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« WGA Post-Strike Watch: News About Returning Shows
SAG and AFTRA Part Company, Again
After weeks of uncertainty about the relationship between SAG and AFTRA as they head into contract negotiations, the two groups broke up again on Saturday. Actors' contracts with the AMPTP are up June 30, and the groups attempted, sort of, to combine forces at the bargaining table.
But just before a scheduled meeting to discuss a shared negotiation approach, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists suspended its alliance with the Screen Actors Guild, accusing the organization of meeting secretly with the cast of CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful. According to the Times, AFTRA honcho Roberta Reardon saw the alleged CBS-SAG talk as "simply the culmination of what really has been a year-long campaign by SAG to discredit AFTRA." SAG prez Alan Rosenberg, meanwhile, shot back that the CBS convo was a "sham."
While Rosenberg says that his group and AFTRA are both asking producers for the same things, it's generally acknowledged that the two groups are weaker as separate entities than they would be as a combined force. In recent months, tension flared and subsided as leaders attempted to drop past grudges and reunite for upcoming bargaining. But the unity was fragile, with ups and downs that saw, among other incidents, Reardon setting up a timetable with an ultimatum for SAG, and Rosenberg standing firm on his own pre-negotiation modus operandi and timeframe.
The resulting relationship, while delicate, seemed to bode well for the actors and Hollywood as a whole, which is still reeling from the recent writers' strike. Now, however, the actors' leverage as divided voices remains to be seen. What is clear, though, is that tempers will need to simmer down before the next chapter begins. Rosenberg said on Sunday, "I'm so furious about the whole thing, I can hardly talk about it." — Anna Dimond
Related:
• AFTRA Makes a Tentative Deal, on Its Own
• AFTRA to SAG: Start Talking, or We're Walking
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Mar 31, 2008 6:14 PM
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I was afraid something like this would happen and unless the two unions can work things out,the only winners will be the producers.
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Apr 1, 2008 9:52 AM
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Here we go again. Do these peole enjoy being out of work? They need to check their egoes at the door and work together to come up with a decent plan and a united front.
Or they will be causing themselves and the crews that support them to be out of work again.
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Apr 1, 2008 10:20 AM
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The relationship between these two unions has always been strained at best. They couldn't even keep at peace during the strike. But yes, stupid move to not be united.
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Apr 1, 2008 11:55 AM
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Both sides are incredibly stupid. SAG is proactively stupid for campaigning hard against AFTRA for the last year (as important negotiations were approaching), culminating in the debacle at The Bold and the Beautiful. AFTRA is reactively stupid for allowing themselves to be drawn in and breaking up the alliance. Ultimately, though, the Hollywood branch of SAG bears more responsibility. They need to learn how to deal with those they disagree with instead of trying to bully everybody. Now they're operating from a position of weakness.
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Apr 1, 2008 3:04 PM
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