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Understanding Unions...


JDirckze

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Hey guys,

I'm over in The US from Sydney for the next 8 months, shooting a new science based reality build show, and we ran into some Union officials whilst shooting in the heart of a downtown square in a major west coast city.

They claimed they had received hundreds of phone call complaints that we were shooting there, and threatened to effectively shut us down by picketing us because we were not using "local crew"

The thing is, we were using local crew. Local staging crew. Local camera operator. Local camera assist. Local productions runners. Local researchers. Numerous local hire companies.

Of course being an OS company, we do have some of our own working too....

How can what we are doing be anything but healthy for the industry over here?

When they say "local crew" do they really mean local crew, or do they mean people who are members of their union?

Anyway, I don't mean this to be an attack on Unions or Union representatives, but I would like to understand more about this...

Cheers,

Jason Dirckze

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Hey guys,

I'm over in The US from Sydney for the next 8 months, shooting a new science based reality build show, and we ran into some Union officials whilst shooting in the heart of a downtown square in a major west coast city.

They claimed they had received hundreds of phone call complaints that we were shooting there, and threatened to effectively shut us down by picketing us because we were not using "local crew"

The thing is, we were using local crew. Local staging crew. Local camera operator. Local camera assist. Local productions runners. Local researchers. Numerous local hire companies.

Of course being an OS company, we do have some of our own working too....

How can what we are doing be anything but healthy for the industry over here?

When they say "local crew" do they really mean local crew, or do they mean people who are members of their union?

Anyway, I don't mean this to be an attack on Unions or Union representatives, but I would like to understand more about this...

Cheers,

Jason Dirckze

The way this seems to work, at least around here, relates to visbility and size and length of project.  Out of town folks shoot here all the time, and shorter or smaller or invisible (shooting out of the public eye) type shows go about their business.  A big show that shoots in visible locations (like downtown public spaces) and is around for a long time should probably not try to ignore that there is a union hereabouts, that many local people that might get hired are members, and that the leadership of the local will take an interest.  The leadership of the IA local where I live is pretty flexible about rates and bennies in their contracts (some say TOO flexible), but they can't allow themselves to be ignored by a big production.  Whatever one's feelings about unions are, it should not come as a surprise that a union local that has a long history of organizing most of the larger shoots in its area would react if a long-term non-union shoot (film or TV) started shooting in very public places in its hometown.

Philip Perkins

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Perhaps the issue stems from some countries making it VERY difficult for technicians from the United States to work there.  The U.S. seems to have no problem allowing anyone, creative or technical, to work here regardless of how many of its own citizens (and union members) are out of work.

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You are wrong about the US allowing foreign crews to work in America. It is extremely difficult for Canadian production personnel to get approval from your Immigration people to work in the US, even on productions destined solely for Canadian television. Many people I know have been turned away at US Immigration at Toronto airport and elsewhere. I have had big troubles even with the proper documentation in hand to enter the US at times. Free Trade seems to be a one-way street, and it ain't going my way.

Chris Newton.

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Perhaps the issue stems from some countries making it VERY difficult for technicians from the United States to work there.  The U.S. seems to have no problem allowing anyone, creative or technical, to work here regardless of how many of its own citizens (and union members) are out of work.

I don't know if that's true.  We had a stand-in from Eastern Europe fired the other day because the payroll company wouldn't accept her legitimate visa for working in the US.  I don't think it's particularly easy to waltz in to the US and get a job, as you seem to indicate, unless you're talking about washing dishes under the table for $5 an hour, cleaning people's houses, or shooting photos for the paparazzos.

I think in this case, it's not an international issue but rather just the unions taking care of their area.  I doubt it would make a difference if the production company hired non-union workers from Sydney or Glendale.  Since the poster indicated that most of the workers were indeed local, it seems to just be a labor organization issue...which happens everywhere in this country, and perhaps in others.  I know there's a prohibitive amount of red tape for me to go and mix a show in Toronto or Montreal in place of a Canadian mixer, regardless of whether or not the filmmakers might think I might have something special and unique to bring to their project, and I imagine I'd run into the same obstacles in many developed countries around the world.

Call it what you will (and some have here), but let's not forget that the unions do exist, at least in theory, to keep production companies from taking unfair advantage of us workers -- and I doubt that there's anyone who has worked non-union for a spell in our business that doesn't have a story about a production company taking completely unfair advantage of them.

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I guess it was the "bully tactics" that really surprised me the most...

As it turned out, the jib operator we hired was a member of the particular Union that came to visit us.

90% of shooting is done on our premises, but every 2 weeks or so we "unveil" to the public, which I imagine will cause issues somewhere down the line.

Thanks for the responses!

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Guest klingklang

Perhaps the issue stems from some countries making it VERY difficult for technicians from the United States to work there.  The U.S. seems to have no problem allowing anyone, creative or technical, to work here regardless of how many of its own citizens (and union members) are out of work.

On the contrary. There are currently 3 huge US-productions (incl. Tom Cruise) shooting in Berlin/Germany all with US/UK and local crew.

The few times I shot with local productions in the US were always MAJOR problems to get the german crew-members into the country to shoot. Even though these were tiny productions with about 4-5 non-US citizens but ALL other crew being local.

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Unfortunately the American film industry operates with dual standards.

You fight like hell to keep non US nationals out of the US on film jobs but bleat like spoiled children when we complain about you coming into the UK which you seem to think is your right.

I think its time for a bit of a reform to take place.

M.Davies. A.m.p.s.

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