CMU School of Drama


Friday, September 23, 2011

SAG Re-elects Howard, Aquino, Hodge

Backstage: Ken Howard won re-election as president of the Screen Actors Guild on Thursday in a contest that was never expected to be close and never was. Howard easily defeated three challengers with little to no experience in the guild’s elected leadership, earning 17,492 votes. His opponents combined received 5,583 votes.Howard’s political ally Amy Aquino—who ran unopposed for re-election as secretary-treasurer—interpreted the victory as a reaffirmation by members of their support for a merger between SAG and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Howard and Aquino were elected to their posts in 2009 on a pro-merger platform.

2 comments:

Luke Foco said...

It is interesting to see that the unions are this deeply political. As someone who is not affiliated with any union and has not paid much attention to their inner workings I was surprised at the amount of contention for the New York positions and I do not fully understand why New York was more contested than LA. SAG is a large union and it seems to have political parties and groups within the union. Is this true of all unions?

Brian R. Sekinger said...

It's comforting to hear at least one region in this election made their opinions about the running of SAG clear, even if they didn't win the election. Much like American's elect a President to represent our country, union leaders represent their constituency in meetings and negotiations. Differing opinions are the running of an organization are healthy and promising to hear that even in a union as large as SAG, members aren't afraid to voice their concerns. I also wonder with Luke, what is happening in NY that made them the area of debate. Perhaps it has to do with a higher AEA membership base and a population with more traditional emphasis on theatre than film.