Another Hollywood Strike Could Freeze Movie and TV Productions This Summer
"Our Union is going into these negotiations united and from a position of strength. We will be aggressive at the table and do what it takes to win a contract that IATSE members expect, deserve, and ratify," the union says.
Months after the dual 2023 Hollywood labor disputes — the 148-day WGA strike and the 118-day SAG-AFTRA strike — IATSE says it will hold a strike authorization vote if the union doesn't reach a new deal on two major labor contracts before the current contract expires on July 31. IATSE — the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — represents more than 168,000 workers in various arts, media, and entertainment crafts, and consists of more than 360 Local Unions. Along with the hashtag #IASOLIDARITY, the guild launched a pair of websites to lay out roadmaps for the upcoming two negotiations: the Basic Agreement and the Area Standards Agreement.
Starting March 4, IATSE's Negotiating Committee — consisting of union members representing each of the 13 West Coast Studio locals, subject matter experts, staff, and elected leadership — will trade initial proposals with the Studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who negotiated with the writers' and actors' unions during the 2023 strikes. The AMPTP represents the major studios and streamers, including Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Sony, Paramount, Apple, Amazon, and Netflix.
"The Negotiating Committee is not interested in extending this agreement beyond the July 31 expiration," the Union's Negotiating Committee states in the roadmap. "Depending on the status of negotiations around this time, there will either be a strike authorization vote, or a ratification vote."
If no new deal is reached, the IATSE Negotiating Committee may then call for a strike authorization vote. Once a tentative agreement is reached with the AMPTP, members will vote to ratify the proposed deal, preventing a work stoppage.
In November 2021, IATSE and the AMPTP agreed to the Basic Agreement and the West Coast Studio Local Agreements for three years — beginning August 1, 2021, and terminating on July 31, 2024. During that term, minimum contract wage rates were increased by 3% starting August 1, 2021; by an additional 3% on July 31, 2022; and an additional 3% on July 30, 2023.
"Nothing is off the table, and we're not going to give up our strength and our ability because they [studios] think they sapped us and everybody's bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months," IATSE international president Matthew D. Loeb said during a labor innovation and technology summit at CES 2024 in January. "My folks aren't going to just settle. Folks are fed up … People are ready to fight and the studios would be ill-advised to assume that they've weakened us to the point where we can't [strike]."
The potential strike comes months after Marvel Studios visual effects workers voted "unanimously" in favor of unionizing with IATSE in a historic move. The list of major AMPTP Signatories includes Marvel Film Productions LLC, Marvel Picture Works LLC, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Netflix Studios, LLC, Sony Pictures Studios, Inc., Apple Studios LLC, 20th Century Studios, Inc., Universal Content Productions LLC, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., and Paramount Pictures Corporation.
