AFTRA and SAG Link Over Next TV Contract

By MICHAEL CIEPLY; Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS

The New York Times

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, (AFTRA), said its national board of directors had approved plans to negotiate jointly with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)toward its next prime-time television contract.

The vote, taken on Saturday, ended a split between those actors’ unions, which in the last round bargained separately after a disagreement over strategy but had previously joined in making deals with the major television production companies.

Current contracts with the two unions do not expire until June 2011, but the unions are expected to begin an early negotiating session with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in October.

The talks are aimed at averting the sort of uncertainty that occurred when SAG failed to reach a deal with the production companies in 2008 and worked for nearly a year without a contract, though AFTRA had settled separately.