From Our Executive Director
We Must Anticipate the Future
By Ron Kutak
SECTIONS:
I am pleased to report the recent resolution of a long-standing jurisdictional and technological dispute within the IATSE in the area of sound post production.
The IATSE has determined the primary skill on Digital Audio Workstations to be sound effects editing. Accordingly, all persons so employed are now required to be members of the Editors Guild. While as of this writing we have yet to meet with the producers regarding roster issues and conditions of employment, I am confident that a mutually satisfactory resolution will be forthcoming in the near future.
We at the Guild are pleased this divisive issue has come to a resolve. Nevertheless, the impact on all post production will continue to be felt as the technology continues to evolve in the areas of sound, music and picture editing. Although it appears that fewer people will be required to fill post-production positions, it also appears that increasing demand for product will actually create more work and result in job growth rather than job reduction.
What do these technology changes mean to us as a guild today, and how should we as a guild respond?
The Luddite riots at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England demonstrated early on destroying machinery was not the way to preserve jobs in the face of advancing industrialization. While history has proven theirs a pyrrhic victory, labor still struggles with how to adapt to changing technology while protecting their members' livelihoods. One component of any successful union strategy has always been present: technological change cannot be fought, but instead must be embraced.
- 1. We should continually examine and
determine for ourselves which changes in the workplace
are truly technology driven and which changes others
merely use as an excuse to reduce staff and work people
longer and harder.
- 2. We should be meeting with our
employers on a regular and more formal basis to discuss
what kinds of changes in the workplace are being made,
and what other changes are being contemplated. I cannot
overemphasize the importance of these meetings, as they
allow us to participate in changes, rather than
responding to them after the companies have already
acted. Having this kind of dialogue outside the contract
negotiations allows both parties to discuss rather than
negotiate, and address issues on both sides ongoingly
rather than every three or four years in a structured and
more adversarial collective bargaining
environment.
- 3. We need to train ourselves and occupy the jobs as they change.
The Guild has provided and continues to provide training, but ultimately each member must take the responsibility to make sure he or she is proficient in whatever new technology develops in his or her craft. The Guild will continue to place training as a high priority.
I believe we have every reason to be optimistic about the future of post production. Ten to fifteen years ago, when sound and picture were moving away from traditional film technologies, many of the same fears existed as do today; yet our membership has grown in excess of 25% and we have more hours contributed into the health and pension plans on behalf of 776 members than ever before in our history.
Our job is to continue to anticipate the future, not merely react to it.
Recently, I met with the other U.S. editorial locals and BECTU, the British Union which represents all those who work in film and television production. We discussed a full range of interesting issues: production in our respective countries, contracts, organizing, and immigration. The most eye opening aspect of our meetings was that, in a very short period, (the Thatcher period), what was once a very strong union had been reduced to a much weaker one, and one that is clearly on the defensive. Changes in their labor laws have taken away their right to require union membership in their collective bargaining agreements, and have made organizing extremely difficult. Talk soon turned to Tony Blair, the Labor Party candidate for Prime Minister. Blair has been noticeably quiet on labor issues and there is a debate within BECTU whether he has abandoned trade unions or merely is downplaying his position in what is a generally anti-union political climate. (Wait until his election, then we'll see principles.)
Most of these talks took place kind of in a vacuum, amongst ourselves within one conference room or another; however, not until close to the end of our meetings did BECTU's place in the industry become clearly demonstrated to me.
A group called the NPA, or New Producer Alliance, has formed in England, ostensibly to revitalize the ailing British film industry. BAFTA, the British film academy, hosted a forum on deferred payment films moderated by a member of the NPA, to which BECTU and the actors' union were invited to present the union position. BECTU was represented by its vice president, Tudor Gates, a writer and director who has worked both in film and in the legitimate theater for many years. BECTU invited me to attend. The forum began with a screening followed by a discussion. The discussion began with the moderator (hardly neutral) extolling the virtues of deferred compensation films while freely admitting no-one who worked under these arrangements should ever expect to see any salary whatsoever. In other words, what was the union's position on its membership working for no pay? I was truly pained to see a man who had worked hard for many years in the industry and for his union, defending a union member's right to be paid for his or her work.
There is no floor beneath us that cannot crack or disintegrate. Our health and pension plan, as well as some of our contract provisions, can be hurt seriously by the stroke of a pen in a political climate unfavorable to unions. Unfortunately, recent history is such that a strong union can become weak much more easily than a weak union can become stronger. Our challenge is to remain vigilant and protect ourselves from either a political calamity, or an erosion from within due to neglect, apathy or complacency.
Audiotapes of the caucuses
are available from the Guild office.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 17, No. 5 - Nov/Dec 1996.
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