The Official Bulletin: 2016 Q4 / NO. 654

The actual change to our Constitution went into effect in the
early 2000’s, so this chain reaction the International set off has
been solidifying for more than fifteen years. There’s no doubt
[the International] getting involved on behalf of the Locals has
been the key to our overall growth and strength.”
year, even more were added the year after that, and the list just
keeps growing year-by-year. The AV contracts are impacting us
in much the same way.”
Gearns references the first major national contract the International
signed in the AV sector with Freeman AV, which is
a separate company set up by Freeman Decorating to service
International Vice President and Tradeshow Department
Director William Gearns, Jr., a four-decade plus member
of IATSE Local 30 [Stagehands] in Indianapolis, IN, has
been spearheading Tradeshow and Display
Work since the Department was created in
audio visual work.
“The Freeman AV contract initially had three Locals and has
now grown to several dozen Locals,” Gearns continues. “PSAV
started with a single Local, and that grew to
six or seven, and we’re looking for that number
2000. That year also coincided with the International
“There’s no doubt
to reach 20 or more Locals in this com-
intensifying its efforts to start
ing year [2017]. The goal, down the road, of
locking down national contracts on behalf [the International] course, is to have every IATSE Local – stage,
of local IATSE unions.
tradeshow, mixed, whomever has members
working in this sector – to be covered
getting involved on
“A lot of our Stage Locals had been
doing AV work in the convention centers
for years,” Gearns describes by way of some
history,” so it was a natural fit from a craft
behalf of the Locals
has been the key to
under these national agreements with these
large companies. It’s a handful of employers
that dominate this industry and they want
perspective that these individual agreements
should become nationalized.”
every venue they send people in.”
to have a trained and skilled workforce in
our overall growth
“The untapped market for a long time,
and it’s really come into its own in the last
few years, is all of the AV work inside individual
hotels,” Gearns adds. “The biggest
AV firm in North America is PSAV; entering
into a national agreement with them
and strength.”
INTERNATIONAL
REPRESENTATIVE
DON GANDOLINI
International Representative Mark Kiracofe,
a former Business Agent for Local
46 [Mixed], based in Nashville, TN, has
worked closely with Gearns to help implement
national AV contracts with Freeman
AV and PSAV since that market heated
[in 2014] provided our first toe into the mainly non-union
hotel market. PSAV is truly the 800-pound gorilla, and the way
that contract has rolled out is similar to the [national] Global
Spectrum contract in stagework. A few Locals signed on the first
up. “We’re in the second bargaining cycle with Freeman and
PSAV,” Kiracofe notes. The market that’s out there for corporate
and trade show AV is tremendously lucrative. Every hotel,
today, has a ballroom and a stack of meeting rooms; if things
AV Training 3 class
with Local 16.
FOURTH QUARTER 2016 11