With four days to go before their contract expires, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has given a “last, best and final” offer to the union representing 6,500 drivers, location managers and animal wranglers.
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The Teamsters and other Hollywood Basic Crafts unions have been in talks for six weeks. The unions are seeking sizable wage increases, limits on subcontracting, and protection from driverless trucks.
Teamsters Local 399 told members in an update at 1:30 a.m. Saturday that the AMPTP’s final offer “did not meet the negotiating committee’s approval.” The union said it had given a counter-offer late in the day, and is awaiting a response.
“We think our response to the producer’s package is reasonable and would be a deal that gets this over the finish line,” Lindsay Dougherty, the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters 399, said in a statement.
A “last, best and final” offer is meant to signal to the union that management has gone as far as it can go and it’s time to wrap things up. SAG-AFTRA continued to bargain for a few days after it received a “last, best and final” offer during its strike last November, and was able to win a few adjustments on artificial intelligence language.
The Teamsters union is holding a membership meeting on Sunday, and is expected to issue an update then. The union bargains alongside the electricians, plasterers, plumbers, and laborers unions. Collectively they represent 8,000 workers.
The tensions come a week after the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees overwhelmingly ratified its contract. The IATSE contract provides wage increases of 7%, 4% and 3.5% — identical to the terms won by SAG-AFTRA after its strike last fall. The Teamsters union has tried to improve on the 7% first-year increase, while the AMPTP has sought to hold the line.
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The union has been saying for weeks that the two sides are “far apart.” In an update on July 20, the union said that the fifth week of talks was the first “in which we saw the employers take this process seriously and engage in meaningful discussions.”
The other Hollywood unions expressed solidarity with the Teamsters in a joint statement on Monday.
“As their contract deadline of July 31st quickly approaches, the clock is ticking on the AMPTP to address the unique needs of the various classifications within these unions,” said the unions, including the Directors Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, the Writers Guild of America and the American Federation of Musicians. “Our guilds and unions stand strongly united behind the Teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts until they gain the compensation and working conditions they deserve.”
The Teamsters have not gone on strike since a three-week lockout in October 1988. The negotiations went down to the wire in August 2007, with the sides inking a deal 90 minutes after the contract expired.
The Teamsters aren’t the only entertainment industry union currently engaged in a standoff. SAG-AFTRA declared a strike on Thursday against the major video game publishers, citing a dispute over artificial intelligence.
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