Teamsters Local 399 in Hollywood and Local 817 in New York have reached a tentative agreement with managements AMPTP for a new three-year contract covering casting directors and casting associates. The joint agreement covers some 400 casting professionals in Los Angeles and about 100 in New York.
“If was a difficult negotiation, as always,” said Local 399 secretary-treasurer Steve Dayan.
Both locals and their casting director steering committees are recommending ratification of the new pact, which will be put to a vote of their affected members at ratification meetings January 9 in LA and New York. Negotiations for the new pact were pushed back to accommodate the longer-than-usual negotiations for a new IATSE agreement, which delayed the start of Local 399s film and TV contract negotiations, which in turn pushed back the start of the casting directors talks.
“Weve never bargained this late,” Dayan said.
Terms of the deal arent being made public yet, but Dayan noted that it doesnt contain any rollbacks. “I would like to thank the members of our Casting Steering Committee,” Dayan posted on the locals website. “Both the casting directors and casting associates that made up the Committee offered great insight into the issues that many casting professionals face, and they were able to provide invaluable feedback and creative ideas to help solve these issues. I would also like to thank president of Teamsters Local 817, Tommy ODonnell, and our brothers and sisters from Teamsters Local 817 that joined us for negotiations for their support and guidance throughout this process.”
The negotiations mark a successful conclusion of the industrys three-year cycle of film and TV industry contracts that began with the DGA in 2016, followed by the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and Teamsters Local 399 and the Basic Crafts unions. No film and TV production contracts expire in the coming year, but SAG-AFTRA will soon be sitting down with the ad industry to negotiate a new commercials contract, which expires on March 31. And a week later, the WGAs 42-year-old franchise agreement with the Association of Talent Agents is set to expire. Both of those negotiations could spell trouble for labor peace in the coming year.
RelatedHollywood Labor Strife Looms On Two Fronts In 2019
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