IATSE

IATSE leadership told members on Friday that they’re gaining “momentum” in negotiations with the studios, as another local union reached a tentative agreement. IATSE Local 871, which represents script supervisors, writers’ assistants, accountants and others, reached an agreement on its craft-specific issues on Wednesday. That makes seven of the 13 West Coast locals that have reached tentative deals.

Back at the bargaining table with the studios this week after several days of caucusing, IATSE on Tuesday laid out its plans for the next phase of talks as a contract-expiration date inched closer for a tense Hollywood. The current IATSE contracts expire July 31.

IATSE resumed negotiations with the major studios on Monday, with a day spent focused on items relevant to the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600. IATSE began talks earlier this month, as it seeks to address artificial intelligence, see wage increases to make up for inflation, and close a significant shortfall in its pension and health fund.

After four days of joint talks with the studios over health and pension benefits, IATSE, the Teamsters and other Hollywood Crafts will take next week to “caucus” and return to negotiations with the AMPTP on March 18.

The Guild is negotiating jointly with Teamsters and Basic Crafts unions for a new studio pension and health plan. (IATSE/MPTF/Teamsters photo)

The “Many Crafts, One Fight” event brought the industry labor movement together just months after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes ended as below-the-line unions threatened yet another paralyzing work stoppage. (Gary Baum photo)

IATSE President Matthew Loeb did not mince words Tuesday when asked if his local unions were willing to strike if this spring’s contract negotiations with the AMPTP did not go well. “Nothing’s off the table, and we’re not going to give up our strength and our ability because they sapped us,” said Loeb to cheers at a CES panel of Hollywood labor leaders. “Everybody’s bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months. My folks aren’t going to just settle.”

Walt Disney Pictures visual effects workers voted to unionize under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. IATSE International President Matthew D. Loeb, in a statement, said the workers’ collective action “represents a seismic shift in this critical moment in our industry.” “This unanimous vote sends a clear message that the demands of VFX workers for dignity, respect, and fairness must be heard,” Loeb said. VFX workers have historically been nonunionized, despite working alongside crew members who have long been organized under IATSE. Earlier this year, VFX workers at Disney’s Marvel Studios voted to join the union.

Blowing through financial reserves, below-the-line union members are concerned about their leverage in upcoming contract talks.

In a statement, IATSE, a labor union that represents over 160,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, said, “Our approach as a union must be comprehensive, focused on research, collaboration, education, political and legislative advocacy, organizing, and collective bargaining.” The statement comes at a time when AI remains an important topic in SAG-AFTRA and WGA negotiations.

The deep-pocketed pro golf upstart has a revenue-sharing arrangement with Nexstar CW and pays for all of its TV production expenses.

The union said Thursday that it has sent a formal request to the Association of Independent Commercial Producers to initiate a card count by a neutral third party on behalf of thousands of unionizing freelance TV commercial production department workers. If a majority of workers sign the cards, IATSE will be recognized as their collective bargaining agent.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is accusing the Association of Independent Commercial Producers of “union busting” and providing companies with a “license to blacklist” production department workers engaged in unionizing efforts. Last month, the union said that thousands of workers employed in TV commercial production departments had formed a new union called Stand with Production under IATSE’s umbrella.

The membership of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has voted to ratify a new three-year agreement, ending the threat of the first national strike in the union’s history. The contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was ratified despite opposition from many members who felt it did not do enough to address oppressive working conditions on set, including long hours and a lack of timely rest periods.

Heading toward a near midnight Sunday deadline, IATSE members now have their ballots to vote on a new three-year deal with producers. The nearly 60,000 members of the below-the-line union received emails this morning starting around 6 a.m. PT prompting them to login in and digitally cast their vote.

The drama is not over. The contract must still be ratified, and many members quickly denounced it on social media. The rank and file had organized online in support of a historic strike authorization vote, sharing the pain and frustration of toiling behind the scenes in Hollywood, in hopes of getting better working conditions and pay. To them, the deal felt like the status quo. It’s not clear whether that opposition is broad enough to kill it with a no vote on the ratification — but the leadership has more work to do.

After days of marathon negotiations, representatives from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and from the studios and entertainment companies who employ them reached the three-year contract agreement before a Monday strike deadline, avoiding a serious setback for an industry that had just gotten back to work after long pandemic shutdowns.

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees International President Matthew Loeb said Wednesday that the strike would begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday unless an agreement is reached on rest and meal periods and pay for its lowest-paid workers.

Claudia Eller: It will be a downright fiasco if the leadership of Hollywood’s studios, networks and streamers doesn’t do everything in its collective bargaining power to prevent the labor union representing camera operators, editors, production designers, grips and other workers from going out on strike.

Negotiations between the studios and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees are expected to continue on Wednesday as the sides try to avoid a strike that would shut down production and immediately cripple Hollywood’s content pipeline. In what could be taken as a sign of progress, the two sides are not saying much publicly about the negotiations.

It’s typical for Hollywood’s labor unions to support for each other during labor disputes, but the support for IATSE during its current contract dispute with film and TV producers goes beyond the usual labor solidarity. That’s because the below-the-line workers’ union could be setting a standard for all future Hollywood contracts in the streaming era.

In an overwhelming show of union solidarity, IATSE members have voted to authorize a nationwide strike against film and TV productions if last-ditch negotiations with the AMPTP fail to produce a fair deal. The vote — 98% in favor — now gives IATSE President Matthew Loeb indisputable authority to call a strike if he and AMPTP President Carol Lombardini can’t reach an agreement in the coming days.

“If you are working on commercials or for HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, BET or another company that has a contract still in effect – you must keep working,” IATSE informed its members. “You will not be a scab!” (Image: HBO; IATSE; BET)

The reality of an imminent labor strike in Hollywood is beginning to sink in — one that could halt film and TV production in the U.S. and Canada just as it has resumed following a long pandemic-fueled shutdown. As an authorization vote looms next weekend among the 13 West Coast locals International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, below-the-line workers in the guild say they’re feeling a sense of unity. (Image: IATSE)

IATSE’s strike-authorization vote will be getting underway soon. Grips Local 80 said that it will hold its vote from October 1-3, and Prop Local 44 told its members at a virtual town hall Wednesday night that they’d be be voting on the same dates. IATSE has said that all 13 West Coast studio locals will hold their secret ballot votes “simultaneously.” (Image: IATSE)

Leaders of the Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700, are urging their members to vote “overwhelmingly” to authorize a strike against the film and TV industry. The guild’s board, meeting on Tuesday, voted unanimously to recommend that members back the strike authorization after negotiations with the AMPTP for a new Basic Agreement broke down.

The streaming wars have wrought worn-out legions of workers dealing with brutal production schedules, 15-hour workdays, and corner-cutting on meal breaks. And it looks like at least one union has had enough.

IATSE is now gearing up for a second strike against the film and TV industry. With the union and its 13 West Coast studio locals already threatening to strike over terms for a new Hollywood Basic Agreement, IATSE is now seeking a second strike authorization vote for a separate contract covering film and TV work in much of the rest of the country.

“Today, the AMPTP informed the IATSE that they do not intend to respond to our comprehensive package proposal presented to them over a week ago,” the union leaders said in a message to members. “This failure to continue negotiating can only be interpreted one way. They simply will not address the core issues we have repeatedly advocated for from the beginning.”

IATSE is continuing to prepare its members for a possible strike or a lockout if it can’t make a deal with management’s AMPTP for a new film and TV contract. The union’s current contract was set to expire on July 31, but was extended through Sept. 10, the union says, “in an effort to exhaust every opportunity to make a deal.”