{"id":13235,"date":"2021-10-18T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=13235"},"modified":"2021-10-18T15:03:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T13:03:56","slug":"landmark-tentative-agreement-reached-for-iatse-west-coast-film-and-television-workers-before-strike-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/10\/18\/landmark-tentative-agreement-reached-for-iatse-west-coast-film-and-television-workers-before-strike-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"Landmark Tentative Agreement Reached For IATSE West Coast Film And Television Workers Before Strike Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/iatse.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/iatse.jpg?resize=500%2C334&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/iatse.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/iatse.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;nationwide&nbsp;strike that would have&nbsp;started Monday was averted&nbsp;today&nbsp;when&nbsp;the International Alliance of&nbsp;Theatrical Stage Employees&nbsp;(IATSE)&nbsp;reached a&nbsp;tentative&nbsp;three-year&nbsp;agreement with the&nbsp;Alliance&nbsp;of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP)&nbsp;for&nbsp;The Basic&nbsp;and Videotape Agreements&nbsp;which&nbsp;affects 40,000&nbsp;film and television workers represented by 13&nbsp;West&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;IATSE&nbsp;local unions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;proposed contract&nbsp;addresses core issues,&nbsp;including&nbsp;reasonable rest periods; meal breaks;&nbsp;a living wage for those on the bottom of the&nbsp;pay&nbsp;scale;&nbsp;and significant increases in&nbsp;compensation&nbsp;to be&nbsp;paid by new-media companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is a Hollywood ending,\u201d said IATSE International President Matthew&nbsp;Loeb. \u201cOur members stood firm. We are tough and united.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IATSE union members were prepared to&nbsp;withhold their&nbsp;labor&nbsp;and go on strike&nbsp;until&nbsp;issues related to the quality of their lives were&nbsp;addressed, he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe went toe to toe with some of the richest and most powerful entertainment and tech companies in the world,&nbsp;and we have now&nbsp;reached an agreement&nbsp;with the AMPTP&nbsp;that meets our members\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;AMPTP&nbsp;is a trade association that represents major employers and producers of television and film including Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Apple, Netflix, and Amazon,&nbsp;among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;tentative&nbsp;agreement,&nbsp;which&nbsp;still must be ratified by IATSE members,&nbsp;includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many film and television workers had lamented how the workweek commonly ran into the weekend&nbsp;as&nbsp;Fridays and Saturdays became one long workday or a \u201cFraturday.\u201d&nbsp;AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, in remarks to the National Press Club in Washington earlier this week,&nbsp;said that IATSE members were \u201cfighting for the weekend.\u201d Under the terms of the new agreement &nbsp;film and television workers would&nbsp;now&nbsp;have a minimum of rest over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Achievement of a living wage\u00a0for the lowest-paid earners<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Improved wages and working conditions for streaming<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Retroactive wage Increases of 3\u00a0percent annually<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Increased meal period penalties<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Daily\u00a0rest\u00a0periods of 10 hours without exclusion<\/strong>s<\/li><li><strong>Weekend\u00a0rest\u00a0periods of 54 hours<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s Birthday Holiday added to schedule<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Adoption of diversity,\u00a0equity and\u00a0inclusion\u00a0initiatives \u00a0<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>IATSE members will be briefed by their local leaders on full details&nbsp;and language of the tentative agreement&nbsp;early this week. A ratification vote will be held with members casting ballots online using a similar process that was used to conduct the&nbsp;recent&nbsp;strike authorization vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur&nbsp;members will see significant improvements,&nbsp;but our&nbsp;employers&nbsp;also will benefit,\u201d said&nbsp;Mike Miller Vice President and Motion Picture Director for IATSE<a><\/a>. \u201cThis settlement allows pre-production, production and post-production to continue without interruption.&nbsp;Workers should have improved morale&nbsp;andbe more alert.&nbsp;Health and safety standards have been upgraded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This agreement,&nbsp;and the contract campaign before it,&nbsp;should serve as a model&nbsp;for other workers in the entertainment and tech industries, for workers employed by gaming companies, and for so-called \u201cgig workers,\u201d explained Loeb. \u201cWe\u2019re the original gig workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLike non-union,\u00a0freelance workers, many of our highly-skilled members go to work at different times, for different employers, at different locations,\u201d Loeb said.\u00a0\u201cThe difference is,\u00a0our people have healthcare and retirement benefits, can negotiate for better wages and conditions,\u00a0and have a voice and power because they work together through their union.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSolidarity is more than&nbsp;a&nbsp;word,\u201d Loeb added.&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s the way to&nbsp;get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two&nbsp;weeks&nbsp;ago,&nbsp;IATSE members who work in television and film production at&nbsp;36 IATSE local unions across the country&nbsp;voted to authorize the union\u2019s&nbsp;international&nbsp;president to call&nbsp;the first nationwide&nbsp;strike&nbsp;in the union\u2019s 128-year history&nbsp;if contract talks didn\u2019t result in new&nbsp;agreements&nbsp;for 60,000 film and television workers&nbsp;that fall under the Basic Agreement and the Area Standards Agreement.&nbsp;Voter turnout was 90 percent, with 98.6 percent of those voting in support of authorizing a strike.Last Wednesday,&nbsp;Loeb announced that a strike would begin at 12:01 Monday morning, Oct.&nbsp;18 if a deal had not been reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to the strike authorization vote, negotiators for the AMPTP had not spoken to the union\u2019s bargaining team for two weeks. After the overwhelming\u00a0showing of\u00a0support from members, negotiations resumed, but lacked a sense of urgency.\u00a0The pace of talks quickened\u00a0after the announcement of the strike\u00a0date\u00a0was set\u00a0for\u00a0Oct.\u00a018.\u00a0Substantial progress was made on Friday and final details for the Basic Agreement were reached late Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Negotiations continue for those who work under the&nbsp;similarArea Standards Agreement and belong to IATSE local unions in major production hubs such as New Mexico,&nbsp;New York, Illinois,&nbsp;Georgia and Louisiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with near-unanimous support from its own members,\u00a0IATSE received widespread support\u00a0for its campaign for a new contract\u00a0from actors, directors and others in the entertainment\u00a0community. In addition,\u00a0120 members of Congress\u00a0added their names to a letter,\u00a0and\u00a0state\u00a0government\u00a0leaders in California, New York and other production centers\u00a0weighed\u00a0in.\u00a0The unionalso\u00a0received backing\u00a0from the AFL-CIO and the broader labor movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IATSE\u2019s below-the-line workers include camera operators,&nbsp;grips, prop makers, set dressers, makeup artists, editors, script coordinators, publicists and many other job categories key to producing and film and television.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A&nbsp;nationwide&nbsp;strike that would have&nbsp;started Monday was averted&nbsp;today&nbsp;when&nbsp;the International Alliance of&nbsp;Theatrical Stage Employees&nbsp;(IATSE)&nbsp;reached a&nbsp;tentative&nbsp;three-year&nbsp;agreement with the&nbsp;Alliance&nbsp;of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP)&nbsp;for&nbsp;The Basic&nbsp;and Videotape Agreements&nbsp;which&nbsp;affects 40,000&nbsp;film and television workers represented by 13&nbsp;West&nbsp;Coast&nbsp;IATSE&nbsp;local unions.&nbsp; The&nbsp;proposed contract&nbsp;addresses core issues,&nbsp;including&nbsp;reasonable rest periods; meal breaks;&nbsp;a living wage for those on the bottom of the&nbsp;pay&nbsp;scale;&nbsp;and significant increases in&nbsp;compensation&nbsp;to be&nbsp;paid by new-media&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/10\/18\/landmark-tentative-agreement-reached-for-iatse-west-coast-film-and-television-workers-before-strike-deadline\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Landmark Tentative Agreement Reached For IATSE West Coast Film And Television Workers Before Strike Deadline<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}