UNI Global Union
“Your fight is our fight,” entertainment unions around the world told IATSE, pledging support as the group begins negotiations with Hollywood producers for a new basic agreement. Initial negotiations began last week, and negotiations with AMPTP are scheduled to resume on March 18th. The current contract expires on July 31st.
The unions that spoke today are affiliates of the UNI Global Union, representing 500,000 workers in 140 trade unions and guilds across the media, entertainment and arts sectors around the world. IATSE is also an affiliate of his UNI Global Union.
In a statement, the UNI Media, Entertainment and Arts Executive Committee said: “Affiliate unions around the world stand united with their American allies in bargaining for fair wages, decent working conditions, and worker protections” in the digital environment, including the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI). We support your request and ask AMPTP to engage with you in a meaningful way to achieve a fair contract. Your fight is our fight. Ensuring fair wages and protecting the rights and dignity of our members in the workplace are part of the common challenges of all entertainment unions in the UNI Global Union, often facing the same global companies. (See below for full statement.)
This show of support is similar to how foreign guilds stood shoulder to shoulder with American guilds during last year's writers' strike.
“What happens in Hollywood reverberates throughout the entertainment industry, and these negotiations will impact behind-the-scenes workers around the world,” said Christy Hoffman, executive director of UNI Global Union. IATSE can enter into negotiations with AMPTP knowing that AMPTP has the support of the global trade union movement and the support of half a million workers in the industry. Last year, we rallied our screenwriters to victory, and now we are ready to mobilize, cheer, and support our IATSE brothers who carry the banner of production staff around the world. ”
Philippa Childs, president of British entertainment union Bectu and member of UNI's global board, said: “In an increasingly globalized industry, we face the same companies and share the same problems. Major US studios and streamers. have established a pattern and are largely responsible for the well-being of the entertainment industry's global workforce. They need to do better. “We are fighting for humane working time arrangements that are right for entertainment workers in every country.”
Miguel Paniagua, General Secretary of the Syndicato Unico de Trabajadores del Spectaclo of SUTEP (Argentina) and Regional President of UNI's Media, Entertainment and Arts Sector for the Americas, added: We work together to raise standards and learn from each other, with the common goal of making our work safer, more inclusive, and free from violence and discrimination. We hope this negotiation sends a strong signal to the Americas that good faith negotiations between producers and unions are the basis of a fair and sustainable industry. ”
The full text of the solidarity statement is below:
The Global Community of Entertainment Unions Supports IATSE and its Sister United Nationsion
The Executive Committee of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Sector of the UNI Global Union, on behalf of 140 unions representing a collective of 500,000 workers across various sectors of the entertainment industry around the world, is the executive committee of the International Union of Theater Stages. We express our firm solidarity with our comrades. American Employees (IATSE) and its sister unions support AMPTP and its efforts to negotiate a fair deal for workers.
Behind-the-scenes employees are the backbone of America's entertainment industry, contributing tirelessly to the creation and execution of compelling work that enriches the lives of audiences around the world. IATSE is a force for international trade union cooperation and solidarity to improve standards and conditions for workers everywhere.
Together, we must extend collective bargaining to all producing countries and countries in order to recognize the rights of trade unions and to ensure the sustainable development of industries and workers' careers, as well as fair, inclusive and safe working conditions. Fight to expand.
Unions around the world are united with their members in the United States in bargaining for fair wages, decent working conditions, and the protection of worker rights in a digital environment, including the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI). We are working on it.
We support your request and ask AMPTP to engage with you in a meaningful way to achieve a fair contract.
Your fight is our fight. Ensuring fair wages and protecting the rights and dignity of our members at work are part of the common challenges of all entertainment unions in the UNI Global Union, often facing the same global companies .
Workers in our industry have been squeezed in the continued transformation to a streaming model. Trade unions are combating increased labor pressures, unsustainable compensation models, unsafe working hours and deadlines that are common features of production in the global economy.
We are united in recognizing that generative AI will have a profound impact on the future of our industry. As advances in technology continue to change the entertainment landscape, it is the duty of trade unions to ensure that the introduction of generative AI is based on a human-centred approach based on principles of fairness and equity.
To this end, we demand that negotiations everywhere include provisions guaranteeing workers' rights to consent, meaningful participation, and full transparency in the development and deployment of generative AI technologies. To do. Fair compensation mechanisms need to be established to ensure that the benefits from AI innovations are equitably distributed to workers.
We stand alongside IATSE in championing the rights and dignity of entertainment workers.