Why Should I Go Union?

If you are already working as a stage technician, but are not working under a Local One collective bargaining agreement, you should consider inviting Local One to represent you and your co-workers.  Local One is not just interested in representing its existing members; we also have an interest in maintaining industry standards and that means working to make sure that anyone working as a stage technician is properly trained and fairly compensated and treated by industry employers. 

Local One represents an overwhelming number of stage technicians in the New York Metropolitan Area and, through its collective bargaining agreements Local One basically sets the industry standards.  Local One generally seeks to improve wages, benefits, safety, and obtain job security for those who have decided to make a career as an entertainment technician.  If you are working non-union, you are likely working for wages and under conditions that are below industry standards.

Access to the Resources of a Highly Organized and Well-Respected Union:

In the New York Metropolitan Area, Local One is both the oldest and the strongest labor union in the entertainment industry.  Local One is also one of the better-staffed unions, with full-time dedicated officers and employees who have been pulled from the membership ranks, so they understand your working life and concerns.  These officers and employees work with rand-and-file negotiate your collective bargaining agreements and police those agreements to ensure that industry employers are living up to their side of the bargain.  They are also a resource for you, to answer questions or investigate your workplace complaints.  As a Local One member, you have the right to participate in formulating contract bargaining demands, sit on union negotiating committees and the right to participate in contract ratification and strike votes; you have the right to attend and participate in Local One membership, meetings, the right to nominate and vote for candidates for Local One office, and the right to run for Local One office yourself.

Access to a Host of Health and Retirement Benefits:
 
Local One is also the co-sponsor of some of the oldest and well-financed benefit plans in the country, providing health and retirement benefits to stage technicians who, given the freelance nature of their work, would likely not work at any one place long enough to qualify for benefits provided by their employers under typical single employer medical and pension arrangements. Industry employers who are parties to Local One agreements make contributions to the Local One Pension, Welfare and Annuity Funds based on your earnings under those agreements.  So contributions are made on your behalf for every hour you work under a Local One agreement, even if you work for dozens of employers in a year.  Qualification for benefits under these Funds is based on total earnings and employer contributions. 

As a Local One member, you are also entitled to benefits provided directly by Local One, including dental, vision, life insurance, and medical reimbursements and to additional benefits provided through Local One’s parent organization, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

Your biggest benefit is membership and representation in the finest and first Local in the entertainment business in the United States. T hrough that affiliation, your voice will be heard in the workplace. You would be joining the ranks of the men and women who set the highest standards in your chosen craft.