AFTRA ratifies a new studio contract, despite complaints from the Screen Actors Guild

July 09th, 2008 | Category: TV News

And now, another installment of ‘David vs. Goliath’. In that case, David is The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), while the role of Goliath is portrayed by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). For months, both unions have been negotiating with the studios for higher salaries for their lower-paid actors as well as more profits from DVD and new media sales. AFTRA, the smaller of the two actor unions, has been fairly quiet concerning these negotiations. SAG, on the other hand, has been fairly boisterous concerning the poor negotiating tactics of the studios.

With the amount of muscle SAG has one would think they would have been able to get the better deal of the two

unions. Yet, as in David’s battle against Goliath, it looks like the little person got the better of the bigger one. On Tuesday, the 70,000 members of AFTRA ratified a new prime-time TV contract. According to AFTRA President Roberta Reardon, the new contract “contains substantial gains for every category of performer in both traditional and new media.” that, despite a campaign by SAG members to persuade those who are members of both unions to vote “no” on the contract.

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