IATSE Readies Picket Signs In Event Of Strike As Contract Talks Continue

IATSE is gearing up for a strike if contract talks with the AMPTP fail to produce a fair deal. “We are hoping for a deal but preparing for a strike,” a union source tells Deadline.

If there is a strike, the union has plenty of picket signs ready to go, as seen in the above photo, which was taken Sunday at Grips Local 80 in Burbank, CA.

The signs carry many of the messages that the union has been expounding since contract began in mid-May: “Fighting for Living Wages,” “Fighting for Rest Periods,” and “Fighting for Meal Breaks.”

On Saturday, IATSE’s 13 Hollywood locals involved in the negotiations put out a message to their members: “We continue to stand firm on the priority issues that you supported with your strike authorization vote. Those priorities are living wages, sustainable benefits, our fair share of streaming success, reasonable rest and breaks during the workday. It is in the best interest of all IATSE members across the country that we continue to bargain until it becomes apparent that we cannot reach an agreement. That is what we intend to do while we simultaneously prepare for a work stoppage that we hope does not have to happen.”

Today is the sixth day of do-or-die contract talks since the union’s members voted overwhelmingly to grant strike authorization to IATSE president Matthew Loeb, who on Friday said that if a deal is to be made, and a strike averted, it will have to be reached soon. Either way, he said, “It’s a matter of days, not weeks.”

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