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    Hollywood unions agree to merger plan

    Associated Press – Tue, Jan 17, 2012

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two film industry unions are closer to merging.

    The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced Monday they have agreed to a plan to combine their unions. The announcement comes after nine days of talks between the unions in Hollywood and two years of negotiations between the groups to join forces in a bid to gain more leverage in contract negotiations.

    SAG represents 125,000 actors, while AFTRA represents 70,000 professional performers, broadcasters and recording artists. Some 45,000 of AFTRA's members also belong to SAG. AFTRA supported a merger with SAG in 1998 and 2003 only to see those efforts fail.

    SAG and AFTRA split acrimoniously in 2008 and decided to negotiate deals with the studios separately for the first time in three decades. The rift hurt SAG as TV studios sent most of their new work AFTRA's way. SAG maintains exclusive jurisdiction over feature films.

    SAG National President Ken Howard and AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon said in a joint statement they are confident their "members will agree that we have created something we can all be proud of — actors, singers, broadcasters, dancers, voiceover artists, background actors, stuntpersons and all entertainment and media professionals that will be represented by this new union."

    The plan will be recommended later this month to the unions' boards.

    ___

    Online:

    http://www.sag.org/

    http://www.aftra.org/

     

    17 comments

    • MLB
      MLB  •  New Orleans, Louisiana  •  4 mths ago
      The price of a movie ticket just doubled.
    • Tony
      Tony  •  Burbank, California  •  4 mths ago
      As a former SAG-AFTRA member who went financial core back in 2005, I can now say it was the best thing I ever did. I don't know why others don't go fi-core in droves, but it is the only thing that make logical sense in this day and age. The time and place for unions and guilds like this is long gone. They've become the enemy they were originally formed to battle. Lots of beauracracy and layers of ineffective policies. There are no longer just a handful of movie studios and 3 TV networks to negotiate with. The entertainment climate has changed and broadened, but the guilds still think it's 1940. This merger is the last gasp of two archaic institutions whose writing is on the wall. It's sad in a way, but the guilds just didn't keep with the times and technologies. Agreements for home video and videogames are just two of the major goofs these guilds have been guilty of making. If actors decide they want to be in a guild with radio deejays and TV news anchors, then that's what they'll get. But mark my words it's all about to end.
      • Alternate City
        Alternate City 4 mths ago
        Thanks for the inside info, Tony. Very interesting. But as an outsider I do have a couple questions.
        1. What is Financial Core?

        And,

        2. Isn't impossible to get work without belonging to one of the unions?
      • Tom
        Tom 4 mths ago
        Tony is basically saying that he works non union work which is a no no for a SAG/AFTRA member. its the reason he is a former member which I have no respect for
      • Tony
        Tony 4 mths ago
        I can work union AND non-union jobs. I do what I need to do to pay my mortgage and support my family and no "club" is going to have the right to tell me where I can and can't work. That philosophy is just insanity. But the Kool-AId drinkers in the unions still suffer under the myth that unions matter in this business. Dream on union cultists.
    • Fitz
      Fitz  •  Arden, North Carolina  •  4 mths ago
      Union demands have driven film production to other countries,
      At one time Hollywood was tops, that is no longer the case, greed, greed and more greed
      What was the last big budget film done in Hollywood ?
      • ken
        ken 4 mths ago
        Almost every film released in the US is filmed in the US unless they need something specific in another country like the Eifel Tower.
      • StevemM
        StevemM 4 mths ago
        Ken you,sir are delusional. 83% of last years films were filmed in other countries with Canada being number 1.
    • hunyak78
      hunyak78  •  Los Angeles, California  •  4 mths ago
      The white shawdow has really let himself go
    • John
      John  •  4 mths ago
      Good to see the merger happening. For those who do not know most of us actors are hard working and need all the leverage we can get to make ends meet for our families to survive. We are not all over paid spoiled brats.
      • Bill F
        Bill F 4 mths ago
        get another job
    • whit h
      whit h  •  Gardner, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      Wow- first pic I've seen of ken Howard in awhile. Dude, a little more salads and treadmill, and a little less booze,please.You're scaring me.
      • Alternate City
        Alternate City 3 mths ago
        Why are you scared of Ken Howard? Or did you mean scared for him?
    • Glenn K
      Glenn K  •  Dallas, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      Unions SUK the life out of the economy.
    • Tito
      Tito  •  Rohnert Park, California  •  4 mths ago
      About 1% of all actors have anything resembling full time employment. Most earn less than $1,000 a year at that profession. Having a union just means that someone can't film you for 1 day, and then re-use the footage over and over again without your permission or payment.
      • ken
        ken 4 mths ago
        I make more being a background and stand in under SAG then I can make at any other part time job.
    • 1 tired citizen
      1 tired citizen  •  Pleasanton, California  •  4 mths ago
      I read that in the movies with a big name like Tom Hanks, he makes millions and all of the other actors get wages of about $300 a day.
    • stashu
      stashu  •  4 mths ago
      Another SAG and AFTRA member here, supporting merger. Yours in solidarity.
    • XAFLOC
      XAFLOC  •  Gardner, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      why are unions still around,they only make the pres & other officers rich.
    • Tom
      Tom  •  4 mths ago
      As a member of both SAG and AFTRA, I can tell you that unions are important! I am all for combining the two unions, it will just make us stronger and we will be able to get a better wage! We actors work hard! We go through long periods of unemployment so when work does come our way we want to be properly compensated for it.
    • abc
      abc  •  4 mths ago
      OVERPAID , OVERRATED , BOYCOTT CELEBRITIES , WANNBES , AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON ...............
    • Mark
      Mark  •  4 mths ago
      Boycot the film industry
    • Mark
      Mark  •  4 mths ago
      ALL UNIONS NEED TO GO AWAY
    • Annon
      Annon  •  4 mths ago
      why do they need unions??? supply/demand/popularity should win out...MORONS
    • George
      George  •  Greeneville, Tennessee  •  4 mths ago
      Hollywood commies still need a union...big #$%$
     Post a comment
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