Monday, March 06, 2006

Day one of the CBA negotiations

The lovely AMPTP building in Encino, before the negotiations and the rain started. A 'Snow White' mosaic on the wall of the courtyard. A 'Bambi' mosaic was on another column, along with other movie icons like Marilyn Monroe and characters from 'The Wizard of Oz.' Some of our committee: (L-R) Mike Miller of the IATSE, Jeff Massey, Steve Hulett, Russ Calabrese, and Jeanette Hulett. Not shown are Matt Loeb and Steve Aredas of the IA, TAG VP Earl Kress, TAG attorney Stu Libicki, and me. We won't break the record set last year for shortest negotiations ever, but I do think we made progress. Neither side is really asking for the moon, and now we're clear on what issues are important, and what issues are really, really important, to the other side. My take is that these negotiations involve a lot of subtle pushing and pulling, with neither side giving much obvious ground. Then, after some serious side-bar discussion, the whole thing can settle out very quickly. Or tomorrow's negotiations could conclude with us scheduling additional days, with no end in sight. We'll see.

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