VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Dan-O]

This was written in September of 2005. It features three VO talent and a summation of Union vs Non-Union. It is well worth your time.

http://www.icommag.com/september-2005/september-page-1.html

[bobsouer]

Dan,

Thanks for posting this link. Excellent stuff.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[ConnieTerwilliger]

Yes, very interesting, but also very one-sided as all three people interviewed are all long-time AFTRA talent working in a strong AFTRA market.

From the article:

"At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of AFTRA and SAG members who have chosen to become Financial Core members (who may not vote on union matters or hold union office). Most choosing Financial Core membership have never made enough to qualify for the unions’ health insurance plans or have lost union health insurance coverage due to the lack of work."

Many choosing Financial Core are long-time members who are working in markets where AFTRA work has disappeared. They used to make enough money doing their chosen profession to qualify for Health benefits, but the AFTRA jobs diminished, the sigs disappeared and the pool of talent grew.

"Financial Core membership allows them to pay dues on the union work they do and to have that work count toward their union pension and health insurance funds. It also allows them to work non-union jobs without penalties from the union."

True enough.

"Financial Core members are unofficially considered second class citizens or traitors by most union members. Depending on whom you ask, only non-union talent are respected less."

Huh? Very odd sentence. You have Union, Financial Core and Non-union...what else is there?

"It will be interesting to see if the growing non-union talent pool begins to see Financial Core membership as a more gradual entrance into the unions; one that will allow them to keep their non-union preferring clients as they shoot for signatory producers who play by union rules. The new initiation fees coming in to union coffers might enable the unions to make a stronger case for all of their members."

You cannot be Financial Core unless you are already a member and have paid the initiation fee, so this is completely misleading.

It took me years to decide to go Financial Core - this after being President of the San Diego local for a while. I had a part-time staff job at a TV station with an AFTRA contract and there were numerous AFTRA sigs in the agencies and production companies. But there is simply no AFTRA work here anymore. Finding a sig in this town is difficult.

The last AFTRA job I did was through one of my agents for a client in Indiana. There are SAG jobs here, because of the movie studio in town, but AFTRA - zip, nada.

If I lived and worked in a town with stronger AFTRA support, I would never have made the decision I did. But as the stations went, so did the agencies and the production companies. We don't even have an office anymore.

I wanted to work in my field - and I didn't have a working spouse to support me - nor did I want to wait tables or sell real estate while waiting for an AFTRA job to come in the door. OK, a bit of hyperbole there, as I am a long time producer and writer, as well as talent, but I didn't want to produce anymore - I wanted to do voice work.

And the part about W-2 or 1099 work - ("Non-union talent frequently get paid under the IRS radar as contractors rather than as employees.") - I know I report my earnings! And because so much of what I do is self-directed on my own time with my own equipment - I AM a contractor, not an employee.

However, when I am on a set with a director, using their mics and their clothes on their schedule...well, you get the picture.

No matter if you work union or non-union, you need to understand the business - your right to get paid for what you do. Union contracts are simply contracts. If you are working non-union, develop your own contracts.

Can't keep going - have a ton of work to do...
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Playing for a living...
www.voiceover-talent.com
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/connieterwilliger

[bobsouer]

Connie,

Excellent thoughts, and very well expressed. I too wrestled with the Financial Core question for a long time, having been very active in the Pittsburgh local.

But, moving to a "right to work" state and finding (as with your situation in San Diego) essentially no union jobs; the decision got a bit easier.

The one thing I didn't note until reading your quotes from the article was the strange reference to Financial Core "membership." Financial Core is officially "dues-paying NON-member" status. As you said, one has to already be a member of the union in order to resign from it and claim Financial Core status. So, Financial Core isn't "membership" in anything.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[jeffgad]

Ditto. After twenty years of freelance AFTRA-SAG work exclusively, I was forced to either go Fi-Core, or find a real job. I too, had been a board member of the local. I'm still able to meet minimums for health care for my family through the unions, but it gets tougher every year. In talking to talent around the country, it appears to me that since the 2000 strike, it's become nearly impossible to sustain a freelance union career outside NY or LA.