You may have seen articles in the media about the IATSE union negotiations in the States and rumours of a strike. There has also been a huge amount of social media content recently, describing the effects of long hours on crew. On Instagram, @ia_stories has been highlighted by the international media.

What is happening?

• 13 Hollywood union branches (known as the Hollywood Locals) are uniting to negotiate better terms with the studios.
• This includes the Locals representing Art Department members, which are strong union branches in LA.
• There is a possibility that a strike will be voted on as a tool of last resort in these negotiations.

What are the 13 IATSE Locals asking for?

The main points that the branches are negotiating on are living wages for the lowest paid crew, humane and sustainable working hours, reasonable rest and meal breaks and equitable compensation from streaming projects now that those Studios are profitable.

Why is this happening now?

The negotiated terms of the contracts for the crew members of these 13 Locals expire on the 10th September. The Locals was to improve the terms of the new contracts. There are further negotiations today, in an attempt to reach an agreement before the contracts expire. The pandemic demonstrated to many crew members in the states that productions could be made on 10 hour days rather than 14+/16+. Now the Covid restrictions have been removed, productions have increased overtime to meet their scheduling criteria and crew are being stretched even more than before. This level of unification between Locals has not been seen in living memory.  

What will happen if there is a Strike?

A strike will mean that all 13 union branches will be called to stand down on productions, wherever they are in the world.

What does this mean for us in the UK?

If the IATSE branches do manage to negotiate a decrease in hours and better pay for the lowest paid workers, we can look to this as an example of what can be negotiated with the studios. The pandemic has shown us that productions have been able to find 20%+ of standard budgets to spend on Covid precautions, AND still maintain profits for the larger studios in the last year.

If a strike IS implemented in the states, is will mean that any crew working on UK productions who are members of the 13 branches, will also be asked to strike. However, it must be stressed, that IATSE considers a strike the very last resort in contract negotiations.

The 13 branches are:

IATSE Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild

IATSE Local 700 Motion Picture Editors Guild

IATSE Local 729 Motion Picture Set Painters & Sign Writers

IATSE Local 80 Motion Picture Studio Grips

IATSE Local 706 Make-up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild

IATSE Local 44 Affiliated Property Craftspersons

IATSE Local 800 Art Directors Guild

IATSE Local 892 Costume Designers Guild

IATSE Local 705 Motion Picture Costumers

IATSE Local 695 Production Sound Technicians, Television Engineers, Video Assist Technicians and Studio Projectionists

IATSE Local 728 Motion Picture Studio Electrical Lighting Techs.

IATSE Local 871 Script Supv/Continuity Coord, Accountants, & Allied Prod Spec Guild

IATSE Local 884 Motion Picture Studio Teachers and Welfare Workers