IATSE's conflict avoidance

Org bolsters case for early contract talks

By DAVE MCNARY

The Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which has urged Hollywood actors unions to start bargaining over their film-TV contract, has disclosed that its West Coast members lost nearly 1 million hours of work due to the May 1- Oct. 30 actors' strike against the ad industry.

"These statistics show very clearly how a work stoppage affects everyone in the industry and not just the unions who call for a strike," said IATSE prexy Thomas Short.

The estimate of lost work comes from a report showing that pension and health plan eligibility hours for the Motion Picture Industry Plans fell by nearly 1 million hours when comparing the third quarter of this year with the year earlier period. The decline is the equivalent of about 125,000 days.

IATSE said all 21 West Coast Studio Locals, repping approximately 25,000 members, are covered by its commercial agreement and were impacted by the strike. It also said statistics were not available for other areas affected by the work stoppage but noted that members were affected in New York, Chicago and other major areas.

During the strike, members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists staged hundreds of demonstrations at ad shoots that employed non-union actors. The picketing and disruption led to significant increases in shoots in foreign locations.

Earlier this month, Short urged SAG and AFTRA to begin talks on the film-TV contractas soon as possible because of the risks of putting thousands of people out of work if there is a strike next summer following the June 30 expiration of the current pact. SAG and AFTRA have said they do not want a strike but have also indicated that they will not be ready to start bargaining until March at the earliest.