Not unsurprisingly you are once again starting to hear people call for another merger from New York and the rest of the country. It’s no coincidence these demands are from people who are supporting the AFTRA deal. But if they really thought the AFTRA deal was valid they wouldn’t be suggesting another merger. It’s obvious they really don’t like the deal. Now honestly, it can’t make any sense to defend AFTRA’s contract while at the same time saying we wouldn’t have the problem with a merged union.
If you were paying attention during the merger debate of 2003 you undoubtedly heard questioned the fiscal health of the AFTRA pension plan. It was considered so questionable that the producer’s side of the SAG Pension and Health plan made a public statement indicating that they would not be in support of a merging of the plans should a merging of the two unions be approved. The result was a strongly worded response from both unions: