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IATSE international president Matthew Loeb did not rule out a potential 2024 crew strike when several of his union’s contracts come due this year in an appearance on Tuesday.
“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,” asserted the crew union leader of his organization’s upcoming Basic Agreement negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, set to start in early March. “My folks aren’t going to just settle.” He added, “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].”
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Teamsters motion picture division head Lindsay Dougherty, whose Local 399 has several contracts expiring in 2024, added, “The studios can’t withstand another strike, let’s be clear about that. Especially Paramount.” Dougherty was apparently referring to Paramount’s large debt, which has fueled reports that the company is seeking a buyer.
Also speaking at the fifth annual Labor Innovation and Technology Summit at CES — during which a central topic was the impact of artificial intelligence on the workforce — reps from SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America asserted that they would stand in solidarity with the crew unions whose contracts expire in 2024 during their negotiations.
“We will be there, standing side by side with IATSE and the Teamsters. We are united,” said SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
“The WGA solitary with [IA and the Teamsters] runs coast to coast,” added WGA East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen.
Their remarks come after an unusual show of solidarity between the crew unions and writers and actors during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. In many cases, members of both IATSE and the Teamsters respected picket lines, allowing the WGA in particular to pursue its strategy of shutting down productions early in its 148-day strike.
Both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA restated that AI was the final issue in their negotiations, which is also top of mind for many IATSE members. Loeb made clear in the panel that the AI issue would be very tricky for his union, which in film and television represents workers in crafts from costume design to cinematography to editing. Noting that the union has 13 Locals in Hollywood alone, Loeb said that, “if you look at each of those individually, they have their own risks.” Overall, “We have a pretty uphill climb as far as making sure those folks are safe, they’re concerned and protected,” he added.
Katie Kilkenny contributed reporting.
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