An ugly feud between two actors unions burst into the open Monday, with the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists accusing its sister union of breaching a 26-year-old bargaining agreement. AFTRA and the larger Screen Actors Guild have been jointly negotiating contracts under a so-called Phase 1 Agreement adopted in 1981. But that solidarity threatened to unravel Monday when AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon blasted a decision by the SAG board to change the way votes are counted on a joint negotiating committee. Traditionally, each union has had 13 seats on a 26-member negotiating panel, with each member having one vote.
See "Actors' unions spar over bargaining", Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times, October 23, 2007