David White, national executive director of SAG-AFTRA, says he felt terrible when he had to cut a third of his staff at the world’s biggest entertainment union in 2020.
“Laying off 200 colleagues due to the pandemic was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my career,’’ Mr. White says.
The 51-year-old attorney has run the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists since a merger created the Los Angeles-based union in 2012. He also is its chief negotiator.
SAG-AFTRA’s roughly 160,000 members aren’t solely actors. They include stunt performers, singers, dancers, radio announcers and even puppeteers.
This was not the first recent life challenge for Mr. White, who lost his wife to a brain tumor in 2018. In this latest instance, he sought support from professional contacts and others as he struggled with angst over letting go so many employees. He also tried to help union members idled by their industry’s slowdown. For instance, webinars organized by the union taught some members to set up equipment at home so they could record audiobooks.
