SAG & AFTRA Together To Set Talks Date

2ND UPDATE: AFTRA Chairman Claims Joint Resolution With SAG “Erroneous” But Admits OKing It; “I Regret I Did Not Object”

PPDATE: Huh? No SAG-AFTRA Lovefest After All?

This is potentially bad news for the AMPTP today. The Hollywood CEOs had been hoping to exploit the longtime bitter rivalry between SAG and AFTRA in order to pit both unions against one another in the run- up to contract negotiations (just as the moguls had done between the DGA and the WGA). But the following joint SAG and AFTRA resolution seems to indicate the start of a new solidarity. “Only when the Chief Negotiators, the Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee and the Joint National Board of Directors of SAG and AFTRA decide it is strategically the best time to negotiate with our employers will an official statement announcing such decision be made by our unions,” the new resolution says. Here it is in full:

SAG and AFTRA Hollywood Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee Adopts Resolution

Los Angeles (February 29, 2008) – The Hollywood Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee of Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists today unanimously adopted the following resolution:

The  Hollywood Joint SAG/AFTRA Wages and Working Conditions Committee, which represents the majority of working actors in this country and has worked so well together to create proposals that truly reflect the needs of middle class actors in all categories, reaffirms that:

The Joint SAG/AFTRA Wages and Working Conditions Committee, negotiating team and National Boards will diligently and patiently adhere to the wages and working conditions process;

and

Only when the Chief Negotiators, the Joint Wages and Working Conditions Committee and the Joint National Board of Directors of SAG and AFTRA decide it is strategically the best time to negotiate with our employers will an official statement announcing such decision be made by our unions.

Unanimously adopted February 29, 2008.