SAG, AFTRA Inch Closer to Merger...

The next big step will be committee formation in May.
Efforts to merge the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are moving ahead, though not quite so fast as some have suggested. The next big step in the process will take place in May, when SAG and AFTRA hold their respective national board meetings. According to sources close to and directly involved in talks between the two unions, those meetings will likely see the creation of committees charged with drafting a formal merger plan.
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"What will come out, hopefully, from the AFTRA plenary is an order from the national board to go forward and seat the official committee that will do the official work of combining the unions," said AFTRA president Roberta Reardon, whose board meets May 14. "[The committee] will create the plan."
A report Friday in Variety claimed that a formal plan to marry the two unions "will probably emerge when SAG's national board holds its plenary meeting on April 30 and May 1." Reardon and other sources who spoke to Back Stage emphasized that no formal plan has been drafted or will be introduced at or around the May meetings.
Reardon and SAG president Ken Howard have for the last few months been participating in a "listening tour" to gain member feedback on merger. Reardon characterized the work being done at those events and by the joint Presidents' Forum for One Union—on which both she and Howard sit—as "a very high-level, informal" process. She also said that the time frame for merger will likely be discussed at the April 2–3 meeting of the President's Forum in New York, but added, "I certainly don't expect it [the merger plan] to be done this year."
One source close to talks between the unions shed light on what the next step will be once the merger committees are seated.
"The plan will be developed by the full merger committee, which cannot even be formed until both unions meet at their spring plenaries," the source said. "Assuming the two boards decide to proceed and form their respective committees, then the combined committee will meet, and whatever plan is agreed to will be brought back to the two national boards for their approval."
Once any plan gains approval from the national board, it will be sent out to the full memberships of both unions for ratification. The last attempt to merge the two unions failed in 2003, when AFTRA members voted in favor of merger, but the SAG vote fell just short of the 60 percent needed to ratify the plan.

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Industry News: AFTRA board gives two thumbs up on merger talks with SAG...

January 24, 2011

Momentum continues to build toward the creation of a single actors union in Hollywood. The board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Saturday night voted to continue a series of meetings with the leadership of the Screen Actors Guild about forming a joint union.

The board also set a May 14 deadline for a union committee to make a series of recommendations on a formal process for establishing a successor union that would represent actors and other performers.

Although no details have yet been agreed upon, the concept of merging has the backing of both union presidents, who have been holding a series of meetings with members around the country to discuss the topic.

"Our world of work is very different than it was the last time we tried to bring our unions together, so any new, successor union we hope to create must also be different, and to do that successfully, we must be guided by a clear vision for the future,'' AFTRA President Roberta Reardon said in a statement. "As we continue and advance this ambitious project in partnership with the Screen Actors Guild, I urge all AFTRA members -- performers, recording artists and broadcasters -- to imagine not just how good, but how much better we can be together."

SAG represents 125,000 actors while AFTRA has a more diverse membership of 70,000 members, which includes not only actors but also news broadcasters and recording artists. About 40,000 actors belong to both unions.

Previous attempts to merge the unions in 1998 and 2003 failed amid concerns over how their health and pension plans would merge and whether SAG would lose its identity. And they have often sparred over turf and bargaining strategy, triggering a suspension of their longstanding joint bargaining agreement in 2008.

But the unions have since made peace, paving the way for the current talks. Merging the unions is a top priority of Screen Actors Guild President Ken Howard and his supporters, who won a clean sweep in board elections in September. They argue that merging the unions would give actors more clout at the bargaining table and improve health and pension benefits.

-- Richard Verrier

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Industry News: AFTRA Vote Moves Union Closer to Merger With SAG...

January 23, 2011

For the first time, the union's national board votes on the current merger attempt, passing a key resolution "overwhelmingly"; the measure includes a statement that AFTRA leadership is "encouraged by the renewed interest expressed by SAG's current leadership."
AFTRA's national board Saturday continued down the path towards merger with SAG, "overwhelmingly pass(ing) a resolution formally authorizing AFTRA leadership to continue working with Screen Actors Guild in the Presidents' Forum for One Union and its `Listening Tour,'" according to an AFTRA statement.

The "Listening Tour" is series of meetings the two unions have been jointly conducting around the country to canvass members on issues related to merger – or, in AFTRA's terminology, creation of "a new, successor union."
The language also includes an end date for the peripatetic process: at AFTRA's next board meeting, on May 14, the board will receive a recommendation as to whether to "whether or not to create a committee to engage in formal discussions with SAG" regarding merger.
That recommendation will come from the union president's National Strategy Cabinet, an AFTRA advisory group, based in part on input from the union's Presidents' Forum members.
SAG's process has not yet been announced, but may be discussed at tomorrow's SAG national board meeting. In any case, merger is clearly a journey that will involve many steps – and many committee meetings – for both unions. AFTRA president Roberta Reardon referred to it as an "ambitious project."
The AFTRA vote marks the first time AFTRA's board has weighed in on the current efforts towards merger. Previous steps were taken under Reardon's discretionary authority.
Saturday's's resolution includes some strong signals of support for merger, reciting that "the overwhelming majority of AFTRA's past and present elected leadership and AFTRA's general membership have long supported the concept of combining (the two unions)" and that in past merger attempts in 1998 and in 2003, AFTRA "successfully delivered a resounding `yes' vote" on the issue.
Those attempts failed on the SAG side. Notably, in the 2003 process, SAG members voted Yes by just a couple percentage points shy of the 60% that each union requires in order to approve the merger.
The resolution also includes a statement that "AFTRA's current elected leadership is encouraged by the renewed interest expressed by SAG's current leadership in bringing AFTRA and SAG together into a new successor union."
The reference to SAG's "current" leadership is a reminder that just a few years ago, SAG leadership was controlled by MembershipFirst, a group vehemently opposed to merger and often contemptuous of AFTRA itself. SAG's leadership, and political climate, has changed dramatically in the last three annual election cycles, with MembershipFirst essentially reduced to a small splinter group.
Several MembershipFirst members are on the AFTRA board as well, but one of them, Los Angeles member Alan Ruck, resigned today from the national board. The Los Angeles local board has elected actor Matt Kimbrough, not a MembershipFirst member, to replace Ruck.
The Listening Tour meetings have or will encompass the major AFTRA Locals – Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington/Baltimore – and in as many of the other locals as feasible, according to the statement.
In a related action, the AFTRA board approved "an unusual expenditure of a (limited-time) stipend" for Reardon to offset her loss of income from missed work opportunities due to time spent on the Listening Tour. The AFTRA presidency is normally an unpaid position.
Pension and health was also a topic at what appears to have been a busy meeting. Shelby Scott, Union Chair of the Trustees of the AFTRA Health & Retirement Funds and past AFTRA National President, reported that the Retirement Fund gained 11% in the last fiscal year and continues to operate in the "green zone," while the AFTRA Health Fund has more than a year's assets in reserve.
The board also received updates on the union's Interactive Media Agreement, an AFTRA-only contract which expires on March 31 (SAG failed to ratify its Interactive Media contract in 2009) and on AFTRA Non-Broadcast/Industrial/Educational Recorded Material Code, which expires on April 30 and which will be renegotiated jointly with SAG. No bargaining dates have yet been set for either agreement.
In addition, the board was told by national executive director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth that ratification is underway on an 18-month extension to the AFTRA Sound Recordings Code, with votes due back on Feb. 8. If ratified, the extension will expire on Dec. 31, 2011, according to the AFTRA statement.
Hedgpeth also reported that during the first six months of the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the union has collected more than $7 million on behalf of AFTRA members through claims, grievances, arbitrations, legal action and legal settlements.

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