Labor Board certifies vote to remove SAG-AFTRA union officials who were reportedly unresponsive and ineffective

Seattle, WA (August 20, 2026) – The on-air staff at Seattle’s KOMO-TV have successfully won their independence from the union officials at the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The effort was led by Emmy-award winning reporter Jeremy Harris, who filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking “decertification” to end SAG-AFTRA’s monopoly bargaining power over all on-air talent. Harris’s petition was filed with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Decertification petitions require the support of at least 30 percent of workers in a unit to trigger an election to remove a union from a workplace. Over 60 percent of KOMO’s on-air talent signed the decertification petition. The election was held on August 12, and a majority voted to remove the union.

The NLRB certified the results of the election on August 20. This officially ended SAG-AFTRA union officials’ monopoly-bargaining and forced-dues powers over KOMO-TV talent. These powers are government-granted powers over every worker in the unit, regardless of whether they support the union.

While employees have many reasons for wanting to free themselves from union ranks, it has been reported that though union dues were mandatory to keep a job, SAG-AFTRA was largely ineffective, especially since on-air talent typically negotiate their own contracts above and beyond the union minimums. Another longtime Seattle journalist put it more bluntly: “My sources confirm that the union is AWOL and does nothing except collect dues.”

Washington is one of 24 states without a Right to Work law, which would safeguard workers by making union affiliation and dues payment strictly voluntary. Harris and his colleagues were forced to pay union dues and fees to union bosses under the threat of termination, due to Washington’s non-Right to Work status. Now that the decertification has been certified, Harris and his colleagues are free to negotiate their contracts individually without union interference and without mandatory union dues or fees.

Though forced dues are frequently the catalyst for decertification efforts, even many workers in Right to Work states, where union dues payments are voluntary, frequently seek to free themselves of unwanted union monopoly “representation.” For example, just weeks ago, Texas Public Radio (TPR) news employees in Right to Work Texas also voted to remove SAG-AFTRA union officials from their workplace.

“No employee in America should be trapped under so-called union ‘representation’ they oppose, and it adds insult to injury to force employees to pay unwanted union officials just to keep their jobs,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “We are proud to have assisted the on-air talent at KOMO-TV as they fought for their independence from union bosses who seemed to only be around when it came time to collect forced dues.”