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Ratifying this wisdom of this strategy, the more than 870
delegates representing 261 local unions re-elected President
Loeb by acclamation, along with his entire slate of candidates,
including General Secretary-Treasurer Wood, thirteen
International Vice Presidents, three International Trustees, and
one delegate to the Canadian Labour Congress.
This leadership vision and stability has been critical to
IATSE’s success. But the IA’s emergence as a modern and
progressive union on the cutting edge of the labor movement is
ultimately due to one factor above all else: The Alliance’s 140,000
members, whose commitment to their craft, their union, and
one another is simply unrivalled.
It is an axiom that a union is only as strong as its members
are active. And IATSE members demonstrate their activism in so
many ways.
One is their expertise and their dedication to stay ahead of
the curve of technological change by taking advantage of the
training and lifelong learning opportunities provided by the
IATSE-TTF. This means that any motion picture or television
producer, any broadcaster, any theatrical production, any
convention, any tradeshow, or any other entertainment operator
will hire IATSE members to ensure the quality, productivity and
safety they need to succeed.
Another is IA members’ dedication to training in leadership
skills through efforts such as LEAP and more recently, the
Officer Institutes. This means that Local leaders and activists
gain the knowledge and skills to be the most effective organizers,
bargainers, and advocates anywhere in the labor movement —
and it strengthens the IA at every level.
Third, IATSE members participate in union actions and
contract campaigns, attend rallies, contact their elected officials,
volunteer to elect pro-worker candidates, and donate to the IATSE-
PAC, recognizing that it is their union and that their involvement
in Alliance activities is the only way to maximize its effectiveness.
Member empowerment and activism are thus the keys to
IATSE’s ability to navigate turbulent waters, which have not only
existed for many years but may well become even more roiled in
the future.
This includes increasingly vicious attacks on unions and
workers’ rights, led by billionaire extremists like the Koch brothers
who are setting the agenda for the executive branch, Congress, and
even the courts, as witness the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME
decision making the entire public sector “right to work.”
It also includes economic and technological turmoil. In the
former category, we have seen massive mergers like Comcast-
NBCUniversal, and the stunning rise of live streaming services
like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. This has had a two-fold impact
on the industry. First, it undercuts the dominance of broadcast
and cable television networks and reduces the audience for firstrun
motion pictures. But on the flip side, it has led to a dramatic
increase in the production of television series and motion pictures
made for the new media, which in turn has expanded members’
work opportunities. Whether this trend can sustain itself into the
future or whether it levels off is an open question.
In the technology arena, we are experiencing the digital
revolution in every single field in which IATSE members work,
which in turn requires new skill sets and continual training, and
changes the types of jobs required on many productions and events.
The pace of these changes will only accelerate in the future.
But for every challenge, the remedy, cure and antidote are
one and the same: Organizing, solidarity and inclusion.
For example, in stagecraft — especially live events like rock
and roll concerts — there had been many contractors competing
to be the lowest bidder, posing a threat to the living standards
of industry workers. But because IATSE members are by far
the most qualified workers to perform lighting, sound, stage
construction and other essential functions, the Alliance has been
able to turn threat into opportunity — and even cut out the
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