Art directors guild absorbs two smaller craft unions

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The Art Directors Guild has put the finishing touches on its controversial merger with two smaller unions representing illustrators and set designers.

The three-way merger was one of the last acts of Tom Short before he retired last year as president of the umbrella labor organization International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Short argued the combination would strengthen the bargaining clout of the guilds and reduce turf fights between them.

But the action was deeply unpopular among members of Local 790 (illustrators and matte artists) and Local 847 (set designers and model makers). Members of the locals voted it down, fearing they would lose autonomy and be forced to join a union dominated by art directors who act as their supervisors.

Despite the opposition, the National Labor Relations Board refused to block the merger at the request of the locals.

The Art Directors Guild said Thursday that it had completed a restructuring to combine the operations of the three unions that included naming a new 20-member board with reps from each of the crafts.

As expected, Scott Roth will remain as executive director the Art Directors Guild, which now has 2,000 members, up from 1,500. Marjo Bernay, former business agent of the two locals who was also elected a trustee on the new board, is negotiating a possible ongoing operational role in the union.

‘We’re looking forward to working cooperatively with all the crafts working under the same union,’ Roth said in a statement. He said there would be no layoffs as a result of combining the staffs.

Joseph Musso, former president of Local 790, who opposed the merger, said he and others have little choice but to go along with the new marriage. ‘We’re trying to make the best of something that we’re not totally enthralled with,’ said Musso, who is a member of the new executive board.

-- Richard Verrier

Michael Everett, a board member of Local 728 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents studio electricians and lighting technicians , photographed at the union’s Panorama City offices in August 18, 2006.