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This past July, the Local 700 membership voted overwhelmingly to make permanent the requirement that the office of Guild 2nd Vice President be held by a member who resides in the Eastern Region. This is a very important revision to our Guild Constitution, and the Eastern Region Board of Directors and myself thank everyone in the Guild for their support. When the merger was being negotiated, and the merger document written, the office of Guild 2nd Vice President was created. The intention was to provide a leader from the Local 771 membership, who would work closely with the newly elected Eastern Region Directors and the remaining Guild national leadership to help ensure that the merger went smoothly. This new position had the additional benefits of providing a Guild officer seat for the Eastern Region, and a person to chair meetings of the newly formed Eastern Region Board of Directors. After much discussion, it was decided that for the first three-year term, or one election cycle, the 2nd Vice President should be a member who resided in the Eastern Region. After that, the position would be open to any active member of the Guild. It was argued that in a united union it was inherently unfair to have an elected officer position that could not be sought after and held by any active member. Also, it was thought that to begin a precedent which might be construed as creating an elected officer position designed to represent a specific constituency might ultimately be harmful to union solidarity. When the merger document was approved by the IATSE and ratified by a majority of all union members, this became part of the Local 700 Constitution. In the ensuing years from November 2, 1998, when the merger became effective, we have become a successful national union. Local 700 supports all of its members by administering contract agreements, providing training opportunities and organizing workplaces nationwide. Even though we have successfully merged into one union, the Eastern Region has retained uniqueness apart from the greater membership in the California area. To mention only a few examples: Local 700 has a national contract with the AMPTP, but the majority of employment covered by this contract originates in Los Angeles. There’s an addendum to that agreement that has some different wages and conditions of employment for those hired in New York. The Eastern Region also works under other agreements, i.e. East Council agreements and the Independent Feature Agreement that do not apply on the West Coast. The Eastern Region has its own concerns regarding nonunion work and organizing and while we are in the Motion Picture Industry Health and Pension Plan, some of our health services options are different from those offered in Hollywood. We have our own office in New York with a professional staff to address these issues. These factors and many others have provided the Eastern Region with a perspective and point of view that integrates well within our national Guild. The national Board of Directors, recognizing and appreciating the needs and contributions of the Eastern Region, voted unanimously to change the Local 700 Constitution to reflect the need to have an officer permanently in a leadership role as envisioned in the original merger document. This request was vetted and approved by the IATSE, and presented in a referendum to the general membership, which also gave their approval. This is a testament to the success of the merger and the respect that all members, no matter where they reside and work, have for each other. Members work with Local 700 to receive deferred payments “O” is a feature film that started production in South Carolina in March 1999 and was released in August 2001. A contract under the IA Low Budget Agreement was made with all of the participating locals, including Local 700. Part of the agreement structured deferments of salary and benefits that were to be triggered when the box office gross was two times the budget. At this occurrence, each worker would receive an additional percentage of his or her salary and benefit payments. Eastern Region members Kate Sanford, Michelle Botticelli, Renannah Seliger and Ben Gold worked in the editorial department. Two days into the shoot, the production company, “O” LLC, sold the rights to another producer. When the gross reached the budget trigger and the locals tried to obtain the deferred payments due their members, the producers denied all responsibility for payment of the deferred wages. The unions brought the producers to arbitration to sue for the money owed their members. Ben Adams, a business agent for Studio Mechanics Local 491 in the Southeast U.S., was instrumental in this effort. Paul Moore, assistant executive director for the Eastern Region of our local, praised the Editorial Department for the support that the cutting room gave to the union during the entire process. They were very helpful in providing records and supporting documentation that was needed to validate their claim. At one point, they signed authorization giving the union carte blanche to negotiate a settlement on their behalf. After an extended battle, the validity of labor’s claim was upheld and the crew was paid an arbitrated portion of the monies owed. “The crew was tenacious. They called with questions, they followed through on everything we asked them to do,” Moore said. In addition, Moore feels that only through the active participation of members asserting their rights under contract agreements could the Guild be able to work most effectively on their behalf. Kate Sanford, an editor, was equally strong in her support of the Guild. “I want the membership to know the great job the union did and how much we appreciate the effort made to obtain these payments,” she said. The Eastern Region Board of Directors and the Guild staff ask all members working under an agreement to contact the Guild whenever they feel that their rights under that agreement are being violated. It is very difficult for us to find out about contract violations if you do not communicate with us. It also becomes difficult to resolve problems if we are not informed in a timely fashion and the violation has ceased to continue.
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