AFTRA Approves Deal

(FROM VARIETY) – Members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists approved the union's thee-year primetime deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Tuesday (July 8) by 62.4 percent. The other major actors' union, the Screen Actors Guild, ran a campaign attempting to derail ratification of the proposed deal, saying it failed to deliver acceptable terms in areas such as new media, DVD residuals, and salary minimums. Although the campaign brought AFTRA approval below the typical 90 percent given to guild contract votes, it still enabled AFTRA and the AMPTP to claim a victory.

''SAG ran a well-funded and ferocious disinformation campaign that created a lot of confusion,'' said AFTRA president Roberta Reardon at a news conference Tuesday evening after the results were announced. ''We are the ones who won the moral victory.'' Likewise, the AMPTP immediately issued a statement urging SAG to accept a similar deal. ''We appreciate today's vote of confidence by actors in the agreement we reached with AFTRA, and hope that it demonstrates to SAG's Hollywood leadership that there is support for the new economic relationships we have built with writers, directors and actors — and not much support for a strike, whether de facto or real,'' AMPTP said via a statement. SAG president Alan Rosenberg released a statement saying, ''We will continue to address the issues of importance to actors that AFTRA left on the table and we remain committed to achieving a fair contract for SAG actors.''

The results of the AFTRA vote came nine days after the AMPTP broke off negotiations with SAG (the larger actors' union) on June 30, a few hours before its feature-primetime contract expired. SAG actors continue to work on television under guidelines laid out in the expired deal, and SAG has granted waivers to more than 355 indie features. (Variety)