As reported by Deadline: https://deadline.com/2024/06/teamsters-hollywood-negotiations-studios-lindsay-dougherty-1235962230/
With IATSE’s deal still up in the air, Teamsters Local 399 is taking up the mantle Monday to negotiate on a new three-year contract with the studios.
On behalf of her members, Teamsters Local 399 chief Lindsay Dougherty is ready to drive a hard bargain with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Doughtery tells Deadline she’s expecting the same in return.
With IATSE’s deal still up in the air, Teamsters Local 399 is taking up the mantle Monday to negotiate on a new three-year contract with the studios.
On behalf of her members, Teamsters Local 399 chief Lindsay Dougherty is ready to drive a hard bargain with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Doughtery tells Deadline she’s expecting the same in return.
In addition to serving as chief negotiator for these talks, Dougherty is also the Teamsters Motion Picture Division director and Western Region Vice President as well as Chairperson of the Hollywood Basic Crafts. She has already sat across the table from the Carol Lombardini-led AMPTP during this bargaining cycle, since the Basic Crafts linked arms with IATSE to negotiate the terms of their joint benefits beginning in May.
So far, the details on those proposals are not drilled down. As Deadline understands it, pension contributions have already arisen as a sticking point between the unions and the studios, as the unions are seeking the replenish the funds with more significant increases than in the past. The pension fund, which employers pay into, has taken a severe hit over the last several years as many below-the-line crew have been unemployed for extended periods of time during pandemic shutdowns and last year’s historic dual strikes.
That’s just one of several priorities for Dougherty, who tells Deadline “the underlying theme of most of our proposals is respect.”
“We just want our members to get their fair share for the work that they do and, really, our proposals are extremely reasonable and extremely realistic, because, again, these are things that the studios and the streamers have already agreed to with many other unions,” she said.
In the interview below, Dougherty details some of the Teamsters’ priorities for a new three-year deal and explains how she’s juggling the sentiments of members, who have been through a tough couple of years. She also takes aim at powerful producers for whom she says the “rules” don’t apply.
Read the full interview at: https://deadline.com/2024/06/teamsters-hollywood-negotiations-studios-lindsay-dougherty-1235962230/
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