Hollywood actors' union approves contract

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) approved a new contract with film and television studios on Tuesday.

The new three-year deal covering prime-time television programming was approved by more than 60 percent of the union's members.

"Today's vote reflects the ability of AFTRA members to recognize a solid contract when they see it," said Roberta Reardon, the union's president. The labor agreement "contains substantial gains for every category of performer in both traditional and new media," she added.

AFTRA is the nation's second largest performers' union. It represents more than 70,000 actors, recording artists, broadcasters, and other talent working in the entertainment and media industries.

However, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the country's largest union representing movie and TV talent, remained locked in negotiations of its own with the studios. Watch the union wants »

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said last week it had given SAG actors a "final offer" worth $250 million in additional compensation.

The studios praised the AFTRA ratification and called on SAG to follow suit.

"We appreciate today's vote of confidence by actors ... and hope that it demonstrates to SAG's Hollywood leadership that there is support for the new economic relationships we have built with writers, directors and actors ..." producers said in a statement.

The offer had comparable terms to deals already with other entertainment industry unions, including AFTRA, the studios said.

The talks have been complicated by a split between SAG and the smaller AFTRA. About 44,000 of AFTRA's 70,000 members belong to both unions.

SAG leaders urged those members to vote against the deal to no avail.

Ahead of ratification, Reardon told CNN that her union's agreement was "a solid deal" and blasted SAG for trying to influence her members.

"The trust between these two unions is really broken," she said. "We did not want to be in a situation where we were spending all our time negotiating with our partner rather than negotiating across the table with our employers."

SAG argued that the agreement between AFTRA and the studios provides no increase for DVD residual payments and weakens both unions by allowing for non-union new media production.

"This would set up AFTRA as the cheaper, more producer-friendly alternative in new media," SAG said in a statement. "When unions compete with different contract terms, actors lose. It starts a race to the bottom that SAG doesn't want to win."