SAG To Vote on Joint AFTRA Bargaining

After a board vote that could lead to the end of joint bargaining with AFTRA, SAG will let members vote on whether to alter the unions' so-called Phase One agreement.

SAG and AFTRA have contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers running through June 30, and SAG's Hollywood-based directors have been pushing for implementation of bloc voting on the unions' next joint negotiating committee. Such a move would guarantee unanimous SAG votes on any issue under review by SAG and AFTRA during the next round of contract talks.

New York-based SAG directors and AFTRA leaders have objected to the bloc-voting proposal. But a move to abandon SAG's constitutional guarantee of joint negotiations would represent a much more dramatic severing of relations with AFTRA, seen as the more moderate of the two unions.

A key SAG objection to its current Phase One agreement with its sister union is its guarantee providing AFTRA with 50-50 representation on the unions' joint negotiating committee during contract talks with the AMPTP.

SAG said almost 60% of its national directors voted Saturday to conduct the Phase One referendum. Insiders noted that voting on the referendum proposal was markedly split between directors based in Hollywood and those based in New York.

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