NEW NAME FOR AFTRA/SAG IF OR WHEN THEY MERGE

Negotiators who hammered out final details of a plan to merge the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have agreed on a new name for the combined union: SAG-AFTRA United, Daily Variety reported today (Tuesday). Previous merger proposals would have named it the Alliance of International Media Artists. Unable to insert an “S” in AFTRA and still have roll off the tongue (the union was previously called AFRA), the negotiators apparently took a cue from the merger of the AFofL and the CIO in 1955 as the AFL-CIO. (The probability is that as time passes the “United” will be disregarded.) Further details of the agreement have thus far not been leaked. They are to be presented to the boards of the two unions on the weekend of January 28-29. That is the same weekend as the SAG Awards (the 29th) and, noted Variety, it’s likely that key details of the proposed merger will be “tubthumped” during the awards ceremony.