One of Hollywood’s leading workers’ unions, International Theater Stage Employees Alliance (IATSE for its acronym in English), decided by majority to call a strike that could paralyze the world leader of the film industry. The union reported that 98% of its members voted in favor of the force measure.
The result authorizes the president of IATSE, Matthew Loeb, to take the measure if they do not reach an agreement with the Association of film and television producers (AMPTP for its acronym in English) to improve the working conditions of its more than 150,000 employees.
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“This vote has to do with the quality of life, with health and safety of those who work in the film and television industry. Our people have basic human needs like time on meal breaks, getting enough sleep, and having a weekend. And those at the bottom of the pay scale deserve nothing less than a living wage, ”Loeb told a local outlet.
Marathon days in Hollywood
What the IATSE criticizes is that those responsible for producing fiction, due to the high level of production and the competitiveness of the market, are violating their most basic rights with filming days that can reach 12 and 14 hours a day. In that period, workers, in contrast to Hollywood stars, did not have dressing rooms or rest areas. For this reason, they require a minimum break of 10 hours between working hours, and that this, on weekends, be 54 hours.
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In addition, they claim that with the arrival of streaming platforms these conditions have worsened. “The workers of streaming projects of certain ‘new media’ are less paid, even in productions with budgets that rival or exceed those of productions released as ‘blockbusters’ ”, adds Loeb.
If an agreement is not reached, among the workers who would paralyze their activities are technicians, contractors, electricians, artisans and others.
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