The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees members "aren't going to just settle."

Matthew Loeb, President of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) told a labor gathering in Las Vegas the other day that IATSE is ready to strike should negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) not go well this Spring. The AMPTP describes itself as "the entertainment industry's official collective bargaining representative" and "negotiates 58 industry-wide collective bargaining agreements on behalf of hundreds of motion picture and television producers."

Brother Loeb said, "Nothing’s off the table, and we’re not going to give up our strength and our ability because they sapped us...Everybody’s bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months. My folks aren’t going to just settle.”

The entertainment industry may have been counting on IATSE members being "strike weary" after protracted entertainment industry strikes last year went on longer than expected despite drawing strong support from the labor movement and the public. In fact, IATSE had a pretty good 2023 and union and public solidarity helped make that so. Loeb and his advisors within the union have their fingers on the nation's pulse. “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,” Loeb has been quoted as saying.

These remarks came during a panel on AI that was part of the AFL-CIO's Labor Innovation & Technology Summit at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas this week (see this also). There is much to say about AI from a union perspective, or perspectives. Loeb was clear in saying that “(T)he 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." Loeb is framing part of the national debates on AI about jobs.

The Teamsters and the Writers Guild of America-West (WGA), unions with good relations with IATSE, seems to be taking a go-slow approach where AI is concerned. The President of  Teamsters Local 399 and the President of WGA-West understand that the employers that the three unions deal with together are concerned about negotiating union contracts that may negatively impact their ability to use AI in the future. On the one hand, then, the unions have the challenge of making the industry employers negotiate over something that most employers refuse to negotiate over---the use of technology---and, on the other hand, they're approaching contract bargaining with a high level of coordination, recent strike experience, and a willingness by IATSE to strike. It's reasonable to expect that the employer's concerns about the future of AI, competition, and the entertainment industry's economics will stiffen employer resistance to union demands. Meanwhile, there is significant public debate and concerns about AI that go beyond looking at AI solely through a union lens and some strong labor allies are staking out advanced positions on AI as well. Local 399 is using political action in California to take on the state's governor and the tech companies, and the local is using this as wedge to warn California Governor Newsom to not run again. Intended or not, this fight will impact union negotiations with AMPTP and will help affect public perceptions of AI.

Photo from Wikipedia

Disney seems to be playing defense as the unions are setting the ground for contentious negotiations. Paramount is in such a deep financial mess that it may merge with some greedy entertainment companies that seem more interested in acquisitions than entertainment. Overall employment in the entertainment industry seems to be down. Still, IATSE is willing to talk about striking and is taking an aggressive legal stand with a recalcitrant employer that probably sends a strong union message to industry employers. The union is not letting up on organizing in areas where how technology is used is contentious, pushing the point that unions can organize, go into major negotiations prepared to strike, and go into court to protect their members' interests in the same period.  

The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of any of the organizations or individuals mentioned in the post or those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter..