SAG-AFTRA Finances Improve, $9.1 Million Surplus Posted!

Citing increased dues and initiation fees along with expense management, SAG-AFTRA has posted a $9.1 million surplus for its fiscal year ended April 30 — a 14% improvement from the previous $8 million surplus.

Secretary-treasurer Amy Aquino and CFO Arianna Ozzanto reported Saturday on the year-end financials at the union’s national board meeting. The report included an unqualified audit opinion from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

SAG-AFTRA’s initiation fee is $3,000 and annual base dues are $201.96. Work dues are calculated at 1.575% of covered earnings up to $500,000 annually.

National executive director David White also reported on the union’s efforts to speed up delivery of residual checks to members, asserting that SAG-AFTRA has kept the time period to under 30 days in 14 of the past 17 months, dating back to the year before the 2012 merger of SAG and AFTRA.

Variety reported last year that the union had cut the average time for residual deliveries to three weeks from eight weeks in 2013. At that point, White had cited extensive internal efforts to speed up the delivery time in the wake of years of complaints by members about the long waits for the checks.

SAG-AFTRA processed 3.5 million residual checks in 2013.

The union had 156,894 dues-current members as of April 30, 2014, according to the LM-2 report it filed with the U.S. Dept. of Labor. That document showed assets of $204.9 million and liabilities of $183.6 million, including $153 million from funds held in trust for others.

SAG-AFTRA president Ken Howard also told the board at the meeting that he will be attending the AFL-CIO executive council meeting in Washington, D. C., later this month..

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We’re in the money, we’re in the money…..I, I, I think!

Arl

The Ol’ SAG Watchdog

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