IATSE President Matthew Loeb Says Guild Is Willing To Strike, If Needed: “Folks Are Fed Up…Nothing Is Off The Table”

Tom Tapp and Katie Campione
·3 min read
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IATSE President Matthew Loeb did not mince words today when asked if his local unions were willing to strike if this spring’s contract negotiations with the AMPTP did not go well.

“Nothing’s off the table, and we’re not going to give up our strength and our ability because they sapped us,” said Loeb to cheers at a CES panel of Hollywood labor leaders. “Everybody’s bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months. My folks aren’t going to just settle.”

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Despite the fact that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes dominated much of last year, Loeb said his membership is not strike-weary, but weary of the AMPTP’s tactics.

“Folks are fed up. And I don’t know what to call it, if it’s a post-Covid wake of dissatisfaction, but people are ready to fight and the studios would be ill advised to think that they’ve weakened us to the point that we can’t,” he said.

Much of the discussion during the panel, which occurred at the Las Vegas tech summit CES, was centered on AI, given the nature of last year’s strikes and announcement today that SAG-AFTRA had inked a deal with Replica Studios regarding the use of AI digital voice replicas in video games.

Addressing AI, Loeb said, “Certainly the studios are on notice that this is a crucial issue for us and we’re going to fight very hard…We’re going to look closely at the deals that were already made and if we can draw from that.”

“We have a pretty uphill climb in terms of making sure [our] people are safe and that they’re secure and protected,” he continued. “These fights that the guilds had last year paved the way for us and the studios are on notice.”

Teamsters 399 boss Lindsay Dougherty laid out some of the specifics her members are worried about, observing that the Teamsters were around when companies made the transition from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles, and they were able to include that then-new technology in their contract.

“Right now, it’s autonomous vehicles because that’s what our members are seeing right before them,” she said, before imagining the potential dangers for a 10,000-ton truck with no human driver.

WGA West President Meredith Stiehm said that, every time her guild broached the subject of AI during last year’s negotiations, the studios tried to avoid specifics because they feared compromising their ability to use the technology in the future. Dougherty said she’s had the same experience.

“Anytime you say ‘AI,’ the studios don’t want to talk about it,” the 399 chief said. “They’re really going to have to sit down with the Teamsters and IATSE and and talk this through not just say ‘No,’ because we’re not going to just settle.”

Asked if the industry and its workers can withstand another six-month shutdown, Dougherty said it’s the studios, networks and streamers who should be worried.

“The companies can’t withstand another strike, let’s be clear on that — especially Paramount,” she said, alluding to the company’s hefty debt that has prompted discussions of a possible merger.

Dougherty then issued a warning. Speaking of a Teamster-supported bill that would have regulated autonomous vehicles over 10,001 pounds — in other words, a semi truck – she noted that California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill.

“That’s telling, because he’s beholden to the tech companies. We’re actually introducing another bill this week that’s going to be even more rigorous,” she promised, before putting the governor on notice.

“Newsom should consider this his last term and then not run, according to the Teamsters. We’re not going to support him,” she said.

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