Roberta Reardon has been re-elected as national president of the American Federation of Radio and TV Artists, the labor organization announced Sunday.
According to an AFTRA statement, more than 300 member delegates, assembled for the group's national convention in Seattle this weekend, unanimously approved Reardon's re-up.
That decision leaves intact a trajectory that currently has AFTRA on a course for merger with the Screen Actor's Guild.
Here's the full AFTRA press release:
AFTRA Members Re-elect Actor Roberta Reardon National President
SEATTLE, WASH. (July 24, 2011) --- Member Delegates to the 63rd National Convention of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO – a national union of more than 70,000 recording artists, broadcasters, actors, singers, dancers and other performers who work across the spectrum of media industries including television, radio, cable, sound recordings and digital media – concluded their business today having today re-elected New York actor Roberta Reardon as their National President of AFTRA.
More than 300 professional performers, broadcasters and sound recording artists – serving as Convention delegates elected by AFTRA members from 32 Locals and Chapters throughout the nation – assembled at the Westin Seattle on July 21 for their three-day 63rd National Convention, the highest governing body of AFTRA. Reardon was re-elected on Saturday evening, July 23, by unanimous acclamation.
“I am a proud member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It is a tremendous privilege and an honor to represent AFTRA in the great halls of labor at the AFL-CIO, and to know that when I speak on behalf of AFTRA, I am representing this wonderful, complex and interwoven tapestry of members.” Reardon also serves as a National Vice President of the AFL-CIO.
National First Vice President Bob Edwards, satellite radio host from Washington, D.C., was re-elected to his post. Los Angeles actor Gabrielle Carteris was newly elected as National Second Vice President.
National Vice Presidents re-elected to office were San Francisco actor Denny Delk, New York actor Holter Graham, San Francisco broadcaster Bob Butler, Philadelphia television news producer Catherine Brown and Nashville recording artist Jim Ferguson. Denis Berkfeldt, an actor from Denver, was elected as a new Vice President of the Union.
Los Angeles actor Matt Kimbrough was re-elected National Treasurer, and New York actor Lainie Cooke was re-elected National Recording Secretary. All officers serve two-year terms.
Earlier in the day, during her President’s Report to the Delegates, Reardon articulated her hope for a single new union through the combined memberships of AFTRA and Screen Actors Guild: “AFTRA members look at the landscape of our industries and we see the tides of change rolling in: we understand that companies have consolidated their power, and that we face corporations who have learned that diversification is the key to their success.
