SAG Hollywood Division Voted 78 Percent in Favor of Merger

Backstage: Like all of the union officials in front of the cameras and in the audience at Friday's press conference announcing the merger of SAG and AFTRA, John Connolly was overjoyed at the result. But it perhaps held especially poignant meaning for him, since Connolly was the president of AFTRA in 2003, when the previous merger attempt failed. Then, the AFTRA vote exceeded the required 60 percent, but SAG fell 2 percent shy; 640 votes would have swung the balloting.