SAG-AFTRA Announces Layoffs One Year After Merger

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Hollywood's biggest labor union has announced a 15 percent reduction in staffing just over one year after a merger between the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).

The layoffs - which unlike a similar severance package last September are not voluntary - could potentially affect all departments within SAG-AFTRA, including unionized and non-unionized staff.

The Hollywood Reporter's Jonathan Handel told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO the move is presumably intended to focus efforts on both serving members and saving money after the two unions merged last March.

"I guess indirectly, it is a result of the merger," Handel said. "They've been looking at their staff, and of course, when you have something as large as a merger, it potentially leads to this kind of thing."

A roughly 80-person staff reduction could save the union as much as $8 million a year, Handel estimated.

While most of the layoffs are expected to affect the union's headquarters on the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles, the reductions will also impact as many as 10 of 25 SAG-AFTRA offices nationwide beginning in early May that could see up to 80 positions eliminated around the country.

Union offices in Michigan, Houston-Austin, Twin Cities, San Diego, Nevada, Arizona-Utah, Portland, Colorado, New Mexico and New Orleans will also be closed, according to THR.