAG-AFTRA announced on Monday evening that it has reached a tentative agreement with the major studios on actor exclusivity periods, an issue that has become a top priority for the union in recent years.The issue affects actors on TV series, who can find themselves barred from working on other projects for many months or even years between TV seasons. The union has said that the issue has grown acute in the streaming era, with seasons getting shorter and with longer delays between seasons.The union backed a bill, AB 437, in the California legislature, which aims to eliminate exclusivity periods from actors’ contracts.

Fifteen digital and streaming producers and assignment desk editors at Minnesota’s WCCO-TV have been officially recognized as a bargaining unit of SAG-AFTRA after a unanimous vote sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board. The employees at the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, who produce digital content and source info for the newsroom, WCCO.com and the CBS News Minnesota streaming service, began organizational discussions with the union in January 2019. On-air WCCO-TV employees and newsroom producers were already members of the union.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe SAG-AFTRA Health Plan announced Friday that it will reimburse participants for travel costs when they are forced to go out of state for an abortion.The health plan covers eligible members of the union, which represents about 160,000 actors, broadcast journalists, stunt performers, news editors, and other media professionals.The trustees of the plan unanimously approved the new policy, which is retroactive to Aug. 1.

Trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan have unanimously approved a reimbursement benefit to cover travel and lodging expenses related to abortion care for participants who live or work in states that prohibit abortions. “In taking this decisive action,” the trustees said in a press release Friday, “SAG-AFTRA and management Plan trustees are seeking to ensure participants will continue to have access to safe abortion services regardless of where they live or work.”

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, saying that Hollywood’s Covid vaccination mandate “walks the razor’s edge of compromising religious, disability and body sovereignty freedoms,” is urging the guild’s national board to review the most up-to-date science on the effectiveness of vaccines on the spread of the virus’ latest variant before agreeing to extend the industry’s vaccination mandate.

SAG-AFTRA’s national board has voted overwhelmingly to approve a new three-year contract with Netflix. The contract now goes to the guild’s membership for ratification.

statement on his website. “Extending this program will help ensure California’s world-renowned entertainment industry continues to drive economic growth with good jobs and a diverse, inclusive workforce.”If the bill, dubbed “SB 485,” is passed, it would extend the credit past 2025, which is when the current tax credit is expected to expire.Newsom also tweeted out an ad on Wednesday slated to run in newspapers that condemns anti-abortion states like Georgia and Oklahoma, which it claims have “waged a cruel assault on essential rights.”Today, Hollywood will wake up to this ad.Time to choose.You can protect your workers, or continue to support anti-abortion states that rule with hatred.We’re here for you.