AFTRA's ongoing restructuring continued Sunday as the national board approved the relocation of its headquarters from New York to Los Angeles.
Several executive appointments also were made as the board met over the weekend via videoconference from New York and Los Angeles.
The relocation is set to take place next year after the conclusion of the sound recordings and commercials contract negotiations.
"The board's decision to establish its national headquarters in Los Angeles, while maintaining a strong national presence in New York, Washington and Nashville, is a bold statement that reaffirms AFTRA's commitment to organizing and protecting the interests of actors, broadcasters and recording artists working in the rapidly evolving areas of entertainment, media and sound recordings in the 21st century," AFTRA president John Connolly said.
Most departments and national executive director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth will relocate to Los Angeles, where the union currently works out of the same mid-Wilshire building as SAG. The national department of news and broadcast will keep its headquarters in New York.
The relocation was a top priority of the restructuring plans announced in July 2004. Without the changes, including the closure of some offices and a reduction of the size of the board, it was estimated that the union representing about 80,000 television and radio artists would begin running annual deficits of at least $3 million.
The weekend meeting also saw the appointment of Randall Himes to assistant national executive director of sound recordings. He will remain in Nashville and concentrate on organizing sound recording artists, contract administration and protecting member rights.
AFTRA national representative Stefanie Taub has been appointed national manager of sound recordings/West Coast. She will oversee a new department based in Los Angeles.
AFTRA national director of news/broadcast Tom Carpenter has been appointed general counsel/director of legislative affairs.
Terrie Bjorklund has been appointed associate general counsel/copyright and intellectual property.
Lori Rassas has been named assistant counsel and will continue to work out of the New York offices.
The Los Angeles local, which had been led by John Russum, will be led on an interim basis by Mathis Dunn Jr., assistant national executive director of commercials, nonbroadcast and interactive media.
With the recent departures of Russum and Rebecca Rhine to SAG -- where they immediately were fired in a shake-up of the executive ranks -- AFTRA plans to announce new directors of communication and organizing before the end of the year.
Separately, AFTRA has agreed to participate in the AFL-CIO's Industrial Coordinating Committee, a coalition of arts and entertainment unions that intends to work together on public policy and collective-bargaining issues.
The weekend meeting also updated the board on financial results for the first quarter of the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which saw revenue improve over the same period a year ago. The AFTRA Health & Retirement Funds also had positive results, though there was a warning that additional changes will be made to the health plan in 2007 unless there is a notable government response to rapid increases in health-care costs.
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Jesse Hiestand writes for The Hollywood Reporter.
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