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IA Negotiations 2021


S Harber

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Hi All,

 

Not sure why there is an absence of discussion surrounding the current state of IATSE contract negotiations on this site. This seems very strange seeing what we all do for work.

I know there are other forums ie FB, IG IA stories etc. but it seems like a huge hole given what it all means to many here.

Is there some sort of dissuasion to this kind of discussion on JWS?

 

Me? I personally think we need to show that we are willing to hold the line and get our various demands engaged and have most of them met to increase our quality of life.

Sad to say but nothing will change without costing production more.  Now it's not costing them enough to not pay the penalty of doing the right thing. This has become a regular occurrence  and no one will change their ways out of the "goodness" of their hearts.  But....they will if it simply costs more since it's simply a business.  Thus I believe we need to up the rates of going over the lines that make it safe and keep us sane.  These raises should not be seen as ways of making more money but rather to push productions into making decisions that help us all work better.

 

There will never in our lifetimes be an opportunity to have the strength we presently do. The need for programming and movies is higher than ever and the folks producing will never be as desperate as now to generate our product. 

Let's stay together and support each other as we head into this.

 

I realize I sit in a position of privilege on many levels. I have worked all through the covid shutdown and have years of contacts, previous work, savings, and hours accumulated. That said, I obviously want to make things better for myself but AS important, is to leave this place better than I found it for others.  I very much empathize with those who had no work for a long time and are starting their journey in this field. We were all there in one form or another so let's show support for each other rather than side up and lob bombs.

 

Scott Harber CAS

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Good point, Scott, but I think the absence of discussion here is just part of the basic social media overload we have all experienced. There are so many avenues for "discussion" (in quite just because so many of the social media outlets do not really encourage or foster real discussions). For me, long time supporter and Union member (46 years), I feel at the very least we need to okay a Strike Authorization to let the Producers know that we are serious this time. There is so much confusion with the membership, so many people thinking that strike authorization means we will have a strike  --  this is not the case and authorization should be used to further demonstrate that we are in power and the producers need to negotiate.

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I agree that this is not only the most favorable moment for pushback from us re: how well the producers are doing financially right now that I've seen in 46 years in the biz, we are also more united-feeling and more in direct communication with each other than at any time I can recall.  Like locals actually talking to each other?  Like communications across department lines?  Pretty great.  Many of my crew friends are very pessimistic about how much support for a strike over wages and particularly work hours there really is right now, among the "silent majority" so to speak.  But we need to find out where everyone stands on this now, so I hope a vote does happen.   To those on the fence or not in favor of strike or etc action....admit that you know that without new brakes being added to how the current producers work (esp the streaming folks), the situation will continue to get worse re: hours, turnarounds, meals etc..  I assure you that every new generation of producers and ADs will closely study how to squeeze more work out of the same size crew, and they will do this if we let them. 

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On 9/18/2021 at 7:04 AM, S Harber said:

These raises should not be seen as ways of making more money but rather to push productions into making decisions that help us all work better.

This is the MOST important part of it all.  Money for management is clearly not a problem, but their disregard for allowing for safe, sane, reasonable and human employment is.  The ONLY way to make production understand this is to make the in-humane treatment of crews SO expensive that the bean-counters forbid it.

 

That's why no one in management on union shows skip lunch.  It is SO expensive to skip lunch that they can't afford it.

 

Wishing all my brothers and sisters a successful negotiation.

 

D.

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I know it's not really comparable in terms of size of production or budgets, but in Sweden we've managed to have 40 hour weeks (either 8 hour days, five days a week, or 10 hour days, four days a week) for dozens of years. Productions just keep increasing in size and difficulty, but the working hours and conditions have remained the same through those years. This is true for maybe high tier Productions, long running TV shows or feature length movies. 

Again, not really comparable (Swedish teams are maybe half the size of an American crew, if even), but you really can make a movie or show with humane working hours and proper turnaround, only longer production time obviously. 

 

If you need international support...

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