U.S. actors' unions at war with each other

(CBC) - The two main actors' unions in the U.S. have abandoned plans to work together in upcoming contract negotiations with Hollywood studios, triggering fears of a repeat of the writers' strike.

The board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) issued a statement late on Saturday saying it had voted to sever ties with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). It also said it was upset with SAG.

The two unions have never had a warm relationship but have always presented a united front when it came to contract talks.

"For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement," wrote AFTRA president Roberta Reardon in a news release.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg responded with his own statement, pointing out that the television guild's "refusal now to bargain together with us and their last-second abandonment of the joint process is calculated and cynical.

"It may serve the interests of their institution, but not its members," he added.

The 120,000-member SAG represents actors in movies, TV and other media while the 70,000-member TV and radio federation represents, among others, actors, singers, announcers and journalists.

The contract for actors expires at the end of June.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an organization of film and TV studios, and several top-tier actors - including Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro - had urged the unions to start bargaining as soon as possible, back in February.

However, SAG announced it wasn't ready to begin the process until the beginning of April.

Fear of writers' strike reprise

Many in the film and television sectors fear that would not be enough time to hammer out a deal before the June 30 deadline. That could mean another crippling strike for an industry that just emerged out of the three-month writers' strike, ending in mid-February.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said on Saturday that they look forward to bargaining with AFTRA, but made no direct mention of SAG.

"We are pleased to learn that AFTRA is ready to begin talks immediately," it said.

"We are determined, as we have always been, to work hard and bargain reasonably with the actors' unions so that we can all avoid another harmful, unnecessary strike."

The Alliance also reiterated it had contacted the actors' unions seven weeks ago to say it was ready to start talking.

With files from the Associated Press