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Actors' unions to negotiate separately with producers

"AFTRA's refusal now to bargain together with us and their last-second abandonment of the joint process is calculated, cynical and may serve the interests of their institution, but not its members."

Alan Rosenberg, Screen Actors Guild president

Unions representing film and television actors will negotiate separately with producers in upcoming contract talks after board members of the US TV actors union voted to sever a long-standing agreement between the two guilds.

The vote on Saturday by the board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) came just a few hours before a planned meeting with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and just three months before the expiration of the current contract covering movies and prime-time shows.

Despite a sometimes rocky 27-year relationship the unions had shown recent signs of peace as they prepared battle plans for the upcoming talks.

The two groups had hoped at Saturday's meeting to set a start date for negotiations.

However, instead the meeting brought word of the pact's termination and the sides were swapping accusations instead of discussing strategies by the end of the day.

"For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement," AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said in a written statement on Saturday.

"We find ourselves unable to have any confidence in their ability to live up to the principles of partnership and union solidarity," the statement said.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg's written response was that "AFTRA's refusal now to bargain together with us and their last-second abandonment of the joint process is calculated, cynical and may serve the interests of their institution, but not its members."

The AFTRA board said that the vote to terminate the agreement, known as "Phase One," was "overwhelming."

Wary of repeating the damage wrought by the recently ended 100-day Hollywood writers strike, producers and several A-list actors -- including Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro -- had been pressing for negotiations to start as early as this week.

The strike ended on Feb. 12 and took an estimated US$2.5 billion toll on the local economy.

The 120,000-member SAG represents actors in movies, TV and other media.

The 70,000-member TV and radio federation represents, among others, actors, singers, announcers and journalists.

SAG has been known for its tough stances, which have been tempered by AFTRA's willingness to compromise, industry analysts said. Guild leaders have said publicly they would push for an even better deal than the one writers got.

Rosenberg and SAG executive director Doug Allen -- a former professional football linebacker -- "are equally as assertive as the writers guild leadership," entertainment industry lawyer Jonathan Handel, a former writers guild associate counsel who has closely followed industry contract talks, said this week.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, said on Saturday that they look forward to bargaining with AFTRA in a statement that made no direct mention of SAG.

"We are pleased to learn that AFTRA is also ready to begin talks immediately," the statement said.
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