NEW YORK-The Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) and the International Cinematographers Guild-also known as Local 600 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)-have reached agreement on a three-year commercials contract covering much of the U.S., including the East Coast and the Midwest. The recently finalized pact took effect last month and runs through Dec. 9, 2001. Meanwhile, West Coast IATSE camera crews continue to operate under a two-year-old spot contract with AICP (SHOOT, 11/8/96 and 11/15/96, p. 1) that covers IATSE’s overall labor pool out west. That West Coast agreement runs through September 2000.
The AICP and Local 600 East had been working by mutual consent under terms of a pact that expired in 1997. That contract was entered into prior to the formation of Local
600 as a national camera union (SHOOT, 5/31/96, p. 1). Local 600 succeeded the regional camera crew union locals of IATSE Local 644, New York, Local 659, Hollywood, and Local 666 in the Midwest.
The new Local 600 contract contains separate provisions for the "Northeast Corridor"-consisting of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.-and the "Outer Region," which encompasses Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
According to AICP president Matt Miller, the Outer Region accord parallels what he described as the "progressive" West Coast IATSE contract across all provisions (e.g., travel, rest periods, overtime calculation). And the Northwest Corridor provisions, continued Miller, are based to a greater extent on the previous 644 agreement, but with new conditions that offer a measure of flexibility to spot producers. For example, Miller cited a minimum staffing proviso of yesteryear that required that three members of 644 be hired on a commercial shoot. That was later amended to allow production houses to bring in a DP from anywhere to work with two 644 camera artisans. Now, under the new pact, Miller related, producers "can bring camera people from anywhere, whether they’re assistants or operators or DPs. … The union came to a progressive realization that, while it is nationalizing, producers need that kind of flexibility to pull in talent from all over." AICP chairman Alex Blum, partner/ exec. producer at bicoastal Headquarters, added that the new contract also underscores union recognition of the spot industry standard, which calls for the hiring of a two-person camera crew consisting of a DP and an assistant cameraman.
In the big picture, Blum-who also heads the AICP national labor committee-observed that the new contract addresses the nationalization of the camera union, not only providing for "free flow" of qualified Local 600 talent throughout the country but also making agreement provisions more uniform nationwide. He noted that while the West Coast and Outer Region provisions are in line with each other, so too has the Northeast Corridor contract language come closer to what’s represented in West Coast terms and conditions. This helps untangle the maze of varying rules and considerations under different jurisdictions.
Bruce Doering, national exec. director of IATSE Local 600, described the new pact as "a landmark agreement. For the first time in history, members of the camera craft will be covered by a commercial agreement anywhere in the U.S. … We’ve improved wages, conditions and benefits. And for the future, we laid the basis for a significant increase in job opportunities in the Midwest and Southeast, where producers have historically worked nonunion or non-IA."
Doering corroborated the fact that the Outer Region provisions are an extension of the West Coast IATSE contract. In the Northeast Corridor, he noted that important provisions were maintained from the prior East Coast agreement. "We maintained meal penalties and overtime structure on the East Coast, but were also able to improve things such as hazardous pay." He also noted that the commercial agreement "made it possible to merge our pension and health plans across the country."
In that vein, Miller said the merged Local 600 has served to reduce pension and welfare contributions on the East Coast. He explained that "by virtue of merging funds and becoming part of the Western [pension and welfare] plan," the Northeast Corridor and Outer Region have contributions of approximately $75 a day" for an individual artisan. Prior to the formation of Local 600, daily individual pension and welfare contributions were a little more than $100 on the East Coast.
Miller added that while AICP had commercials-only contracts in the past with IATSE camera locals, they often contained language (e.g., screen credits, industrial film references) indigenous to long-form, which only served to muddy the waters. "That language has been cleaned up, and it makes for a clearer contract that really is commercials-only," said Miller.
"In older contracts, there’s a lot of confusion in language," related Blum. "We’ve worked hard to make things clearer and simpler, more like the contracts we’ve negotiated in recent years like the IA West Coast contract. That clarity in and of itself is pretty significant."
