Backstage: The committees charged with forming a plan to merge the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists wrapped their third official meeting Wednesday night in Los Angeles. In a joint statement, SAG president Ken Howard and AFTRA president Roberta Reardon called the meeting "remarkably productive," adding, "We made solid progress across the full spectrum of issues we have to consider."
Friday, October 21, 2011
SAG-AFTRA Merger Talks Progress
Backstage: The committees charged with forming a plan to merge the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists wrapped their third official meeting Wednesday night in Los Angeles. In a joint statement, SAG president Ken Howard and AFTRA president Roberta Reardon called the meeting "remarkably productive," adding, "We made solid progress across the full spectrum of issues we have to consider."
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2 comments:
While very little is known about the merger, I think that it will most likely do a lot of good for the industry. The major benefit, as the article mentions, would be the end of turf wars between the two, very similar unions. Both groups would benefit from the increased number of members and bargaining power that a combined union would have. The basis of unions has always been "safety in numbers", something this merger exemplifies. There is probably some concern about the larger union's ability to fight for the individual needs of their wide variety of members. Of course AFTRA already has this problem, so maybe there will not be too much of an issue, especially if they continue creating contracts with individual employers. The other issue is how the merger would affect the pension plans of the unions. As SAG members tend to be more well paid than their counterparts in AFTRA, the pension and heath benefits are larger. Will a merger decrease the benefits available? No one really knows how the committee will decide to handle it. The other major issue is where AEA will fit in with the new plan.
I am excited to see what comes out of this merger. If it goes through, the joint union will be huge and has the potential to use that to their advantage. It will also balance the playing field (whether negatively or positively) producers. The options will not longer be there and the problem of jurisdiction will no longer be an item of contention.
In reaction to Chris' last statement... What does AEA have to do with this merger? Besides the fact that many of the members are shared?
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