The labor union previously voted to authorize a nationwide strike to begin October 18, before AMPTP, the trade association that represents Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Netflix, and almost 350 other film and television companies, negotiated a three-year agreement to address core issues in pay, worker down time, and more. The deal will be sent to union members for ratification.
“This is a Hollywood ending,” IATSE International President Matthew Loeb said in a statement. “Our members stood firm. We are tough and united.”
IATSE began negotiations with the AMPTP after three of its previous three-year agreements expired July 31. When the two organizations could not immediately come to terms, extensions were granted to The Basic and Area Standards agreements through Sept. 10, and Videotape through Sept. 30. After AMPTP discontinued negotiations for two weeks in late September, IATSE returned to the table Oct. 5 with the ammunition of a strike authorization vote that received 98% approval from its members.
Previous agreements with the AMPTP enabled streaming services to classify their content as “New Media,” a distinction that facilitated discounts in wages for productions and allowed them not to pay pension hours to IATSE members. IATSE has begun the process of reclassifying this increasingly dominant corner of the industry to generate more equitable compensation for workers.
Although the union provided few particulars to members yet about the deal, it said additional changes to be implemented include establishing adequate rest and meal periods, providing retroactive wage increases for craft workers, adding Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday to the holiday schedule, and the implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Â
