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Hey, Can I
Have Your
Autograph?
'We must
all hang together, or assuredly,
we shall all hang separately.'
Benjamin Franklin
by Tris Carpenter, National
Organizer
As many of you know, the Guild has decided to undertake an aggressive organizing program at fixed facilities (sound and post houses) coast to coast. Recently, we began organizing a non-union post-production sound company in LA. We started by compiling a list of all the employees who worked there. To our surprise, we discovered that a very large number of our current members were working there or had worked there in the recent past.
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The equation is simple: the more union shops, the more chances to work union. In addition, when there are fewer non-union shops, it becomes harder for an employer to argue that the work can be done elsewhere for less. That also means fewer people willing to work for low wages and poor or nonexistent benefits. That translates into more power at the negotiating table.
When you’re in a position to help yourself (with a better paycheck and benefits) and other members (with more union and fewer non-union jobs, and stronger bargaining power), you need to take advantage of the opportunity. I don’t mean that everyone must stand on the front steps wrapped in the Guild flag (though it would be nice…), just that everybody needs to help a little bit. At the very least, any union member working non-union should sign an Authorization Card when requested by a Guild organizer.
Authorization Cards are the currency of an organizing drive. Any successful effort to unionize either a show or facility must have some demonstrable showing by the employees that they want to be represented by the union. Usually, this takes the form of the card pictured below, which simply indicates that the person who signed it "authorizes" the IATSE to represent them in collective bargaining.
As a matter of law, nearly anyone employed in a post-production capacity at the facility in question during the last year – even those with very few days on the job – may sign a card and be part of this process. In one of the controlling decisions, the National Labor Relations Board stated that almost everyone employed during the past year who has a "reasonable expectation" of recall (the employee must not have quit or been terminated for cause) is eligible to sign a card and vote in an NLRB election. It should be noted that new cards must be signed for each drive.
In general, organizers will not distribute cards until they are confident of the support of an overwhelming number of employees. Once the Guild has collected signed cards from a large majority of workers, we approach management and ask them to recognize the union and begin bargaining. In conjunction with this request, we also offer to hire a neutral third party to count the cards and verify the signatures if the employer wishes. If the employer refuses our request, then the Guild may file the cards with the NLRB (who will count and verify the signatures and order an election), unless something else (like a job action) seems strategically necessary.
Signing an Authorization Card is completely confidential. The employer never sees the cards and never finds out who signed them. In fact, only a few people see them: the Guild organizer, the Guild attorney and the neutral third party or NLRB agent who counts them.
Our members really came through in the drive I mentioned previously. When the purpose of the cards was explained, virtually all of them signed on and the Guild obtained cards from a large majority of employees. They helped themselves, and you, by doing little more than signing their name to a cause they already support. Now that you know the purpose of the Authorization Card, I hope you’ll sign one if asked by a Guild organizer. Thanks for helping us create more union jobs and a stronger Guild!
Tris Carpenter is the Guild’s new National Organizer.
He can be reached at (323) 876-4770, ext. 244, or via e-mail
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Magazine
Vol. 22, No. 2 - May/June 2001
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Copyright © 2001, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700