Home Entertainment Entertainment industry union IATSE calls for strike authorization vote

Entertainment industry union IATSE calls for strike authorization vote

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Entertainment industry union IATSE calls for strike authorization vote

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The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the bargaining agent for 140,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons in the media and entertainment industry, called for a strike authorization vote on September 20, ten days after an extension of the previous contract expired. The vote will be held October 1–3 and cover the 13 West Coast locals that belong to the Hollywood Basic Agreement.

IATSE image montage [Credit: IATSE/Facebook]

The following day, September 21, IATSE President Matthew Loeb and the leaders of the 23 locals located outside Los Angeles, covered by the Area Standards Agreement, sent a letter to their members calling for a strike authorization vote, claiming that the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) had broken off negotiations by failing to respond to IATSE’s last offer.

In a statement about the contract negotiations, IATSE officals asserted, “It is incomprehensible that the AMPTP, an ensemble that includes media mega-corporations collectively worth trillions of dollars, claims it cannot provide behind-the-scenes crews with basic human necessities like adequate sleep, meal breaks, and living wages. Worse, management does not appear to even recognize our core issues as problems that exist in the first place.”

Conditions for below-the-line employees (crew members as opposed to script and story writers, producers, directors, actors and casting) have not only become intolerable, but they are also a danger to the health and safety of everyone on the set. Twelve-hour shifts are the norm and a majority of entertainment workers in Los Angeles are not earning a livable wage. Abuse is rampant, and breaks—if they are permitted—are too short and too infrequent. Workers complain they are being worked to death and that these conditions cannot continue.

The overwhelming sentiment of workers as it finds expression on social media is that change is urgently needed and that a strike is necessary. One worker, criticizing the union leadership, explained that Loeb “is the one that led us to this mess we are in. He alone said all the past contracts were great and we should ratify them. Now … all of a sudden everything is wrong. That said … if the producers can’t agree on a basic human need of time off (10- or 12-hr turn around and proper meal breaks) it really says it all. … Money and benefits are highly negotiable. The basic human necessities are not. For those alone I would vote [to] strike.”



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