The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is threatening to strike unless an agreement is reached with major studios. A strike that could halt productions nationwide and in Louisiana after many have just restarted. Aaron Bayham, Director of Operations at Celtic Studios in Baton Rouge said agreements are negotiated every three years.
“So, they’ve put a deadline on Monday as the day where they expect to either have an agreement completed to everyone’s satisfaction or that they will be implementing the strike which was already authorized by their members,” said Bayham.
Ninety-eight percent of IATSE union members voted to approve a strike if an agreement is not reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Bayham said there are a number of items being negotiated which include pay rates, breaks, and rates that were given to new media which are now the majority of productions.
“These aren’t fledging companies anymore like Netflix, Amazon, and AppleTV+ so they are really going back and saying that you should be paying rates similar to what all the other studios are paying for their deals,” said Bayham.
The current agreement expired in July and while Bayham said no one wants to see a strike especially with so many productions in the works he said members are standing firm if negotiations aren’t reached by Midnight Sunday.
“It’s not really in anyone’s interest to be without work or to have a work stoppage but I think the union feels like this is a time to really fight for some of the things they feel strongly about,” said Bayham.
The last large strike that bought the entertainment industry to a screeching halt was the Writers Guild of America Strike in 2007. This would be the first strike for IATSE in its 128-year history.
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