In a bare-knuckle battle that wouldn't be out of place inparts of the longshoremen's union, Academy Awardwinning cameraman Haskell Wexler is vying to replace Steven Poster as president of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild.
The campaign issue: sleep. Wexler, 81, the cinematographer of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the director of Medium Cool, wants to shorten the 15- to 18-hour days customary for most TV and movie projects. He has mailed every member of the 5,700-strong local a DVD of Who Needs Sleep?, his 2006 documentary linking moviemaking's long hours to illness and deathoincluding that of a cameraman on Pleasantville who fell asleep at the wheel while driving home from a 19-hour shoot. After a similarly long day in the late 1990s, Wexler had a nonfatal accident in which his El Camino flipped over.
Wexler wants his union's parent, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, to negotiate 12 hours on and 12 off. Incumbent Poster, 63, a cinematographer whose credits include Daddy Day Care and Stuart Little 2, argues that Wexler's campaign will further alienate the union from IATSE. Last year, Wexler led an unsuccessful fight against the basic agreement IATSE negotiated with Hollywood. "I've known Haskell since 1969, and I respect him immensely as a cinematographer," says Poster. "But he's out of touch with the working man, and what he is doing is counterproductive." Says Wexler: "I've been a union man for 52 years, and my job is to speak for the workers." Ballots were sent out on Apr. 10, with results to be announced on May 16.
Business Week
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