IATSE Reaches Tentative Deal with Studios on Basic Agreement
Brian Welk
We have a deal! In the late evening hours on June 25, IATSE reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP on a new three-year contract for its Basic Agreement, which covers the 13 locals for craft workers within Los Angeles.
The deal, which would have otherwise expired on July 31, will now go to the membership for ratification. A full summary of the new deal will be released in a few days, and members will have the chance to review the full Memorandum of Agreement (M.O.A.) in about two weeks.
Some of the highlights though, according to IATSE’s negotiating committee, include scale rate increases of 7 percent in the first year of the deal, followed by 4 percent, and 3.5 percent in subsequent years. That is in line with the raises obtained by the writers, actors, and directors in 2023.
Hourly workers will receive triple time (3x hourly) when any workday exceeds 15 elapsed hours; all On Call classifications will now receive double time on the seventh day of the workweek; and additional increases in pay will take effect on non-dramatic productions under the Videotape Supplemental Agreement.
The tentative deal also covers artificial intelligence: No employee is required to provide AI prompts in any manner that would result in the displacement of any covered employee.
All of these changes also include other tentative agreements that each local reached individually on topics specific to their members.
With regard to healthcare and pension plans, the union says the deal addresses the funding gap, which IATSE previously said totaled $670 million. The new agreement will account for new streaming residuals, and no participant in the plan will see a break in service for the plan year of 2023.
“We thank everyone who participated in the 2024 Basic Agreement negotiations process,” IATSE said in a statement to members (obtained by IndieWire). “From start to finish, your input was invaluable and ensured that our Negotiations Committee was at the bargaining table with clear goals and a consensus for how to achieve them. The ratification timeline will be forthcoming and we look forward to presenting to you the complete package.”
Up next, IATSE will return to the negotiating table to finalize deal points for the Area Standards Agreement (ASA), which covers all of those union members working outside Los Angeles.
IATSE began negotiations on a new contract back in March, teaming up with the Teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts on healthcare and pension terms. Back then, it did not reach a deal in the time it had previously scheduled.
The Teamsters have been at the negotiating table with the AMPTP for the past several weeks, but IATSE continued talks with the studios even as attention shifted elsewhere; IATSE had made clear that it had no intention of extending negotiations beyond the July 31 deadline.
Members will have to ratify the deal, which mis no slam dunk. In 2021, members narrowly voted against the negotiated Basic Agreement in the popular vote, but it was ratified anyway due to an electoral college-style voting system.
