The SAG-AFTRA board on Monday approved its four-year contract with the major studios, which includes a plan to merge the union’s two pension funds on Jan. 1, 2028. The deal now goes to the membership for a ratification vote. The pension merger has been a source of internal friction in the past. The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists combined into one union in 2012, and the health plans merged in 2017, but the pension systems have remained separate. Some beneficiaries of the SAG pension plan have warned that merging with AFTRA will weaken the fund. Popular on Variety “It’s a bailout,” said Peter Antico, a former candidate for secretary-treasurer who has already lodged a complaint about it with the Department of Labor. “It’s very detrimental to SAG and it bails out AFTRA’s retirement fund.” An argument in favor of the merger is that some members earn income attributable to both plans, but not enough to qualify for pension credits in either one.…