Hollywood’s two biggest actors unions are discussing a merger – the Screen Actors Guild’s 117,000-member union with the 80,000-member American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, known as Aftra, which also represents actors. “A merger has been discussed since the 1940’s, but it came up for a vote only once, in 1999, when the proposal fell far short of the 60 percent needed to pass. Now its proponents, including the officers of both unions, argue that while Hollywood studios and television networks are consolidating into bigger and bigger global conglomerates, the best way for performers to magnify their clout is similarly to band together.”