IATSE Membership in "Right to Work" States

[Chris Chapman]

I'm in Michigan and we just passed new "Right to Work" Legislation which follows other states moves, where employess no longer have to be a member of a Union in a job where Union Membership formally has been in place. My question is how does new 'Right to Work" legislation potentially impact road houses? If I'm running a road house and I have a Yellow Card show coming through, can I now push through using non-IATSE hands on the gig to cut down on my labor over-head? Can IA still dictate who gets calls in "Right to Work" states?

I'm not an IATSE member and have toyed with the idea of joining my local, but I wonder what is in the future for Tours with legislation like this floating about. Couldn't venues argue the point now they they legally don't need to follow Union stipulations for labor requirement because of right-to-work?

Thoughts? I'd especially like to have any IATSE members chime in on this.

 

[cbrandt]

I've been wondering similar things myself. (Not a card holding member warning) I think this will actually end up affecting the IA more in terms of who they call and hire for gigs, as opposed to theaters and production employers. They still have their labor contracts, and those will be in effect until someone can show loss of work from being excluded from calls. For most locals, I don't think this is a problem, as they utilize over hire lists of non card holding members to fill in calls, thus qualifying for the right to work requirements. Someone with more knowledge, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this.

 

[SteveB]

I'll break it down into separate sections:

"My question is how does new 'Right to Work" legislation potentially impact road houses? If I'm running a road house and I have a Yellow Card show coming through, can I now push through using non-IATSE hands on the gig to cut down on my labor over-head? Can IA still dictate who gets calls in "Right to Work" states?"

If you do not have a contract with an IATSE local, you've always been able to hire non-union. All a Yellow Card is, is the list of crew and in what departments the touring IATSE head carpenter requires for the gig and as sent to the business agent for the local that has area jurisdiction. Typically the contract the event has with the venue (rider) also stipulates the crew size minimums. Tours under IATSE pink contract play non-union venues all the time, as BTW.

All the yellow card then does is inform the local. If the IATSE local has no contract and never provides crew, then the yellow card gets ignored if the BA can't provide crew, or the venue says no thanks. Being a so-called right-to-work state has typically meant that the union, even if it has an existing contract with a venue has no right to withdraw membership dues (Edit or require union membership, if the member chooses not too. Some laws can have other aspects, and I'm not familiar with Michigan's. One of the aspects of the inability to collect dues from every employee an IATSE contract covers, is it dilutes the local's ability to pay for legal fees related to unionization processes, bargaining costs, as well as reduces the cash flow for member welfare benefits. It also tends to minimize the unions ability to lobby at the governmental level, for improved workers rights. Right-to-work does not change a contract a union has with a venue. If the contract states that all work must be performed by members of the union, then the venue gives up the right to hire non-union.

"I'm not an IATSE member and have toyed with the idea of joining my local, but I wonder what is in the future for Tours with legislation like this floating about. Couldn't venues argue the point now they they legally don't need to follow Union stipulations for labor requirement because of right-to-work?"

No, a contract is a contract. If the employees ask for union representation, then the NLRB gets involved, a vote is then taken. If the employees vote yes, then the parties craft a contract. If that contract states the venue may hire non-union (as my venue is allowed), then in a RTW condition, the union may not withdraw from a employee any dues or monies for benefits without the employees permission.

Thus I don't think it's going to change much as venues that currently have union representation with strong contracts that limit the work to only union members, will continue under those contracts. The venues may well attempt to dilute the contract by allowing non-union. So we may start to see labor fights over this issue in the future.

 

[Chris Chapman]

Thanks for that excellent insight into how those contracts work, Steve. That answered a lot of my questions on the current road contracts and my own errors in yellow card vs. pink card shows and the future of labor contracts.