IATSE, AMPTP Reach Tentative Agreement on New Contract

Great news from the negotiating table as The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have reached a tentative deal on a new Hollywood Basic Agreement and Videotape Agreement.

The agreement arrives after more than three months of bargaining between the union and the studios. The key provisions include a 7% raise in minimums in the first year, followed by raises of 4% and 3.5%, matching the terms won by SAG-AFTRA last fall.

“We got a deal!” the union announced in an email to members on Tuesday night.

The letter, signed by leaders in each of the 13 Locals, that was distributed to members follows:

Dear Basic Agreement Sisters, Brothers, and Kin,

The Basic Agreement Negotiating Committee has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. Below are a few of the details about the proposed deal.

A complete summary of the tentative agreement will be released in a few days, and in addition to local town hall meetings, a multi-local webinar will take place on Saturday, July 13th at noon PDT to review the proposed language in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). To avoid undermining our fellow members in the Area Standards Agreement (ASA) Locals, who remain in negotiations with the AMPTP, we will wait to release full summaries of both tentative agreements simultaneously.

Some of the proposed changes in the Basic tentative agreement include scale rate increases of 7%, 4%, and 3.5% over the three-year term. Hourly workers will receive triple time (3x hourly) when any workday exceeds 15 elapsed hours, all On Call classifications will now receive double time on the 7th day of the workweek, and additional increases in pay will take effect on non-dramatic productions under the Videotape Supplemental Agreement. The tentative deal includes new protections around Artificial Intelligence, including language that ensures no employee is required to provide AI prompts in any manner that would result in the displacement of any covered employee. These changes in the Basic Agreement are in addition to the tentative agreements reached in the Local Agreement negotiations.

For the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans (MPIPHP), the tentative agreement includes additional payments from employers that would address the $670M funding gap, including new streaming residuals. Additionally, no participant shall incur a break in service for plan year 2023.

We thank everyone who participated in the 2024 Basic Agreement negotiations process. From start to finish, your input was invaluable and ensured that our Negotiations Committee was at the bargaining table with clear goals and a consensus for how to achieve them. The ratification timeline will be forthcoming and we look forward to presenting to you the complete package.

But there is still more work to be done. The three-year contract still must be ratified by the union’s membership. The AMPTP still has to negotiate deals with the Teamsters and the other Basic Crafts unions, as well as the Area Standards Agreement with IATSE.

That being said, the tentative Basic Agreement being reached more than a month before the current contract was due to expire on July 31 should calm fears of another industry shutdown so soon after last year’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

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