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Topic: Union Projectionists
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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 04-06-2005 12:23 PM
For the record, Wynn now owns only the Wynn Las Vegas. But all of his previous properties, under current owner MGM Mirage, continue to maintain the "No IA" tradition: Golden Nugget (now owned by the Landry's restaurant chain), Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio. MGM Mirage, which is aggressively non-union, just bought out the Mandalay Bay Group, which adds Circus Circus, Monte Carlo, Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay to the list along with the MGM Grand.
The Mandalay Bay Group has IA contracts, but we'll see if any of them get renewed under the new regime. Local 720's track record here has been abysmal--they sparked the feud with Wynn themselves back when he first came to town and bought the Golden Nugget. Since then, Local 720 has never won an election at any of the former Wynn or MGM Mirage properties. With Wynn it is very very personal.
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Michael Goucher
Film Handler
Posts: 34
From: New York, NY USA
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted 04-06-2005 03:02 PM
Just to advise--Regal Cinemas has just sent contract termination notices to all union houses in their circuit. At Local 306 in New York, we intend to hit back. Already underway are strategy sessions, research forays to sites, interivews with front-of-house people, etc. etc. The objective from Regal's point of view is to terminate Union presence in their theaters. This comes from the top people at Regal. It is not so much about the money they pay, although that is a factor; it is about getting rid of the Union. They believe in rolling over all opposition to the conglomerate corporate agenda. They will cut your pay to finance their launch of satellites which will then beam motion picture content into their theaters. Everything seems to be about CONTROL! I believe the digital projectors of the future will still need maintaining. They will still need to be switched on according to a protocol which will prolong chips and lamps. They will still get dirty and need to be cleaned. Everyone knows that the inside of an ancient Philco Radio looks like a dust storm. Unattended, the same will happen to your Christie or Barco DLP. However, they have dumbed down the audience--with the aid of much of the bad cinematography brought about by reducing the editor's image to a small TV screen--and if any one is unhappy they get a pass--an opportunity to come back to the same theater and buy popcorn at an inflated price! Anyone who finds delight in doing this job needs to organize. Otherwise you will need to find another line of work within the next six or eight years. I am working in a studio screening room and the use of film is down by 25% since I started six years back--along with my earnings, BTW. The sales departments of Barco and Sony and Christie all sell service contracts along with their DLP equipment. In practice, if the projector shuts down the house shuts down--sometimes for days. Nobody seems to care. We MUST make the audience care. An empty theater can't make a profit in pricey popcorn. Think about it.
Michael Goucher,
President--Local 306 IATSE
New York
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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99
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posted 04-07-2005 09:04 PM
quote: Sam D. Chavez
But I forget, I'm probably addressing a belligerent child.
Sam, I think you just proved my point about unions seeking to control - and demonizing, belittling and terrorizing those who disagree.
My point, which neither you Sam, or Richard failed to address is that we have, a few posts above, someone who seeks to boycott an establishment for providing BETTER working conditions than the union has...
Richard, you are tired of hearing about the "visits" eh. When the visits become subtle intimidation tactics, they are out of control. You may be tired of hearing about the "visits" but the victims of this tactic are tired of the harassment and threats.
Did any of you stop to consider that the reason people are trying so hard to keep the union away? As Mr. Guttag says - "Some of these exhibitors would rather pay for DCinema than pay $.25 more an hour but with a union contract in there!" or as Mr. Mayer points out - "To help ensure this, he pays IA scale plus 10%, and offers benefits that the union cannot match. It's not about costs--it's about keeping the IA off of his property." I would submit that a large reason behind this is that employeers want workplaces free of organizations that seek to grow by whatever means possible, including threats, harrassment, intimidation, and, in Chicago's case, violence and terrorism.
If getting the most for workers was really your aim, you would be appluding Wynn for going above and beyond what IA is able to do. That I am labeled a "belligerent child" for pointing it out only proves my point.
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 04-07-2005 10:04 PM
No, not really...however you really don't understand unions though you may have had some negative union encounters. As to management...more often than not, THEY want to exploit their workers to pay them subsistance level wages, if that under the slogan "hey do want that or nothing at all." A company that can get away with paying workers little or no wages is deemed " a smart company" in the business world.
What a union truely does is to allow workers to speak with a greater voice than just the single person, to bargain for superior working conditions and benefits and for a better life.
Can you find examples, many even, of unions doing bad things...sure...can you find examples of employers doing bad things? At least 10 times more. There needs to be a balance and at the moment, the balance is not there and as such, workers in the states are not paid fair wages or benefits. To think, once upon a time in the US (not too long ago even) the average worker could support their familiy on a single income where they paid cash for their car (not financed it 5-7 years). To think that business were big and profitable at the same time too.
Most concepts that the government feels the need to try and legislate really started with the labor movement and the benefits they bargained for...even restrictions on child labor were born with the labor movement. Minimum wage...again a labor idea. In the state of Maryland, the legislative body has pass a bill to require large corporations to spend at least 8% of payroll on health insurance to all employees. Personally, I don't think that is the right place for government but that is something that unions have baragined for and without them...employers are going to increasingly be told what they have to do by law.
It is about control...business owners want all of it...but people are not property (now that slavery is gone) so absolute control is not nor should not be condoned. "Take it or leave it" is a 3rd world concept, not one that the USA should strive for.
Remember, worker's right to unionize is guaranteed, an employer's desire to not have union workers is not legally protected...it isn't the employer's choice in the USA.
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