Editors Guild Urges Members To “Overwhelmingly” Approve IATSE Strike Authorization

Hours after a memo by Netflix’s co-CEO declaring that trans remarks in Dave Chappelle’s latest special didn’t “cross the line” was made public, one of the nation’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations has called out the streamer for some serious hypocrisy.

IATSE and the AMPTP have concluded their fourth day of do-or-die bargaining and will resume negotiations for a new film and TV contract on Saturday. But if a deal is to be reached, and a strike averted, it will have to be made soon. “It’s a matter of days, not weeks,” IATSE president Matthew Loeb said tonight. Last weekend, the union’s members voted resoundingly (over 98%) in favor of granting him strike authorization if a deal can’t be reached.

Mandi LineLocal 892Costume DesignerThe thing that I love the most in life, has to stop being the thing that causes me to have no personal life.The strike scares the shit out of me. I just got a pilot, feeling good about my hours with that pilot, amazing crew, amazing producers.

IATSE has told its members that ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP for a new film and TV contract are “fluid” and that members should “disregard any information you read in the press as it is not necessarily an accurate representation of what is actually occurring.”

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefIt will be a downright fiasco if the leadership of Hollywood’s studios, networks and streamers doesn’t do everything in its collective bargaining power to prevent the labor union representing camera operators, editors, production designers, grips and other workers from going out on strike.Such a self-inflicted action — after what was a devastating year for the entire industry as it involuntarily navigated its way through an unforeseen pandemic — would be, well …

The union reports that 90% of members cast ballots this weekend, with 98% of those votes in favor of strike authorization. The union’s negotiating committee will meet with representatives from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Tuesday morning to resume negotiations.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorAfter the historic vote to authorize the first IATSE strike ever, members of several below-the-line guilds said they were impressed with the nearly-unanimous response from their fellow craftspeople in the entertainment industry.

IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have agreed to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday following the union’s historic strike-authorization vote. It will be the first time in more than two months that the two sides have engaged in collective bargaining.

It was announced this morning that IATSE members had voted by an overwhelming margin — 98% — to authorize their leadership to call a nationwide strike against film and TV productions. Reaction online was swift and nearly unanimously in support of the vote.

In an overwhelming show of union solidarity, IATSE members have voted to authorize a nationwide strike against film and TV productions if last-ditch negotiations with the AMPTP fail to produce a fair deal.

The union reports that 90% of members cast ballots this weekend, with 98% of those votes in favor of strike authorization.Strike authorization votes were held on two bargaining agreements: the Hollywood Basic Agreement, which covers the 13 West Coast locals, and the Area Standards Agreement, which covers 23 locals that work on film and TV shoots nationwide.

EXCLUSIVE: The countdown has officially started this morning in what could be one of the largest labor actions in Hollywood history.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorOver 118 members of Congress including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Karen Bass, and Congressman Adam Schiff are urging the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to negotiate with IATSE to improve wages and working conditions for workers in the film and television industry.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA year after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the entertainment industry worldwide, the studios are churning out content at a breakneck pace.

The Art Directors Guild, IATSE Local 800, is “wholeheartedly” urging its members to authorize a strike against film and TV production companies all across the country. The leadership of all three IATSE locals with national jurisdiction – the Art Directors Guild, the International Cinematographers Guild and the Editors Guild – have now gone on record recommending that their members authorize a strike in voting that begins on Friday.

IATSE president Matthew Loeb and the presidents 13 Hollywood locals, saying that “now is the time to change the culture of our work places,” issued a joint statement Tuesday urging members to authorize a nationwide strike against film and TV production companies.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterIn 2006, Haskell Wexler made a documentary about brutally long hours on film sets entitled “Who Needs Sleep?” The issue had become a flashpoint years earlier, when Brent Hershman died in a car crash after working a 19-hour day on the set of “Pleasantville.”Wexler wanted to know why nothing had been done. In the film, he adopted a “Roger & Me” pose — only his villain wasn’t some big corporation.

The AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees said today that it stands “united with IATSE” in its fight for a fair contract. IATSE members will begin voting to authorize a strike against film and television productions on Friday.

Hollywood’s Covid return-to-work protocols expire Thursday – the day before IATSE members begin voting to authorize a strike.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorOn Sunday, the national executive board of the International Cinematographers Guild unanimously agreed to support the IATSE nationwide strike vote, and encouraged its members to vote “Yes” in a new video.