On Wednesday we told you that the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television (AMPTP) producers would be sitting down to renegotiate a new contract and that AFTRA, The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, was still on the fence.
Late yesterday afternoon AFTRA announced it too will now launch contract negotiations with the AMPTP on April 28 just 13 days after the SAG talks begin, according Variety.
Is this AFTRA’s way of putting extra pressure on its competing union? SAG could look bad if they haven’t hammered out a decent contract within two weeks of the start of AFTRA talks, making some members of SAG think about changing union representation.
“In our view, our proposed schedule should allow SAG sufficient time to work out a good deal with the studios,” AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said in a statement. “At the same time, we cannot abdicate our responsibility to our own members to engage with the employers in a strong, deliberate, and timely manner so we can negotiate the best possible agreement for primetime performers.”
Both SAG-AFTRA feature primetime contract expires on June 30.
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