FINANCIAL CORE (Fi-Core)
“Fi-Core,” short for “Financial Core,” is one of the most misunderstood issues by our members. Many actors, agents, managers, casting directors and other industry professionals do not fully understand what it is, and are therefore making uninformed, unwise, and potentially career-destroying decisions or recommendations about it to performers.
Currently, only roughly 3,000 performers are officially Fi-Core nationwide. However, a few thousand union members are falsely claiming to be Fi-Core, what we’ve internally come to call “Lie-Core.” They either didn’t know how to officially become Fi-Core, or had no intention to and are willfully misleading casting and clients so they can work non-union jobs, or what we call working “off the card,” and hoping they won’t get caught.
Worse is the additional thousands of union members who don’t even claim to be Fi-Core and just work off the card. It has created a race to the bottom of desperate performers willing to work at any price, cutting the legs out from under the one entity fighting to establish and maintain at least minimum standards for everyone, SAG-AFTRA.
All of this is very troubling for union members who stand strong in solidarity with each other to draw a line in the sand that producers can’t cross.
Why would anyone want to undermine the union and its ability to do these things? That’s at the heart of the “Fi-Core” issue in the acting community.
WHAT IS FI-CORE?
A union eligible person can reject, or a union member can resign from, membership in any union in the country by officially electing to go “Financial Core” and still keep the right to work in that union’s workplaces as long as they continue to pay fees for the core functions of the union: negotiating and enforcing your employment contracts. As a “Fee-Paying Non-Member,” they do not have to pay for any of the non-core activities of the union, but they also lose all the privileges of membership.
As it relates to actors and SAG-AFTRA:
1// Fi-Core actors are not members of SAG-AFTRA and cannot claim to be union.
Fi-Core performers have resigned or rejected SAG-AFTRA membership, and as such are not union members. They cannot claim to be SAG-AFTRA on their online casting profiles or list it on their resume. They are non-union performers with the right to work on a union set.
2// SAG-AFTRA didn’t start it and can’t stop it without legislation. It is national labor law.
Fi-Core status is the result of Supreme Court decisions that came out of lawsuits involving auto and communications workers and their unions. Any member of any union can resign and go Fi-Core. Our union cannot refuse to comply with national labor law and cannot discriminate against Fi-Core status performers.
3// Fi-Core status was created when workers disagreed with paying for their union’s political activities.
If someone identifies with a political party and their union endorses or financially supports an opposing political party; they can resign, not pay for things like that, and still work their union job by paying fees supporting the core functions of the union. That’s what Fi-Core was created for; to protect workers’ rights to free speech, not to undermine the union they rely on to negotiate fair wages and working conditions.
4// Fi-Core status was never meant to harm unions, but it uniquely hurts ours by accident.
95% of unionized workers nationwide work one job at a time for one employer at a time that pays them a livable wage. Those workers’ lives fully depend on the strength of their union.
But because most performers have to work multiple jobs for multiple employers in an effort to make a living, for some there may be a temptation to work non-union jobs. However, this undermines the union and our individual value by making it possible for producers to hire performers without meeting union-negotiated standards.
The greater the number of performers willing to work non-union jobs, the weaker SAG-AFTRA is in negotiations and financial health.
5// Because of this potential for harm, union members are not allowed to work non-union jobs.
SAG-AFTRA Global Rule One prohibits our members from working non-union jobs. Violating this rule comes with serious consequences like fines and even permanent expulsion. Technology is making it easier than ever to catch violators.
6// A legal loophole enables Fi-Core actors to avoid accountability for hurting the union.
If a member resigns and elects to go Fi-Core, they are no longer a member of the union. As a “Fee-Paying Non-Member,” the union cannot discipline them for violating Global Rule One, because union rules only apply to its members. That legal loophole allows Fi-Core actors to still technically work SAG-AFTRA jobs even if they are undermining the union by working non-union jobs too.
FI-CORE ACTORS HURT OUR SISTER UNIONS
When an employer produces non-union projects, it doesn’t just affect performers. It also affects our sister entertainment unions, like DGA, WGA, IATSE, Teamsters and many others. But actors, in particular, are the faces and voices of these projects, so when considering Fi-Core, performers need to ask themselves if they support the value of the members of these sister entertainment unions as well. Going Fi-Core as an excuse to work non-union is not neutral, it’s anti-union.
That is why many entertainment union industry professionals view Fi-Core performers as union-busting: someone who is willing to take the job of a union member who is holding the line and fighting for better pay and conditions for all. And, in some cases, they’re not wrong.
Most industry pros are progressive, pro-union, and/or unionized themselves. And so, just because Fi-Core performers can still, technically, work union jobs, it doesn’t mean they’ll get those opportunities. Many casting directors reserve union auditions for union members, and Fi-Core performers are brought in for non-union jobs. In almost all cases, performers who go Fi-Core see their yearly union earnings decrease.
WE ARE STRONGER AS UNION MEMBERS
Businesses will reduce costs and boost profits to the extent that performers will let them. Thankfully, we have a union structure that exists to fight against the corporate profit mandate. As individuals, we have little bargaining power. United, we have tremendous power.
The value and future of our art, our profession, and our union is at stake. It’s up to all of us to protect that value.