IATSE Ratifies New Three-Year Deal, Despite AI Worries

Carolyn Giardina and Gene Maddaus
·3-min read

IATSE members have voted to ratify their contracts with the major studios, calming fears of another industry shutdown so soon after last year’s double strikes, and bringing the hope that this will result in an uptick in work amid a continued slowdown.

The contracts were approved by a sizable margin, despite fears in some quarters that they did not do enough to protect members from artificial intelligence.

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Both sides seemed keen to get a deal, given the struggle to recover from last year’s strikes. They scheduled extra time for bargaining, which began in early March, and the union did not take a strike authorization vote.

The contracts provide substantial wage increases — a 7% raise in minimums in the first year, followed by raises of 4% and 3.5%, matching the terms won by SAG-AFTRA last fall. The contracts also include new streaming residuals to address a $670 million shortfall in the pension and health plans, which are largely funded by hourly contributions and thus took a hit due to last year’s six-month work stoppage. Workers will also receive triple time for any hours worked beyond 15 hours — up from double time in the current contract. That provision was intended to curb extra-long workdays.

IATSE also won certain concessions around the use of AI. Any AI use will be covered by the union contract, and no member will be forced to enter prompts into an AI system that put another member out of work. The contracts also provide that if a member loses their job due to AI, they are entitled to severance and retraining. The contract also provides for regular meetings to discuss developments in the technology.

That did not go far enough for members who fear that AI will be used to train on their creative work, and thus put them out of a job. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has not been willing to limit or compensate for AI training in any of its labor negotiations.

Members pressed IATSE leadership for more information about the terms during a Town Hall meeting held on Saturday.

The Set Designer’s Council (a part of Art Directors Guild, Local 800) went as far as recommending a “no” vote due to the AI language. A portion of an email to members obtained by Variety reads: “In the new contract language, we have not been given any protections relating to our individual processes when designing, building models, illustrating or creating documents. This applies to all crafts. Art direction, set design, illustration, graphic arts and in some cases physical model making if using a computer to create parts.”

The Hollywood Basic and Videotape Agreements cover approximately 50,000 film and TV workers across IATSE’s 13 West Coast Studio Locals, primarily based in Los Angeles. The largest are the International Cinematographers Guild (Local 600), Motion Picture Editors Guild (Local 700) and Art Directors Guild (Local 800).

The Area Standards Agreement covers roughly 20,000 film and TV workers across 23 local unions across the United States in cities other than Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. The current contracts expire July 31.

The Teamsters and other Basic Crafts unions — which represent about 8,000 workers in total — are still in negotiations on their contract. The Teamsters leadership has warned that the the two sides remain far apart on basic issues like wage increases. The union is also seeking to limit subcontracting. That deal expires on July 31.

Lindsay Dougherty, the head of Teamsters Local 399, said before negotiations began that a strike was “unlikely,” but the rhetoric has grown increasingly militant in the last few weeks, as the union warns that it will not “negotiate against ourselves.”

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