ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the 2012 merger of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). It seeks to understand how advocates turned a defeated 2003 merger attempt into victory nine years later. What happened in those years to convince a significant proportion of SAG voters to change their mind on merger? More significantly, what does this mean for members of the new union, and for members of other unions contemplating similar mergers? It concludes that SAG and AFTRA have put themselves in a better position to represent the needs of their members and to serve as a model for other unions seeking a way to thrive, not just survive, in the transformation to digital communication.
