US acting unions end agreement

A long standing agreement between America's two largest acting unions has been terminated ahead of imminent contract negotiations with the studios, raising fears of more disruption to US programming in the wake of the writers' strike.
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have presented a united front when dealing with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) for almost 30 years but it now looks as though the next contracts, which will come into force after the current agreement expires on 30 June, will be negotiated separately.
SAG has 120,000 members to AFTRA's 44,000, all of whom are also in SAG, and is considered to be more aggressive and powerful.
Members of both unions were about to vote on a new proposal package ahead of the talks but AFTRA pulled out of the agreement just before polling day.
Hollywood is still suffering the after effects of the recent 100-day writers' strike, which has resulted in interrupted seasons of popular shows and production delays, and there are fears that there will be more disruption to schedules if negotiations with the acting unions fail to go smoothly.
AFTRA is expected to enter formal talks first and the AMPTP has said it will "work hard and bargain reasonably" with AFTRA in a statement which made no mention of SAG.
Tensions between the unions were brought to a head by the attempt of the cast of American daytime soap 'The Bold and the Beautiful' to seek to be represented by SAG. The cast are believed to have become disillusioned with AFTRA's efforts to represent them on pay and conditions.
In a statement released on the SAG website yesterday, president Alan Rosenberg said: 'We remain focused on negotiating the best terms for actors covered by the TV/Theatrical Contract. We spent weeks working with our fellow actors in AFTRA on joint proposals to improve the lives of all working actors."
He continued: "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."
AFTRA head Roberta Reardon, meanwhile, has claimed that the feud has been brought about by "a very planned campaign to discredit AFTRA", citing "letters in the screen actors magazine, petitions, [and] elected leaders of SAG on the sets of our cable shows" as evidence of SAG agitation.
Reardon added: "You cannot engage in bargaining with employers when you're sitting at a table with a partner you don't trust. We would spend more time negotiating with each other than the industry."