SAG, AFTRA face a race to the table

March 31, 2008 [...] the decision Saturday by AFTRA's national board to suspend its joint bargaining agreement with SAG has heightened the bad blood between the actors unions to Hatfield and McCoy status. AFTRA's decision to forgo the so-called Phase One agreement and go it alone on the TV-theatrical contract, which covers 44,000 members of both unions, heightens the uncertainty for an industry that is still recovering from the 100-day writers strike that ended in February and wary of another labor shutdown. Among the most basic questions is which actors union will sit down first for formal talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

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