Tentative SAG/AFTRA Deal Could Mean Joint Commercials Negotiations!

October 4, 2008 by WW.

After some coast to coast diplomacy that we’re not sure would have happened or would have been possible before the recent elections, a new, groundbreaking, tentative agreement has been reached between SAG and AFTRA. If ratified by both Boards of Directors, the agreement would mean there will be joint SAG/AFTRA negotiation of the Commercials Contract with the JPC, and that the negotiations would take place under the Phase 1 rules.

The agreement was to be presented to the AFTRA Board for a vote this weekend, and will be presented to the SAG Board at its meeting in two weeks. We’re told the deal was hammered out between the Allens and AFTRA’s Roberta Reardon and Kim Hedgpeth under the watchful eye and occasional guidance of the AFL-CIO. You may recall that leaders of both unions had agreed to “facilitated discussions.”

We’ve learned that those discussions have been taking place secretly over the past couple of weeks, with the Allens visiting New York for some of the talks.

The specifics of the deal won’t being released this weekend, even though the AFTRA Board will have seen them. AFTRA leaders say that’s because not all SAG directors have been briefed, simply because SAG’s meeting was scheduled later than AFTRAs.

If the two boards approve the tentative deal, it would mark the first major positive step in SAG/AFTRA relations in more than a year. Senior leaders of both unions are hoping (and so do we!) that the deal is endorsed by the boards, and starts the unions back on the path to cooperation instead of conflict.

Posted in Commercials Contract, SAG-AFTRA | Print | 4 Comments »