ADVERTISERS, UNIONS REACH TENTATIVE ACCORD

Negotiators for the nation’s top two performing unions have reached a tentative contract settlement with radio and television advertisers and will recommend that the new three-year contract be accepted, a union spokesman in New York said Monday.

No details were released on the agreement between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and management, represented by the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies and the Assn. of National Advertisers.

AFTRA spokesman Dick Moore said that union negotiators will recommend approval of the new contract to AFTRA and SAG boards of directors in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The New York boards will consider the new contract today, their Chicago counterparts on Thursday, and the Los Angeles chapters on Monday.

Ballots then will be mailed to about 90,000 SAG and AFTRA members, with the results of their vote expected by early April, Moore said. If the contract is approved, it will be retroactive to Feb. 6, when the the unions’ previous commercials contract expired.