FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2023
TEAMSTERS REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH AICP
Teamsters Local 399 members that work in commercials reach a tentative 3-year agreement with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers.
LOS ANGELES, CA – Late Wednesday evening, Teamsters reached a tentative 3-year agreement with the AICP for their two contracts. Both agreements are bargained simultaneously; one covering drivers, wranglers, animal handlers/trainers, and hyphenated drivers, and one that covers location scout/managers in commercials. Overall, there are about 500 members that work regularly in commercials, however over 1,000 Local 399 members have worked at least one-day in the last year.
The bargaining for these two agreements began in May of this year, and both agreements are set to expire on June 30th. Local 399 shared earlier this month that they had no plans to extend these agreements, and that a fair deal needed to be reached prior to June 30th. They also launched a contract campaign with the rally slogan, “Don’t Make Us Take a Commercial Break.”
“By directive of our International, Teamsters aren’t extending contracts,” said Principal Officer Lindsay Dougherty. “It weakens workers’ leverage at the bargaining table, and it extends the timeline in which members get the raises they deserve. We are happy that we were able to reach a tentative agreement that addresses our members’ core issues prior to the end of the month.”
The key issues in this round of bargaining center around economics. Both groups were seeking wage increases, enhanced overtime compensation, addressing work that happens off the clock during the prep and wrap of commercials and more.
The Union issued a statement to members to let them know that no details of the deal will be shared until the June 28th informational ratification meeting. The Union and the AICP are working to finalize the memorandum of agreements prior to walking the members through the tentative agreements. The Local 399 member led bargaining committee however has expressed they are unanimously recommending ratification.
“I want to commend our member-led bargaining committee,” said Joshua Staheli, Vice President of Teamsters Local 399 and Chief Negotiator with the AICP. “Our committee was engaged and involved the entire way. Every member brought something to the table to help the companies truly understand the issues both on the Driver, Animal Handler/ Trainer & Wrangler Agreement as well as a Location Scout Manager Agreement. Even though these are two different contracts with many unique issues, these two committees came together and fought for each other, side by side, the whole way. We are proud of their hard work.”
The voting window for the Local 399 members that work in commercials will begin after the informational meeting on Wednesday, June 28th. Further details of the tentative deal will be shared at that time.
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Teamsters Local 399 represents 6,400 members in the Motion Picture Industry in California and New Mexico including Drivers, Animal Trainers/Handlers, Wranglers, Dispatchers, DOT Admins, Location Professionals, Casting Professionals, Chef Assistants, Mechanics, Auto Service, Warehouse workers and more.
