Healthcare costs to dominate IATSE and AMPTP contract talks

The largest union representing Hollywood's technical workers has begun contract negotiations with the major studios amid concerns that rising healthcare costs could lead to cuts in health and pension benefits for below-the-line crew members.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees -- which represents more than 100,000 entertainment industry workers, including cinematographers, set decorators and prop masters -- on Wednesday began negotiating a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The current contract expires July 31.

Teamsters Local 399, which represents more than 3,000 drivers , will also take part in the talks as part of a new bargaining alliance with IATSE.

The parties have set aside four weeks of talks, first to hash out agreements with more than a dozen crafts locals that belong to IATSE, then to negotiate the so-called Hollywood Basic Agreement that covers issues affecting all the locals, including health and pension benefits. The latter is expected to dominate the agenda.

Like many other unions, IATSE and the Teamsters face a large deficit in their health and pension plans -- projected to be at least $300 million over the next three years -- because of rising medical costs. The health and pension plans are funded by residual payments and employer contributions.

How to close that gap will be a major focus of the negotiations -- as it was for contract talks with talent unions that received increases in employer contributions to their plans. Union leaders could agree to raise eligibility requirements as they did in back in 2009 -- when they raised to 400 from 300 the mininum number of hours required to work over a six-month period. That change, however, sparked a backlash among some IATSE members.

Union leaders from IATSE and Teamsters have been prepping their members for months that they could be forced to accept some tough changes to their health and pension benefits. "Costs of care and insurance coverage have been going up at an alarming rate for the last decade or more,'' Leo Reed, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 399, said in a message to members posted on the union's website.

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Photo: Matt Loeb, head of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, at the union's office on Riverside Drive in Studio City on June 21, 2011. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times.

IATSE and Teamsters picket producers of '1000 Ways to Die'

About 100 workers staged a protest in Burbank in support of crew members from the cable TV show “1000 Ways to Die.”

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Teamsters Local 399 organized picket lines Monday morning outside the Burbank production office of Original Productions, the producer of the Spike TV show. “1000 Ways to Die” has become the latest flash point in an effort by Hollywood's leading unions to extend contracts to the rapidly growing cable TV sector.

In mounting a strike against the show's producers, IATSE and the Teamsters are alleging that about 30 crew members were fired last week after they unanimously voted to join the unions so they could secure health and pension benefits, safe working conditions and collective bargaining rights.

“This is a successful show,” said Steve Dayan, business agent for Teamsters Local 399, which represents location managers, casting directors and drivers. “They’re making money and they’re doing it on the backs of this crew.”

Jonathan Hanrahan, a transportation coordinator for “1000 Ways to Die,” was among the protesters walking the picket line Monday. “We work really hard on this show and we go the extra mile," Hanrahan said. “All we’re asking is that we have the opportunity to receive health and pension benefits and be properly compensated for our efforts.”

In a statement, Original Productions accused union officials of urging crew members to walk off the job last week and denied claims from union leaders that they had refused to meet with them.

“Neither union has made attempts to meet with the company prior to the picket line announcement,” the company said in a statement. “IATSE and Teamsters have not filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for certification, nor have they demonstrated a majority of the crew signed cards... It is the company’s position that it is not obligated to recognize these two unions as bargaining representatives. Original Productions has always offered competitive wages and excellent working conditions.”

Monday's rally included representatives from the Writers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the AFL-CIO.

Now filming its fourth season, "1000 Ways to Die" re-creates unusual ways in which people have died. Original Productions, which makes a number of reality TV programs, including "Ice Road Truckers" and “Deadliest Catch,” has already hired replacement workers, union officials said.

This marks the second time in the last 15 months that IATSE and Teamsters have mounted a high-profile strike in Hollywood. In late 2010, the unions waged a successful walkout against the producers of the reality TV show "The Biggest Loser."

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Photo: Paula Kaatz (seated) with other picketers as they protest outside the production offices of Original Productions in Burbank on Monday. Two unions, the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees and the Teamsters Local 399, are staging a strike against "1000 Ways to Die," which is produced by Original Productions. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times.

 

Casting directors and studios reach new agreement

Hollywood's casting directors have reached an agreement with the studios on a new contract.

Teamsters Local 399, which represents casting directors who work in movies and TV shows, secured a new contract on Friday after four days of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the union said. The contract covers about 500 casting directors in Los Angeles and New York.

Steven Dayan, business agent for Local 399, declined to disclose the terms of the new agreement until it is presented to members in a ratification vote Sept. 15. The current three-year agreement expires Sept. 30.

Casting directors joined the Teamsters in 2005 following an election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.

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AFTRA reaches deal with Teamsters

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has averted a walkout -- by some of its employees.

Nearly a dozen business representatives who work for the actors union had been in a contract standoff with their employer over pay rates, which was becoming a potentially embarrassing distraction as AFTRA and its sister union the Screen Actors Guild entered their own contract negotiations with the major studios this week.

But on Wednesday night, Teamsters Local 399, which represents the business reps who service about 37,000 in the Los Angeles local, reached an agreement with AFTRA and accepted a new contract. The new agreement, retroactive to Sept. 5, gives them 2.5% increase in pay in the first year and 3% annual increases in the second and third years of the contract.

Teamsters had been seeking a 4% pay raise for the business reps, arguing that they had taken on more work because a growing number of new prime-time television shows that have swung to AFTRA in recent years.

Nonetheless, the pay hikes are slightly higher than 2% raises their counterparts at SAG recently received. Other improvements include a monthly $120 car allowance for employees who drive more than 100 miles a month, and a meal allowance.

 -- Richard Verrier 

Teamsters accept studios' offer, averting a strike threat

Hollywood drivers on Sunday accepted a proposed contract from the studios, averting a strike that could have caused widespread disruptions to production across the country.

The vote came after last-minute negotiations Saturday yielded a compromise that mollified leaders of Teamsters Local 399, who were prepared to seek a strike authorization vote from members.

The two sides had been locked in a standoff over pay rates for more than 3,000 drivers who deliver equipment and stars to film and TV sets.

The studios offered an increase in health-plan contributions and a proposed 2% annual pay increase for drivers. Teamsters wanted a 3% increase, the same rate given to other unions, especially their rival union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargained on behalf of the studios, rejected the demand, citing the weak economy, which had buffeted DVD sales and forced cutbacks.

On Saturday, however, the studios offered some additional incentives to the Teamsters, including adding travel pay for certain types of drivers.

The dispute came at a delicate time for the studios, who are gearing up for contract negotiations this fall with the Hollywood's actors and later writers, whose contracts expire in 2011. 

It was also unusual because the Teamsters, a blue-collar union whose members also represent location managers and casting directors, generally stay below the radar and rarely engage in public standoffs with the studios, with which they've generally enjoyed a stable relationship over the last two decades. Teamsters last struck for 24 days in 1988.

Although Teamsters openly supported writers during their strike in 2007-08, they've worked closely with studios on legislative issues, such as support for California's film tax incentives and the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger.

-- Richard Verrier