Throughout workplaces across the country, Labor is asking, “What are the changes we’ll see as we come out of this pandemic?” This includes our Sisters, Brothers, and Kin of the IATSE. What lies ahead for our members on the motion picture sets, in sports broadcast, live television production, live theater, and conventions? The IATSE represents members in all of these crafts.
Last year, the Hollywood locals started an IA Solidarity campaign to bring all the crafts together to support each other during the pandemic. Local 695 offered on-set work to members of Local 33, whose live theater jobs were shut down and didn’t come back until just this year. For the first time in my memory, we were all connected with a common goal to offer support to all IATSE families to help them get through these troubled times. That solidarity was once again on display when contract bargaining for renewal of the Basic Agreement was stalled by the employers, who refused to listen to our concerns to improve the wages and working conditions on production. The bottleneck opened up only when you the members voted 98% strong to give the President the power to call a strike if our issues were not addressed. In short order, when we returned to the bargaining table, we achieved all our goals, and this will change the way they schedule the workday on production. We will continue this solidarity on each set and at every location that our members work. Because of this continued solidarity, we can affect change and continue to improve the wages and working conditions for all IATSE members and their families.
In Solidarity
Scott Bernard
Business Representative