EXCLUSIVE: The clock is winding down on the Teamsters‘ scheduled bargaining days with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. By the end of the week, the union hopes to have agreed to a tentative new three-year contract, but there’s still a large bridge to gap between the two parties.
While the path to a deal this week could be difficult, it is not impossible. Amid a myriad of issues the Teamsters and AMPTP are bargaining over, money is by far the biggest and most difficult, sources tell Deadline.
The two sides are so far apart that national union leadership has been looped in to “bring in a big stick,” an insider says.
“[The] goal is to get to a deal, but that’s also ultimately going to be up to the companies,” a union source said, adding that the Teamsters have “been very clear about…proposals.”
Some of the deal points that remain on the table include substantial wage increases for location managers, drivers and chef assistants, according to sources.
Public messaging surrounding negotiations has lately focused on the reminder that the Motion Picture Division’s members “are some of the lowest paid in production,” as their Friday update pointed out.
“It’s really about just raising the standards and having standards that are on par across the board for most sectors around compensation and working conditions that protects their job, protects the work they’re doing, and then also [gives them] the pay that is deserved for it,” the union source said.
Teamsters International President Sean O’Brien joined the conversation this past week, offering words of encouragement on a virtual town hall Sunday with Motion Picture Division chief Lindsay Dougherty and more than 2,000 rank-and-file members.
“We have to protect our work. We must be able to provide for ourselves and our families,” O’Brien said on the call. “We refuse to be bullied by some of the biggest companies in the world.”
O’Brien acknowledged the ongoing contraction, with production employment down about 30% globally, reiterating that Teamsters will not “bear the cost for this shift in the industry.”
The below-the-line unions have remained clear on that point for quite some time, as anxieties about another potential strike grew before the current bargaining cycle even began. Teamsters, especially, have repeatedly shifted the responsibility of a strike onto the AMPTP, should they not be able to negotiate a fair deal.
Scheduled bargaining days conclude on July 19, but the union says it is open to putting more days on the calendar. That is, until the contracts’ expiration on July 31. The Teamsters say they will not extend negotiations past that date.
This is a high-profile week for the Teamsters. As the Motion Picture Division continues to hammer away at a new deal, O’Brien is also scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention on Monday — a move that has received some criticism from members. It marks the first time a Teamsters president has spoken at the convention.
The union — one of the most powerful in the country with 1.3M members — has historically directed its support toward Democrats, and members were similarly angered by the union’s donation to the GOP’s convention fund in January. The union also donated to the Democratic National Committee, indicating less that the union is shifting alliances and more likely that it is hedging its bets in an unpredictable election year.
Dominic Patten contributed to this report.