Possible IATSE strike? Should I be alarmed?

Thoughts? @Vidiot?

 

I'm 100% on the side of the IATSE members. This is about reducing working hours to no more than 12 per day, getting 12 hours of turnaround before returning the next day, a modest cost-of-living raise, livable wages for everybody, and better conditions from "new media." The statement:

"Excessively unsafe and harmful working hours.
Unlivable wages for the lowest paid crafts.
Consistent failure to provide reasonable rest during meal breaks, between workdays, and on weekends.
Workers on certain 'new media' streaming projects get paid less, even on productions with budgets that rival or exceed those of traditionally released blockbusters."

What You Need to Know About the Potential IATSE Strike (and How It Could Affect Hollywood)

 

I hope there isn't a strike. There is way too much money being made by both parties to mess everything up.

 

Here's the latest update:

IATSE Reports 'Good Progress' in Talks - Variety

IATSE says negotiators were making “good progress” in bargaining, but still says to prepare for strike, if it happens.

 

I am an IATSE member of the Art Directors Guild for 28 years. The impending strike, which I think is highly likely to happen, is necessary to break through the years long trend of making our work ever more difficult through the compression of prep time and the lengthening of shooting days.

I just finished a big budget feature with A-list stars. It was typical that nearly every week by Wednesday or Thursday, call times were late afternoon (as night shooting was scheduled) and ran until hours after sunrise. For example a 4:00 pm crew call Friday with the shoot day not ending at 4:00 am for a standard 12 hour day, but stretching until 7:30 or 8:00 am Saturday morning. So a 16 hour work day after which a crew member sleeps all day, is then off normal schedule, and has one day off where they probably feel like a zombie. This is commonly called “Fraturday”. Then on Monday it’s back to work for a 6:00 am call.

Feature films used to have four to six months of prep time, with scripts that were solid and didn’t have major revisions. Now it is common to have only three months or less of prep before the cameras roll. Series television is even worse. In that medium the scripts are much less finished, so the changes there make everyone’s jobs even harder. It’s also common for the last day of one episode to overlap with the first day of the next, they call these “Tandem Days.” While there are separate shooting crew for some of the jobs, there are not for others, and so a crew member must juggle two episodes at once. This doesn’t just affect the shoot day, but the days leading up to it as one must keep all the balls in the air.

In my case I am not on the shooting crew but am working in the production office or remotely at home. I used to be able to do 10 hour work days, but now it’s quite common that in order for me to get everything done I have to do a 12 hour day, and on occasion go hours longer. Unless I’ve made my deal for a 12 hour daily guarantee I must go to my supervisors or the unit production manager to have them allow for these extra overtime hours. That’s fine except it’s ironic that it puts me in the position of pleading for them to allow me to do work that must be done due to the deadlines the whole process has created. Feature films are more likely to give the 12 hour guarantee, but it’s impossible to get that for television work as an hourly employee.

Thus far the Producers have not been willing to address these conditions. Their suggestion for making the workday shorter was to eliminate the lunch hour. Food would be available, and we can eat as we’re able while performing our jobs. This during days running 12 to 17 hours!

Another area they’ve been unwilling to move on is the lowest rate for union work. They want to pay just a couple if dollars over California minimum wage to people who are college graduates handling legal and budgetary matters. Carol Lombardini, the Chief negotiator of the AMPTP had the audacity to refer to these hard working people as “Unskilled Labor”. There’s much more I could go on about, but I think you get the picture.

IATSE members want to jeep working, but we must get a fair deal that addresses these core issues. These jobs put all members under a lot of stress on a daily basis. Judging by the nearly 99% vote in favor of authorizing a strike, a less stressful, more humane way to work is what we’re asking for. It’s up to the AMPTP to do the right thing so we can keep producing the content that our members here can discuss in this forum.

 

This interview on Slate gives a good overview of the issues, including many I didn’t delve into.

 

THE STRIKE HAS BEEN AVERTED!

A tentative deal is in place, this will need to be ratified by all IATSE members.

These are the key points as related by my guild moments ago, it appears to be a big win for the union:

• Living wage achieved
• Improved wages and working conditions for streaming
• Retroactive scale wage Increases of 3% annually
• Employer Funded Benefits for the term
• Increased meal period penalties including prevailing rate
• Daily Rest Periods of 10 hours without exclusions
• Weekend Rest Periods of 54 and 32 hours
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Holiday
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives
• 13th and 14th checks for pre-August 2009 retirees
• Additional MPI Hours for On-Call Employees
• Expansion of Sick Leave Benefit to the entire country

 

Variety said that the ratification may not come for months, if not weeks.