{"id":222882,"date":"2025-09-13T06:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T06:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/222882\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T06:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T06:33:09","slug":"sean-astin-elected-sag-aftra-president-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/222882\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Astin Elected SAG-AFTRA President"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSean Astin<\/a> followed in the footsteps of his mother Patty Duke on Friday as he was elected SAG-AFTRA<\/a> president 37 years after she left the post.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Lord of the Rings actor will preside over the sprawling 160,000-member union alongside his running mate Michelle Hurd, who was appointed secretary-treasurer. Astin won nearly 80 percent of the vote, while his opponent Chuck Slavin earned a little more than 20 percent. Hurd racked up about 65 percent of the vote, with her opponent Peter Antico receiving more than 35 percent support. <\/p>\n

\n\tVoter turnout was low, with 17.34 percent of ballots being returned in the national election. By contrast, 2023\u2019s turnout was 22.84 percent and 2021\u2019s was 26.49 percent.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNow is a time for optimism and creativity. I am thrilled that the members have allowed me to lead our storied organization out of this challenging moment and into a future defined by confidence, progress and fierce advocacy,\u201d Astin said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m excited to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her own statement, Hurd promised to \u201cguard and grow\u201d the union\u2019s resources. She added, \u201cOur industry is at a transitional moment, and we are facing real challenges, but I am optimistic and ready to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith incumbent president Fran Drescher deciding not to run<\/a> for re-election, Astin and Hurd ran on a joint platform<\/a> of bringing production back to the U.S., improving access to health and pension plans, prioritizing residuals in contract negotiations and fighting for improved AI protections.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey represent something of a continuation of Drescher\u2019s leadership: Both Astin and Hurd served as members of the 2023 negotiating committee and on the national board under The Nanny star. After Drescher brought together two warring political factions within the union for its 2023 election, amid the union\u2019s film and TV strike, Astin\u2019s \u201cCoalition 2025\u201d slate did the same. Astin, after all, was once a member of the Membership First group, while Hurd was a member of their longtime rival, Unite for Strength.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Astin and Hurd\u2019s opponents promised a major change in union politics. Slavin and Antico were critics of COVID-19 vaccine mandates on union productions and Astin\u2019s non-union work on The Lord of the Rings. Slavin also wanted to overhaul the union\u2019s AI protections and expand members\u2019 access to the union health plan. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement on Friday, Slavin thanked \u201ceveryone who supported our campaign thus far and believed in our vision for a stronger, more accountable union.\u201d He also claimed that he faced challenges during the election including \u201cgoing up against the entrenched political machine that protects the status quo\u201d and \u201cthe powerful Hollywood elite who wield influence to maintain their grip on power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe union\u2019s local elections also concluded on Friday. In Los Angeles, the union\u2019s incumbent secretary-treasurer Joely Fisher was elected local president, while in New York Ezra Knight won the same post.<\/p>\n

\n\tAstin and Hurd won\u2019t have long to settle into their new roles before they are thrust into preparation and planning for the union\u2019s 2026 film and television contract negotiations. The first return to the bargaining table since the actors\u2019 2023 strike will begin some time next year ahead of the current SAG-AFTRA deal\u2019s June 30, 2026 expiration date.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains union contracts on behalf of studios and streamers, was very quick to send a statement on Friday about the election results. \u201cWe look forward to working with President Astin to address the issues most important to SAG-AFTRA performers while promoting stability and opportunity across our industry,\u201d the group stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sean Astin followed in the footsteps of his mother Patty Duke on Friday as he was elected SAG-AFTRA…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":58989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,606,42859,32761,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-222882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-labor","10":"tag-sag-aftra","11":"tag-sean-astin","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115195596705146277","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}