Monday, January 11, 2016

The IATSE Executive Board

Every six months, the IATSE (out Mother International) holds an executive board meeting of IA staff and IA Vice Presidents ... of which there are several.

We are across the continent in Hollywood, Florida, the city of blue oceans, sandy beaches and tropical thunderstorms. Tomorrow we start Day Two of a week of reports, presentations and updates of what is happening in stagecraft, live-action motion pictures, and also too visual effects and animation. ...

Today there were reports from the IA's West Coast office in Los Angeles, reports of organizing drives in various parts of the United States, and how the election of the new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada has remade Canada into a less hostile country for labor.

The IATSE has grown by several thousand members over the past three years ... in contrast to other American labor unions. It's intent on organizing visual effects, which is why President Matt Loeb announced the IA's new representative Steve Kaplan at this morning's session. (You might recognize the name "Steve Kaplan", since Steve worked for the Animation Guild for five years before taking a new position with the International.)

The current state of the IATSE is strong. In the next few days there will be reports on the state of various pension and health plans, as well as news about victories and defeats across the country. When something of moment crops up, I'll report it here.

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