IATSE Sets Additional Bargaining Dates for West Coast Locals
Hollywood’s major crew union and top studios and streamers have set a new date to return to shared negotiations on core issues for West Coast Locals.
The 13 IATSE West Coast Locals — a group that includes the International Cinematographers Guild and the Motion Picture Editors Guild and bargains on behalf of around 50,000 workers — will resume talks covering wages, working conditions, benefits and AI on June 3 through 5, the union announced on Friday. General negotiations over the contract, called the Basic Agreement, broke off on May 16 after the two sides failed to come to a deal within their previously allotted window.
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Still, the parties have plenty of time before the Basic Agreement’s July 31 expiration date. IATSE has previously said it has no interest in extending the contract beyond that date and could call a strike authorization vote if no deal is reached by that time.
According to the union, both labor and management have reached tentative agreements on some points during the negotiations. Still, the union cautioned that these agreements “do not constitute a final deal until all proposals and discussion points are settled.” These tentative agreements can “still be subject to change until a full tentative agreement is achieved.”
The two sides have not yet ironed out tentative agreements on AI and MPI benefits, according to sources, though generally insiders express a sense that talks have made progress so far.
Over the past week, 23 separate IATSE Locals have been negotiating the union’s Area Standards Agreement, which covers around 20,000 crew members who generally work outside Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago. According to the union, negotiations so far have covered classification and wage issues, working conditions, benefits and subcontracting. ASA agreement negotiations will resume on Tuesday.
“This negotiation is fundamentally about ensuring the employers respect our right to get off our feet and get some rest during a long workday, to get home safely and see our families and have some economic stability,” IATSE international president Matthew Loeb said in a statement. “The work will continue next week when we resume our talks with the employers.”
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