Los Angeles (AFP)
Film and TV crews will strike in Hollywood next week if studios refuse to improve their working conditions, the industry's leading technical workers union said on Wednesday, threatening the US film industry with paralysis.
Stepping up the pressure, the IATSE union, which represents 60,000 entertainment workers, from cameramen to set builders, including costume and make-up artists, voted widely to authorize a strike as of next Monday if negotiations with production companies fail, when the two parties negotiate a new collective agreement.
Despite months of discussions, the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP), which includes Disney, Warner and Netflix, has ignored claims calling for shorter workdays, longer breaks and increases for more. low salaries for plateau teams, according to IATSE.
"Without a deadline, we can continue to discuss indefinitely. Our members deserve to have their basic needs addressed today," Matthew Loeb, president of IATSE, said in a statement.
"The pace of negotiations (of the studios) does not reflect any urgency," he lamented.
As film and series production studios try to catch up with the delay caused by the pandemic and the shutdown of filming last year, the IATSE is notably demanding tougher fines for producers forcing teams to work during their break -breakfast.
AMPTP, which told American media that it had already made concessions on salaries, pensions and health coverage, did not immediately respond to AFP's requests.
The last major social movement Hollywood experienced was the writers' strike that paralyzed the American audiovisual sector in 2007-2008.
The 100-day conflict caused a shortfall of two billion dollars, according to independent estimates.
The little hands of the cinema have not put down their cameras, brushes or accessories since 1945, when a six-month strike degenerated into violent clashes outside Warner Bros. studios.
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