SAG-AFTRA Merger Plan Finalized

A formal plan to merge the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has finally been drafted, but members of both performers’ unions will have to wait a while longer before they can read it. SAG and AFTRA announced early Monday morning that the Group for One Union—the so-called G1, a joint panel of leaders from the two unions—has agreed upon a merger package that will be presented to and voted on by SAG’s national board of directors at its Jan. 27 meeting and AFTRA’s national board at its Jan. 28-29 meeting. The unions intend to withhold details of the package until after the board meetings.

Monday morning marked the beginning of a marathon meeting for the G1 that began on Jan. 7. The intention of the nine-day session was to finalize the merger proposal, which must be approved by the unions’ respective national boards before it is sent to members for ratification. The last attempt to merge the unions failed in 2003, when SAG fell just short of the 60-percent approval from membership needed for the process to move forward.

Should the plan garner the approval of the boards, it may find itself subject to a very public unveiling. SAG President Ken Howard has stated in the past that he would like to announce the proposal at this year’s SAG Awards ceremony, which takes place Jan. 29 and will be broadcast on national television.

Momentum toward another attempt to merge SAG and AFTRA began building in 2009, when Howard was elected SAG president, replacing the combative and controversial Alan Rosenberg. Both Howard and AFTRA President Roberta Reardon had advocated publicly for a merger. The two began openly working on a merger in July, 2010, when they formed a joint forum intended to gather feedback from union members and leaders.

A merger proposal is not expected to address one of the central concerns raised by members—that of merging the two unions’ pension and health plans. The plans are separate entities controlled jointly by the unions and employers, and technically are not required to take any action based on the unions’ merger decisions. A course of action for combining the plans is expected to emerge in the long term, but likely not until well after members have voted on whether to combine the two unions.