By Kristin Marguerite Doidge
If there’s one message Local 700’s “Labor-to-the-Polls” workgroup would like to send out to its members across the country, it’s this: Don’t sit out the November 5th election.
Fifty members gathered at the Local 700 headquarters in Los Angeles on Oct. 5 to help send 1,150 postcards to members living in presidential swing states and competitive congressional districts – an effort the union’s national organizer Rob Callahan said he believes could have a big impact.
“Much gratitude to the scores of volunteers who showed up on Saturday to hand-write postcards urging Editors Guild members and retirees to vote,” he said afterward. “Your messages have the potential to make the difference between members casting their ballots and their sitting this election out, and that difference could have real impact in races expected to be extremely tight.”
Picture editor and Editors Guild board member A.J. Catoline, ACE, said he was also “blown away” by the amount of people who showed up to help, adding that the initiative grew out of a resolution submitted by Local 700 delegates to the IATSE District 2 Convention held in June. Catoline wrote the resolution along with fellow Board members Shannon Baker Davis, ACE and Shiran Miller, ACE, that called on all Locals to “Get Out the Vote in 2024 to Strengthen and Preserve Labor Unions and American Democracy.”
The convention passed the resolution unanimously. The IATSE Political Committee also held a training for delegates about why the union formally endorsed Kamala Harris for president and how members in each local can help get out the vote (GOTV). From there, Catoline and Davis formed a workgroup to make plans on how to organize member volunteers.
Catoline said he felt it was important that the union take a proactive approach to get its members involved in this year’s electoral process, going beyond past practices of staying “quiet” on potentially contentious political issues.
“Trade unionism and politics are inseparable,” said Catoline. “Our rights to join a union and fight for better work conditions came because laws were passed that made it so. Unions are under attack in America and we must do all we can to help elect pro-labor candidates who will pass more pro-union laws. In a close election, 100 union members taking action to encourage their friends and co-workers to vote will make all the difference. When we vote, we win.”
The resolution was designed to promote voter registration and turnout, particularly in swing states and districts with close races, and includes activities like postcard-writing campaigns, phone banking, and organizing bus trips for canvassing. About 100 members have already signed up to help GOTV.
Beyond the presidential election, the group is also spreading the word on supporting pro-union candidates in key congressional and state and local races, endorsed by the local state labor federations and in conjunction with the IATSE and L700’s sister locals, that could affect the industry and MPEG members.
“Part of ‘Get Out the Vote’ is to help people to really look at what their vote means and how we would be living if one candidate was president as opposed to the other one,” Davis said. “And not just that: your local candidates can really affect how you live day-to-day, too.”
She said the strong foundation that the workgroup has built these past several months will be a helpful template for future elections, but noted that she hopes members won’t wait another four years to get involved.
“We need to vote in primaries. And we need to be involved in the state assembly, because they’ve had a lot of laws that affect California and New York tax credits,” Davis said. “A lot of people may say they don’t want to get involved. I think you have to get involved. Otherwise, other people are dictating how you live your life.”
Catoline agreed, adding, “IATSE has a very big megaphone, and we need to back that,” particularly when it comes to support for keeping union post-production jobs in the U.S., and as Davis mentioned, boosting opportunities for editors in California to participate in productions utilizing tax credits, like their New York colleagues do.
As recent years have starkly shown, elections at all levels have consequences that directly impact IATSE behind-the-scenes entertainment workers and their families – especially in areas where inequities exist at the polls and access to information may be limited. “Part of the resolution was to inform people on how to figure out if you’re registered, and how to figure out where to vote,” Davis said.
To that end, fellow picture editor and convention delegate Elisa Cohen, ACE, has been working hard to do her part to raise awareness of pro-labor congressional candidate George Whitesides in California’s 27th congressional district in Antelope Valley. She has been heavily involved in the workgroup’s efforts, participating in phone banking, postcard writing, and door-to-door canvassing. She also volunteered to edit a campaign video for him.
“I told myself that I was going to take the closest campaign [in proximity] that was really important and really put my all into it,” she said. And those efforts are of critical importance as the congressional district is notoriously close and was decided in 2022 by less than 400 votes.
“As much as your own vote is important, it’s just as important to make sure that you let your friends and family know that their vote matters, too,” Cohen added. “Not voting is really a vote. It’s still going to be decided without your input.”
Within an hour’s drive of both Los Angeles and New York are Congressional races that will be decided by less than a percentage point. Unions across America are relying on a pro-labor majority in Congress to pass worker-friendly legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which is designed to make it easier to create more union jobs.
There are just a couple weeks left for members to get involved before election day on Tuesday, Nov. 5 – and the group has made it easy to find and pursue more than 100 opportunities to help “get out the vote” by knocking on doors, making phone calls or sending out text messages, or just encouraging friends and family to make sure they’re both registered to vote and have access to information they’ll need to make informed choices about pro-labor candidates at the local and national levels.
Members can also sign up to join a bus trip to Las Vegas on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 to help with canvassing, where IATSE President Matt Loeb will speak to volunteers. And during Palm Springs Pride scheduled for the weekend before the election, members can march in the parade on Nov. 3 and canvass for congressional candidate Will Rollins in the competitive 45th district.
“Take some time to review the list and pick some that work with your schedule and the types of campaign activities you’re comfortable doing,” Callahan said. “However you might pitch in over the course of the remaining 20 or so all-important days, many thanks for doing what you do.”
What members can do:
- Visit the Guild’s “Labor to the Polls” website to learn more about labor-endorsed candidates and to find other helpful resources.
- Check out the IATSE Voter Toolkit to find out your primary election date, early voting dates, and deadlines for voter registration, absentee ballot request, and absentee ballot return.
- Learn about Local 700 election volunteer opportunities – both remote and local to your area – arranged by date.
- Download and read the Local 700 Get Out the Vote Resolution (PDF).
- Volunteer to edit a pro-labor candidate’s campaign ads or social media videos.
