Show Us The Money: Teamsters Chief Negotiator Lindsay Dougherty On Why Studios Need To Pay Up, Taylor Sheridan & Respect
10.06.2024 - 15:25
/ deadline.com
With IATSE’s deal still up in the air, Teamsters Local 399 is taking up the mantle Monday to negotiate on a new three-year contract with the studios.
On behalf of her members, Teamsters Local 399 chief Lindsay Dougherty is ready to drive a hard bargain with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Doughtery tells Deadline she’s expecting the same in return.
“I think in this contract cycle, they’re going to bargain hard,” she said in an interview ahead of Monday’s negotiations. “There is some element of chess playing in negotiations, but I think, at the end of the day, we just have to keep fighting for what our members deserve until we get it.”
In addition to serving as chief negotiator for these talks, Dougherty is also the Teamsters Motion Picture Division director and Western Region Vice President as well as Chairperson of the Hollywood Basic Crafts. She has already sat across the table from the Carol Lombardini-led AMPTP during this bargaining cycle, since the Basic Crafts linked arms with IATSE to negotiate the terms of their joint benefits beginning in May.
So far, the details on those proposals are not drilled down. As Deadline understands it, pension contributions have already arisen as a sticking point between the unions and the studios, as the unions are seeking the replenish the funds with more significant increases than in the past. The pension fund, which employers pay into, has taken a severe hit over the last several years as many below-the-line crew have been unemployed for extended periods of time during pandemic shutdowns and last year’s historic dual strikes.
That’s just one of several priorities for Dougherty, who tells Deadline “the underlying theme of most of our proposals is