AFTRA votes to negotiate contract alone

March 29, 2008 In an abrupt move, AFTRA's national board of directors Saturday overwhelmingly voted to suspend its joint bargaining agreement with SAG and negotiate its primetime TV contract alone with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. SAG's national board was notified of the decision by AFTRA's president Roberta Reardon and national officers Susan Boyd Joyce, Denny Delk, Bob Edwards, Matt Kimbrough and Shelby Scott at what was to be an afternoon joint meeting of both unions' national boards. In a statement, Reardon said over the last year, AFTRA has worked hard to "maintain the integrity" of the joint bargaining process, "so we could sit across the table from the industry with total and unequivocal unity."

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