Las Vegas
AFL-CIO Executive Council statement
Vice President Melissa Gilbert has been a member of her union, the Screen Actors Guild, literally since childhood. She made her on-air debut at the age of two, and after performing in more than 30 television commercials, she joined the cast of “Little House on the Prairie” when she was nine. As an adult, she has been a highly successful actress, director, and producer — directing the critically acclaimed ABC Afterschool Special, “Me and My Hormones,” co-producing the A&E documentary, “Child Stars: Their Story,” and starring in numerous television movies, feature films, and theater productions.
At every step of her career, Vice President Gilbert has been a strong advocate of the highest values of SAG and the entire union movement. That is why the members of SAG elected her as their president in 2001, the third woman to hold that office. Under Gilbert's leadership, SAG achieved some enormously important goals. It implemented Global Rule One, which ensures SAG contract protections for SAG members wherever in the world they work. The union streamlined its National Board of Directors from 105 to 71 members and created a more effective branch structure. Along with AFTRA and advertising industry representatives, it launched a project to monitor commercials to make sure that performers get the residual payments they're entitled to receive. And SAG won many victories in state governments around the country in passing both camcorder piracy laws and production incentives to stem the tide of runaway productions.
As a vice president of the AFL-CIO, Gilbert's influence has extended beyond SAG throughout the union movement. In her service on the Executive Council's committees on Women Workers and Civil and Human Rights, she has helped steer our movement in a more inclusive direction that is absolutely critical to its success.
On behalf of the women and men of the unions of the AFL-CIO, the Executive Council expresses its appreciation to Melissa Gilbert and thanks her for her years of commitment to the members of SAG and the entire AFL-CIO.