Not so sure this is a good idea ...

From Tom Taylor:

The long-sought merger of AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild seems to be fast-tracked.

SAG President Ken Howard (the “White Shadow” actor) says after a weekend meeting that “The message from SAG and AFTRA members across the country has been clear – they want this done as soon as possible.” The Guild just endorsed a mission statement supporting a single union to represent performers. 45,000 people now carry cards in both SAG and AFTRA (the American Federation of TV & Radio Artists). At 120,000 members, SAG is larger than AFTRA (about 70,000). Two previous votes by the membership failed amid acrimony, with AFTRAns backing the deal. But there’s new leadership now at SAG, and there could be a referendum by early 2012.