IATSE Charters Production Workers Guild Local 111, With National Jurisdiction In TV Commercials

IATSE said Friday that it has chartered a new guild with national jurisdiction: Production Workers Guild Local 111. It becomes IATSE’s first-ever local specifically created to represent freelance production department workers.

The new local joins several other IATSE locals with national jurisdiction, including the Cinematographers Guild, the Editors Guild and the Art Directors Guild.

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Local 111 currently represents some 5,000 production assistants, assistant production supervisors, production supervisors, line producers, and bidding producers working on TV commercials. The Association of Independent Commercial Producers has already voluntarily recognized them as a group for the purposes of collective bargaining, and negotiations for a first contract are expected to begin in the coming weeks.

“We are 170,000 strong and growing, welcoming crafts that historically have not been represented in this critical moment,” IATSE president Matthew Loeb said. “The birth of the Production Workers Guild Local 111 is not a mere addition to our expansive list of represented crafts, but a testament to our union’s unwavering commitment to ensuring every worker in entertainment is represented, protected, and heard. And mark my words, this is just the beginning.”

According to IATSE, the creation of Local 111 “opens the door for future organizing initiatives within production departments, not just in the realm of TV commercials, but also throughout the broader entertainment industry.”

Historically, crew positions such as art directors, camera operators, hair & makeup artists, script supervisors, grips, lighting, props, and painters have been represented on TV commercial sets by IATSE, but until now, workers in the production department have not.

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