Hollywood Film Workers Union Reaches Preliminary Agreement

A union that represents around 60,000 employees behind the scenes of film and television, has achieved a preliminary agreement with the producers on Saturday and thus averted a strike, which would have led to far-reaching disorders in Hollywood, so the negotiators.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (ITSEE), which belong to camera, makeup artists and sound technicians, said that the negotiators have agreed on a new three-year contract.

"This is a Hollywood finish," said Matthew Loeb, President of the union, in a statement sent by e-mail. "Our members have remained steadfast. They are tough and tiled."

The production losses due to the Covid 19 pandemic had caused a production jam that led that the crews worked up to 14 hours a day to deliver the program to streaming services.

The union had threatened to strike from Monday if they can not reach agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

A strike would have brought the film and television production in the United States and would have been the greatest work festival since the strike of the Hollywood screenwritors 2007-2008. Of these, numerous media companies would have been affected, including <a class="tvreplink" target="_blank" href="https://www.tradingview.com/chart/?symbol=Nasdaq%3ANFLX">Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX), Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Co and ComCast Corp (Nasdaq: CMCSA).

The IATSE sought a shortening of working hours and raising wages for members who work on shows for streaming platforms for which ten years ago, when online video was still in their infancy, lower tariffs were set.

In the declaration of the IATSE, it is said that the proposed Treaty struggles these topics, including rest periods, food breaks, a living wage for employees at the lower end of the payscale and significant increases of the remuneration payable by the new media companies.

The new collective agreement must still be approved by the IATSE members.