Demander le Représentant d'Affaires, la partie trois*

*ask the biz rep, part three

What does a union business representative DO? How do you spend your day?

A: Constitutionally speaking, I'm in charge of the Business Office, and with the approval of the Executive Board, have the power to engage and dismiss office employees.

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I keep records of income and dismbursements. I represent TAG in all relations with and between members. I represent members at the studios, and enter into negotations and agreements with the studios. I get to chair negotiation committees for collective bargaining agreements. (Oh, what responsibilities I have ...).

There's a bunch of other duties (found on pages 15-18 of the TAG Constitution and By-Laws), but those are most of the main ones.

Day to day, my day rolls along in a kind of routine way.

I roll into work at 8:30 a.m., start going through e-mails, pick up phone messages, and go through whatever paperwork is hanging around. (This includes signing checks, reviewing immigration visas, doing correspondence, and endlessly talking on the phone. I plan to have carved on my tombstone: "Here lies Steve Hulett. He talked on the phone a lot, but has now mercifully stopped.")

The middle of the day -- from 10:30 to 3:00 -- I am out in the studios, chatting artists, writers and technicians up. Some days I hold 401(k) enrollment meetings, most days I just slog around with a bag of 401(k) books slung over my shoulder in case somebody wants them. Like freaking Santa Clause.

From 3:30 to a bit after 5:00 I am back in the office, returning phone calls, going through more e-mails, thumbing through incoming snail mail. Here and there I work on grievances that different members have with companies. Few grievances go all the way to full arbitration, but there is usually something percolating. Then there is the work of organizing non-signator studios. That's a job unto itself. I squeeze it in between the other stuff.

Then I go home. I lead an exciting life, no?