Union leaders gather IATSE and Teamsters members ahead of AMPTP

Union leaders gather IATSE and Teamsters members ahead of AMPTP talks

Entertainment News / By /

Union leaders gather IATSE and Teamsters members ahead of AMPTP

Lynette Rice

With fiery words like “Solidarity is the solution to corporate greed” and “If we don’t get what we want, we will shut it down from day one,” union leaders held a so-called “unity rally” on Sunday. to motivate crew members before joint negotiations between IATSE, Teamsters Local 399 and Hollywood Basic Crafts begin Monday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Hundreds of workers from all walks of the below-the-line community, from electrical workers and plasterers to editors, costume designers and script supervisors, filled a park west of I-405 in Encino, California. to prepare for a hopefully successful negotiation phase with the studios.

This year's bargaining cycle marks the first time since 1988 that IATSE, Teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts have jointly negotiated health and retirement benefits for their members under the joint Motion Picture Pension and Health Plan. The IATSE will continue negotiations on its IATSE Hollywood Base Agreement and IATSE Territory Standard Agreement contracts, as well as local union-specific issues. Teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts are expected to negotiate with the AMPTP on their local specific issues in early June.

To return the favor, since so many crew members had joined the actors and writers on the strike line last summer, members of SAG and WGA were front and center listening to the speeches and shouting along with everyone else, “Many Craftsmen fight against each other”.

“Isn't it great to have a rally without a strike?” asked Lindsay Dougherty, chief negotiator for Teamsters Local 399, as she looked out at the parking lot of workers – most of them wearing black and sporty union T-shirts that read ” Pay equality now” and “Nothing moves without the team.”

“This is what solidarity looks like,” Dougherty continued. “As everyone knows, Teamsters are not afraid of a fight and neither is IATSE. And even though WGA and SAG-AFTRA had to strike last year to get what they needed, I'm here to tell the AMPTP – and they know it and that's why they're most afraid of us – that with IATSE and Teamsters “Together, if we don't get what we want, we'll shut it down from day one.”

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SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland attended the rally to issue a warning about the upcoming talks.

“The studios and streamers will likely use the same outdated playbook that they used with us and with the Writers Guild last year,” he began. “There will be a public disinformation campaign aimed at sowing discord between you and all of us. There will be news about how your jobs are being replaced by technology. They will say the lack of work and the lack of pilot season is the union's fault. But we all know the truth. It is the employers who are chasing quarterly figures instead of pursuing a sustainable business model.”

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One of the harshest statements Sunday came from Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien, who called the studios “white-collar crime syndicates.”

“It's time, brothers and sisters, to make them realize that if they thought they had a fight last summer … they can't even predict what will happen to them,” he said. “I have never been so proud to see the courage and conviction supporting our brothers and sisters in both respective unions. Because the only thing that is predictable about these companies is…. They're not that bright. You think they learned it last year when they went up against two strong unions. These unions don't have deep pockets like the rest of us. We don't have the funding, but we have gut strength. We had the courage and conviction to take up the fight. And I think we can all agree that we are desperate and that being desperate is great. Being desperate means that we don't care about the consequences of our actions. We don't care about public relations. What we care about is making sure that our members…who make these white collar crime syndicates the success that they are…it's not about what they're going to give us. It's about what we will demand and accept in the future. Are you ready to fight?”

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IATSE leader Matthew Loeb concluded the rally by saying, “We are the antidote to the greed that has been thrust upon us.”

“This is our family. Look around at someone you don't know and tell them you have their back. “Because that’s what it takes, folks,” he said. “This is a crystal clear message that all entertainment industry unions are in this together. And that has never happened before, but I suspect it will continue in the future as we build strength and solidarity.”

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