By Guild Staff
Why do we get a check for holiday pay? What is a night premium? How many hours pass before triggering a meal penalty?
These are some of the common questions that Editors Guild members wonder when looking at their paycheck stubs, but don’t always know who to ask or where to find out the facts. If these questions go unasked and unanswered, then many members could work jobs without ever knowing their rights and protections under the IATSE Basic Agreement and the dozens of MPEG contracts that govern film and T.V. post-production.
Without information, union members give away their power — which is vested in them every three years when they vote on contract ratification.
“Engagement doesn’t just mean showing up for a vote every few years,” said National Executive Director Scott George. “It means staying informed, holding employers accountable, and looking out for your union kin on the job.”
The Membership Outreach Committee (West) wanted to help members fully grasp their contract protections and rights on the job. Past practice has been for the Guild office to email out contract summaries, or list bullet points on the website. But these dumps of information and rules are often overlooked for being too complex.
So the committee took on an experiment — what if contract education could be made fun?
“Rather than teach a traditional page-by-page contract class, the Membership Outreach Committee (West) set out to envision a format that is member-led and actively engages and resonates with the membership,” said Shiran Miller, a Local 700 Board member and committee co-chair and who produced the event, alongside Associate Director Alenis Balderrama. “They not only attend and form community, they also retain the information taught.”
The pilot event “Know Your Rights” was held in Los Angeles on June 29, where 62 members packed the Dede Allen room at Guild headquarters in Hollywood. Attendees worked in a variety of classifications and genres representing picture and sound classifications who work under the Majors Agreement.
“I’ll take ‘Timecards’ for $300,” was heard as the video screen projected Jeopardy-like clues and member-contestants competed for prizes and SWAG to see who retained the most information from the presentation they just saw.
Assistant Editor Isabel Yanes, who led the presentation, recalled when she first joined the union she had many questions about union work. “I found myself calling our field representatives regularly because my colleagues didn’t have answers to questions,” she added. “I had no idea what a line on my paystub meant, or why did I get a check for holiday pay from a show I wasn’t working on anymore?”.
“Speaking with my fellow assistant editor friends revealed how little about our contracts and benefits we actually know. Things like night premiums, meal penalties, rest periods and vacation pay accrual, for which we are entitled. When I joined the Young Workers Group and shared this discovery, they encouraged me to do something about it,” added Yanes.
Miller said that some members on the committee expressed concern about holding an event about work contracts when so many MPEG members still can’t find a job.
“One might ask – even now? When there’s a work shortage?,” Miller said, answering: “Yes, especially now. Both union and non union employers may try to take advantage of the situation. But that’s much harder to do if workers know their rights.”
The member feedback said the event was an overwhelming success.
“A wealth of information was crammed into a morning of fun, networking, and education. Since I’ve been in MPEG for three years, Isabel’s presentation was the first time I truly understood 90% of [the contract],” said Meredith Mantik, Assistant Editor
“Knowing the contract better, and learning positive and nuanced ways to stand my ground in the face of common contract violation scenarios, gives me more confidence for how to handle those situations. Being better-informed also makes me more confident about negotiating my deal in the first place,” said Chris Chandler, who is an Editor.
“It’s always important to know as much as we can about these contracts. It’s easy to forget about them when we’re working, but they’re designed to protect us,” said Joshua Steele, an Assistant Editor.
“Even if you’ve been a union member for decades, it’s always good to brush up on the main details of the contract and this was a great way to do that,” said B.J. Emery, an Editor.
During the interactive presentation, a music video called “Postbusters” was featured that the committee produced last year, in the style of the “Ghostbusters” hit music video from the 1980s.
It starred member Sean Linal, urging members to contact a field rep ‘”if there’s something strange in their neighborhood.” This tied in well with the Ghostbuster style patches, “Bust Ghosts Not Unions,” that were handed out to attendees, along with notepads and pens, courtesy of First Entertainment Credit Union.
From there, the group separated into breakout groups by classification — Editors, Assistant Editors, Sound classifications, and VFX Editors — for more individual conversations with attendees about the issues they see on the job. Each classification was given a handout with the key provisions that apply to them, as well as a handout with a QR code about workers rights on non-union jobs, including their fundamental right to organize the project and turn it union.
The committee says it intends to produce more events. “I truly believe engaging and educating our membership on their rights will give us the confidence and power we need to continue securing better working conditions for everyone in this industry,” said Yanes. “The ‘Know Your Rights’ series is just the beginning.”
The event concluded with a lunch mixer and a raffle of valued prizes. Sound and picture attendees were given different colored tickets, to receive prizes that align with their craft.
Books – Paul Hirsch’s “A long time ago in a cutting room far, far away” and Jared Simon’s “Every Frame Counts – An Assistant Editor’s Reference Book”
Classes – Master The Workflow’s “Feature Film Assistant Editor Immersion,1.0”, Film Editing Pro’s “The Art of Drama Editing Pro”
Events – tickets to ACE’s Editfest, CAS’s The Sounding Board, and MPSE’s Annual Picnic (with MPSE hats as well)
Software / Tools: 2 iLoks, Intelligence Assistance tools for Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, Boris effects suite, Digital Rebellion Kollaborate software, Kraken dialogue editor software, 2 licenses for Adobe 1 year full creative cloud suite, 1 license for a full year of Avid, 1 license for a year of Davinci Resolve Studio
Gift Cards: five $50 Visa Gift Cards from First Entertainment Credit Union, and one $250 Kroger gift card, from Union Plus.
The prizes were donated from generous Raffle Sponsors who support the Editors Guild:
Union Plus
First Entertainment Credit Union
Adobe
Avid
Black Magic Design
ACE
MPSE
CAS
ilok
Boris
Digital Rebellion
Master The Workflow
Film Editing Pro
Intelligence Assistance
Kraken Dialogue Editing Tools
Photos by Deverill Weekes, Sharon Smith Holley and Erik C. Andersen.
