Photo: CHRIS DELMAS / AFP / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Ahead of Monday's meeting between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, motion picture Teamsters rallied in Woodley Park in Encino with other Hollywood union members.
The union members demanded at the rally Sunday strong contracts ahead of Monday's negotiations with the AMPTP. Their united message was that "Nothing moves without the crew." General President Sean M. O'Brien, General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman and International Vice President and Teamsters Motion Picture Division Director Lindsay Dougherty spoke about the need for solidarity while highlighting the Teamsters' priorities in bargaining.
"We are going to negotiate the strongest contract possible in film and television to protect our jobs, pay our members what they're due and protect our work from dangerous, irresponsible technology," O'Brien said.
"There's too big a disparity between executive pay and the workers who make them a success. We are going to make sure that we close that gap. It's not about what these studios are going to give us. It's about what we are going to demand and take for working people," O'Brien said.
The union leaders emphasized that behind every production is a skilled team of technicians, artisans, creatives, tradespeople and craftspeople who make up the crew that brings production to life.
In this year's negotiation cycle, the crew unions stressed that they are committed to addressing the specific priorities of each craft represented in the fight to protect, preserve and improve economic gains, retirement and health benefits and safe working conditions on and off set.
"We are going to remind Hollywood that nothing moves without the crew," Dougherty said. "We make up many crafts but share the same fight."
The Teamsters "Black Book" agreement covers nearly 4,000 members across 13 Western states.
The current contract expires July 31.