Organizer Kaplan Walks Local 700's Line

In front of Technicolor-Universal at noon today ...

For those who aren't in the know, Local 700 IATSE is the Editors Guild. The editors have been managing an organizing campaign with the employees of Technicolor Glendale that started well before my hire with our Guild.

Almost as soon as I was hired, I was asked to attend an AFL-CIO organizing class which a few of the Technicolor Glendale employees also attended. I had the pleasure of standing with those employees, as well as brothers and sisters from other locals, today on Lankershim Boulevard in front of the Technicolor facility next to Universal Studios in support of unionization.

Local 700 posted about this rally on their website at this link. So far, the organizing effort has endured strong resistance from Technicolor management. The company has employed the traditional methods of closed-door meetings with anti-union propaganda and lies, threats and interrogations of union supporters and have threatened closing the facility if the employees vote for union representation. The workers at the Glendale facility have been working for lower pay rates than at union facilities, with no regular raises and costly health insurance.

Despite Technicolor holding two contracts with the IA covering over four hundred employees at the Technicolor Lab (film processing) and Sound Services (sound editorial and re-recording) with Locals 683, 695, and 700, they've egaged a union-busting law firm to stop this attempt to bring the strengths and benefits of organization to the Glendale employees. You can read about that on a site maintained for the Technicolor Glendale employees at this link.

We wish the Technicolor Glendale employees the best of luck and look forward to assisting them and their organization efforts in any way possible in the near future.