IATSE Labor Union, representing the technicians, artisans and craftpersons in the entertainment industry: I know we are all tired of seeing political ads, but please take a moment to read this before you head to the polls today. Over the last few days political history happened in Columbus Ohio and IATSE Local 12 was at the center of it.
Late last week our Business Agent filled a call for 65 stagehands at Nationwide Arena. As we are all aware, clients rarely choose to use IATSE 12 in Nationwide. However, this client was Youngtown based Forty-Two Inc., the AV vendor for President Barack Obama in Ohio, and his campaign had chosen downtown Columbus as the location for his last campaign stop before election day. Richard Shack filled the call with excitement.
13 comments:
It's great to see direct support of our entertainment industry employees by none other than the President himself! It's important that people who ultimately control who gets to work an event stand up for the rights of union workers and support them as a workforce. I also appreciate hearing that the president personally thanked all of the union workers at the conclusion of the event. It must have been such an honor to have met him.
Well I could see this in two ways. One, the president, IATSE leaders and local politicians stood up for union workers ensuring that they get to work an event that elicits the skills possessed by unionized workers or two, the President and his campaign insisted on having unionized workers in a non union house when house work could have done the same job. It would be interesting to see if local politicians would stand up for union workers getting to work the Nationwide arena if there were a guest other than the president requesting their presence. Either way, I'm glad they got the opportunity to work such a show and am happy to see workers being represented and given a voice.
I'm so pleased to see this. Yes, there are negative things to be said about unions and the power given to them in this country, but it's important to remember that these unions are ultimately out there to provide jobs for hard-working people and to make sure that those people's jobs and rights are protected. This is a great example of the way that both unions and politicians can make positive changes (even on a small scale) in this country. I appreciate that Obama and members of his campaign team went above and beyond to help these union workers, and I am proud that the union workers in turn supported Obama and thanked him for his help.
Like the points previously made, I would agree that non union workers should have gotten the jobs. The life of a non union freelance technician is not an easy one and jobs they are entitled to should not be taken away. At the same time it is pretty cool to see the President's personal "high five" to workers of our business. I really appreciate the fact that Obama stuck around to say hi to the guys who fought to work on the event. I can not imagine how cool it was to be able to meet the president on the job.
You try and take away peoples jobs after they are told they have one, it will not be a pretty fight. Its good to see that Obama is there to support people even though that might not be how its done in the past. IATSE is a very strong union and its good that they get people behind them. It seems that all of this was very civil, which is good for IATSE to get the powers behind them without blowing it too out of proportion. People might not realize the little things like this matter to thousands of individuals. Its good to know Obama care about everyone, and the arts, and will not let one group suffer, hopefully.
This was obviously good PR for the campagne, but I would like to think that even if that was the reason it was initiated, President Obama still enjoyed meeting the members of IATSE 12. I would think it would be refreshing to take some time to just meet working citizens, knowing that your presence alone will have impact on them. It must have also been pretty costly to push back their call so each crew member could go through security, then spend time with the President. Regardless of ulterior motives, I commend the President for sticking around to have meaningful interactions with the citizens he represents.
In addition, while I do think some unions protect lazy bad people from getting the disciplin they deserve, I do not think it is bad to hire a union to work in a non-union house. It is a free market, and if you think the quality of work will be better, then one should have the right to hire who they want. If a house only permits union work, you have to respect that the management of that facility have also decided that the union quality is better than other labor resources.
I think it was incredibly audacious of the Nationwide Arena building management to try to tell the Obama campaign that IATSE crew shouldn't be hired, after the people hired by the campaign chose to ask for union labor. The choice may have been politically motivated, but it still gave IATSE a rare moment of being in the spotlight, and the fact that Obama stayed behind an extra hour to meet a (relatively) small group of 65 people says a lot. Sure, the union structure in this country has some issues and isn't perfect, but the fact that politicians showed some respect for the union in this case is fantastic.
I wonder how many of those IATSE 12 members voted for Obama afterwards. I also wonder if any of them were completely against him before and might have swayed afterwards. I doubt many would have swayed if they were on the Romney wagon before, but maybe they would have seen a different side to the President.
As a freelance worker I feel that they could have done the event with Union and non-union workers. Just because it is a campaign event. There was no reason to just say UNION ONLY or NON-UNION ONLY! However I also see the PR incentives from going this route. Nevertheless, I think that it was a great step from the Obama campaign. Also, staying behind to meet with the workers resulted in a fantastic photo op.
It really is refreshing to see the Commander in Chief supporting the union of such a frequently overlooked skilled labor. There are so many out there who don't recognize that all of the events they are witness to in theatres, arenas, television, and movies require a dedicated and hardworking group of individuals. I choose to see this more as the President standing up for the entire technical theater industry and recognizing its true value.
Its great to see the President supporting the IATSE union. Although it was definitely a campaign act to meet the crew afterwards - it is still a cool thing to do. You dont see taylor swift hanging out with the grizzly men left to tear down her set. Obama sure knows how to get votes. But more importantly, hopefully david is right. Hopefully this is the beginning of the governments increasing support for the theatrical realm of our country.
It is nice to hear these sorts of stories and it gives me hope that the people that we elect to office really do want to help us. It is also encouraging to see someone as busy and important as the president taking time for the crew members. I see both sides of what people are saying but I think that what leans me towards being happy that the union workers got the job is that they told them that that they had the job and then tried to take it away and in this this economy that is one of the cruelest things. Give them hope and then snatch it back.
That's. So. Cool. Its not everyday that the President stands up for a group of theatre people and personally advocates a work opportunity for them. This also makes me wonder what guidelines (if any) there are to what makes a performance space an Equity or Non-Equity space. Because that would dictate where IATSE members could work, which in some cases (like this one) may lend itself to less adventagous work opportunities due to some guidelines the performance space may already have.
Im still a little confused as to why they could hire both union and non union workers. However to take jobs away from non union workers on their turf seems unfair.
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