AFTRA-SAG MERGER OVERWHELMINGLY OK’D

After decades of often hostile rivalry, members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) overwhelmingly approved the merger of the two unions. Eighty-six percent of AFTRA members approved the merger, a percentage that was expected. But it was also approved by 82 percent of SAG members, [...]

SAG, AFTRA BOARDS APPROVE MERGER

The national boards of each of the primary TV and movie performers’ unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), have overwhelming approved a merger plan. While in the past AFTRA members have supported such a merger, SAG members have shot it down. This time, however, SAG [...]

SAG/AFTRA GROUP HAMMERS OUT FINAL MERGER PLAN

After nine days of intense negotiations, leading members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists who formed The Group for One Union announced early today (Monday) that they had hammered out final details of a plan to merge the two unions. Details of the plan were not disclosed. [...]

SAG PRESIDENT SAYS MERGER WITH AFTRA COULD HAPPEN NEXT MONTH

The president of the Screen Actors Guild expressed confidence on Tuesday that all issues standing in the way of a merger between SAG and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists will be resolved by the end of January. Emerging from a meeting with his AFTRA counterparts, SAG President Ken Howard told the Los [...]

HOLLYWOOD RETURNS TO BARGAINING TABLE

Negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on the one hand and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on the other began in Sherman Oaks, CA on Monday, with the two unions presenting their proposals to the producers. The current contract expires on June 30, [...]

ACTORS UNIONS AGREE ON NEGOTIATING STRATEGY

Members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have agreed to deemphasize payments for new media and focus instead on bread-and-butter issues like increases in employer contributions to their health-and-welfare plans and raises in basic pay scales when they begin negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and [...]

CLOONEY PROPOSES PLAN TO RESCUE MOTION PICTURE FUND HOME

George Clooney has proposed that the Screen Actors Guild remove its cap on annual dues to pay for the costs of the Motion Picture Fund’s hospital and long-term care facility, which is slated to be shut down. In an interview with Sharon Waxman of TheWrap.com, Clooney noted that the current cap is $6,500 per year [...]

SAG PRESIDENT: IT’S TIME TO UNITE WITH AFTRA

Screen Actors Guild President Ken Howard has welcomed an initiative by the leadership of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to begin the process of uniting the two unions. AFTRA, which has called for such a merger in the past, had voluntarily imposed a cooling-off period following last year’s labor turmoil, during which [...]