Teamsters Negotiations Start Today: Here’s What to Expect
Brian Welk
Contract season is well underway. IATSE has already been at the negotiating table for months, but last week it left without a deal. Now it’s the teamsters‘ turn.
Starting today, Monday, June 10, the Hollywood Teamsters with Local 399 alongside Hollywood Basic Crafts will head to the negotiating table to fight for new three-year contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Negotiations are scheduled to run to mid-July; most of the specific contracts being negotiated now expire on July 31.
Should the teamsters fail to reach a tentative deal with the studios by July 31, Hollywood will most likely be headed for another strike, and all film and TV production will almost certainly come to a standstill. The teamsters were instrumental in 2023’s dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in shuttering productions, agreeing to not cross picket lines and putting studios in a tough spot. Had the teamsters crossed the picket lines, some production could’ve continued so long as no writing was being done or continued second unit work without actors, but Hollywood needs drivers, mechanics, and chef assistants to function.
The teamsters’ talks are kicking off today at their previously scheduled time and are not being pushed, despite IATSE failing to reach a deal with the same studios. IATSE is attempting to schedule more talks with the AMPTP as early as this week. Negotiators for the teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts have already been at the table as far back as March, when IATSE, Hollywood Teamsters, and Hollywood Basic Crafts all joined together to negotiate pension and health care, though no tentative agreements have been reached on those key points as of yet.
A couple of contracts will be on the table starting today. First is the Black Book Agreement, which covers drivers, dispatchers, DOT admins, animal trainers, wranglers, mechanics, chef assistants, and more. Roughly 4,000 union crew members work under that agreement in Hollywood. Teamsters Local 399 is also negotiating the Location Manager Agreement covering Location Managers, Key Assistant Location Managers, and Assistant Location Managers. About 800 crew members work under that contract. Both deals expire on July 31. A third agreement, the Local 399 and 817 Casting Directors Agreement, will be negotiated starting in late August with a September 30 expiration date.
Local 399 will also be alongside other locals as part of Hollywood Basic Crafts, including LiUNA! Local 724 Basic Agreement covering Laborers, IBEW Local 40 Basic Agreement covering Electricians, OPCMIA Local 755 Basic Agreement covering Plasterers, and UA Local 78 covering Plumbers. Those groups will have their own specific agreements to negotiate and vote on, and their deals all expire July 31 as well. Together with the Black Book and Location Manager Agreement, these contracts cover roughly 7,600 people.
Leading talks for all of the unions is Lindsay Dougherty, the chief negotiator and head of both Teamsters Local 399 and Hollywood Basic Crafts. In an interview with Deadline on Monday, Dougherty said the teamsters will be fighting for wage increases of at least 7 percent, in line with what SAG-AFTRA and the WGA got for the first years of their new contracts. She also said increased funding for pensions is going to be key, though Deadline reported pension talks are among the hold ups in IATSE’s negotiations.
How artificial intelligence could replace certain aspects of teamsters’ jobs is also going to be up for consideration. The union outlined other priorities on a strike website, including a push for better working conditions, increased meal penalties, and more holidays. Read through a full list of priorities and the 399 steering committee members via the union’s negotiations website.
The last time the Black Book and Location Manager Agreement went up for re-negotiation, in 2021, members ratified it with flying colors. But like their fellow IATSE crew members, many have been out of work for extended periods as a result of decreased production in Hollywood and last year’s labor strikes.
