This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we've covered all 65 of our affiliates. Next up is SAG-AFTRA.
Name of Union: Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
Mission: SAG-AFTRA combines two great American labor unions, founded in the 1930s, to fight for and secure the strongest protections for media artists. SAG-AFTRA was formed to preserve those hard-won rights and to continue the fight to extend and expand those protections.
Current Leadership of Union: Sean Astin was elected SAG-AFTRA president in September 2025. Linda Powell serves as executive vice president and Michelle Hurd serves as secretary-treasurer. SAG-AFTRA has seven vice presidents: Lisa Ann Walter (Los Angeles), Ezra Knight (New York), Nikki Izanec (Mid-Sized Locals), Suzanne Burkhead (Small Locals), Shari Belafonte (Actors/Performers), Bob Butler (Broadcasters) and Fletcher Sheridan (Recording Artists/Singers).
Number of Members: 160,000
Members Work As: Actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news directors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists, influencers, intimacy coordinators and other media professionals.
Industries Represented: Broadcast, film, television, online media, sound recordings, new media and streaming.
History: The Screen Actors Guild formed in 1933 during the heyday of the Hollywood studio system. Six actors came together to discuss forming a self-governing organization of film actors. One of the new organization’s first actions was protesting provisions in the U.S. government’s proposed Code of Fair Competition for motion pictures that were objectionable to actors, including salary limitations, licensing of agents by the producers and giving studios a right of first refusal when a contract ended, thus limiting an actor’s bargaining power.
In 1937, the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA), which would become AFTRA in 1952 after it merged with Television Authority, was founded. That same year, SAG negotiated its first contract, with 13 producers signing on. AFRA signed its first national contract the next year. AFRA engaged in its first strike in 1941, against radio station WKRC Cincinnati. SAG held its first strike, which was related to televised commercials, in 1952–53.
During the 1950s and ’60s, a major shift for both unions was a stronger focus on battling discrimination, both in front of the camera and behind it. They spent the remainder of the century dealing with the expansion of broadcast productions and the growth of new technologies that would continually change the industry well into the 2000s.
Talk of merging the various performer unions, including SAG and AFRA (as it was known then), began as early as the late 1930s, but the merger into SAG-AFTRA wouldn’t be accomplished until 2012, AFTRA’s 75th anniversary year. The merger was overwhelmingly approved by the membership of each union, and SAG President Ken Howard and AFTRA President Roberta Reardon became the first SAG-AFTRA co-presidents.
Ken Howard first became president of SAG-AFTRA in 2013. Reelected in 2015, he passed away seven months later in March 2016. Executive Vice President Gabrielle Carteris succeeded Howard and was elected president by a membership vote in 2017 and 2019. In 2021, Fran Drescher was elected SAG-AFTRA president.
Drescher led the union during the historic 2023 TV/Theatrical/Streaming strike, which ended after 118 days and secured a $1 billion contract and essential artificial intelligence (AI) guardrails for performers. Since 2023, the union has been able to secure even more robust contract language protecting performers’ rights in the AI age. SAG-AFTRA-supported AI legislation has also been implemented in numerous states and on the federal level. In 2025, the union’s nearly yearlong strike against video game employers ended with a deal establishing important wage increases, necessary performer safety guardrails, and essential consent and disclosure requirements for AI digital replica use and the ability for performers to suspend consent for the generation of new material during a strike.
Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: Since 2017, SAG-AFTRA has recognized AI as a threat to members’ livelihoods and has been pursuing contract language, legislation and advocacy work to establish the necessary guardrails.
Co-founded in 2018 by SAG-AFTRA, the AFL-CIO and AFL-CIO Tech Institute, the Labor Innovation & Technology Summit (LIT Summit) is held regularly concurrently with the consumer trade show CES, and delivers critical strategies for addressing worker empowerment during times of advancing technology. The LIT Summit centers working people in conversations about innovation and technology change while focusing on worker advocacy, policies and programs that ensure working people thrive alongside innovation. From information and education to labor-management collaboration and training initiatives, the summit shines a light on the people driving change and progress.
In May 2025, SAG-AFTRA championed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which introduced comprehensive legal protections against nonconsensual intimate visual depictions (including deepfakes) on online platforms, and was signed into federal law. The union’s current, most pressing legislative push is for the passage of the NO FAKES Act. The legislation would prohibit the nonconsensual use of a voice or likeness digital replica in sound recordings and audiovisual works and would create the firstr intellectual property right in voice and likeness, allowing individuals to notify online platforms about replicas and demand takedowns.
In September 2025, Time magazine named SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland to the Time100 AI list in recognition of his work “forging protections for workers whose livelihoods are threatened by AI”
In addition, for 32 years, The Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA have recognized the most outstanding acting performances of the year. Members Organizing Volunteer Efforts (MOVE) helps connect members to the greater labor movement as well as community and charitable activities. SAG-AFTRA’s diversity committees seek to improve diversity and protections for actors of diverse backgrounds. For news and announcements related to the industry, SAG-AFTRA publishes a podcast in both English and Spanish as well as an award-winning magazine. The SAG-AFTRA shop sells branded gear.
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