Fourth Quarter 2012 - IA.TSE Local 80

Hawaii Local Celebrates 75 Years of SolidarityIIATSE Local 665 celebrated its75th Anniversary with a banquet onJune 9, 2012, at the Ala Moana Hotelin Honolulu, Hawaii.International President MatthewD. Loeb, International Vice PresidentEmeritus Edward Powell and InternationalVice President Michael F.Miller, Jr. were guest speakers at thecelebration.President Loeb presented a LifetimeMembership Gold Card toBrother Herbert Furuya. Other GoldCard honorees were: Robert Barnett;Fujie Kajikawa; Oliver M. Konia;Lewis C. Maddox; Philip W. Miller;Albert Santos, Jr. and Wallace Wong.Pictured here is the September 11thMemorial, Coit Tower, in San Francisco,California. Special thanksgoes to the members of Local 16and Impact Lighting & GeneratorsUnlimited for making this possible.Local 477 members recently completed aerial lighting training with AirstarAmerica. Completion of the three class segments lead to certification by themanufacturer as an aerial lighting technician.From left to right, International President Matthew Loeb,Retired Local 665 member Francis “Sonny” Hekekia andInternational Vice President Emeritus Edward Powell.Local 665 Business Representative Henry Fordham, InternationalPresident Matthew Loeb, Local 665 President Allan Omoand International Vice President/Department Director ofMotion Picture and Television Production Michael F. Miller, Jr.Local 56 Rolls out a Flash Strike - and Wins!On July 7, 2012 members of Local 229volunteered to install storage cabinets inthe art room at the Boys and Girls Club ofFort Collins, Colorado. From left to right:Local 229 President John Morse, TrusteeMichael Gorgan, Stagehand Jim Brookmanand Secretary Dan Schoonover,brought their skills and tools to help outa not-for-profit that helps many familiesin Northern Colorado.Here is a photo taken during the 2nd Student/ Teacher Technical Theatre 3-day Workshop,put on by the Western Washington TheatricalTraining Trust in the Seattle RepertoryTheatre. Scenic Painting shows instructorsNancy Nott and Jennifer Law, members ofIATSE Local 488 working with teachers andstudents in the paint shop. The Workshop isan outreach program created by the WesternWashington Theatrical Training Trustees ,sending stage technicians out to the varioushigh schools when a request for a trainerwith certain skills is received.Local 56 spent two-and-a-half years trying to negotiate afirst agreement with Montréal's Théâtre Lionel-Groulx. Unfortunately,negotiations continually went nowhere, and eventuallyincluded a long and reluctant conciliation process.By the end of conciliation the Local was happy to havefinally reached a deal but, at the last minute, the employerthen took a step back on the fringe benefits. The employerthen sent what they told Local 56 was their final propositionand, unbelievably, filed for arbitration at the same time!In the province of Quebec, you are unable to strike ifyou are in arbitration, so the employer's strategy was clear.What the employer did not know was that requesting arbitrationis not the same thing as being in arbitration. Becausethe Quebec Labour Board had not yet accepted orresponded to the request for arbitration, the Local actedquickly and went ahead with a one-day flash strike duringthe load-in of one of the venue's larger productions.It only took an hour and forty-five minutes before theemployer requested that Local 56 go back to work so thatthe show wouldn't have to be cancelled. The Local respondedby giving a 6:00 p.m. deadline to have the venue's Boardof Directors sign off that they were agreeing to the Local'sterms. The Board of Directors signed the agreement.The point of contention? A difference of 2.5% on benefits,equal to about $3,500 a year. The employer wasprepared to pay lawyers and arbitrators tens of thousandsof dollars to save less than $10 a day. Congratulationsto the members of Local 56, who held together forwhat was right and fair, despite every attempt to divideand conquer.36 Official Bulletin Fourth Quarter 2012 37