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Let’s Continue the Solidarity

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Brothers and Sisters,

Last year was a challenging one for our Guild, but also one of great promise. In our struggle to get a fair deal for our members, we discovered how strongly you were behind the position of our Board of Directors (pictured here) to fight for better protection of our pension and welfare plan, as well as better and safer turnaround times and other issues.

Alan Heim.

I have belonged to the Editors Guild on both coasts since 1964 and I have never been so proud as when I looked out at all of you — about 2,000 strong — at our meeting to support our National Executive Director Cathy Repola and the Board. A truly astounding percentage of you then voted against accepting the contract when it was finally submitted to us for ratification. We were the only IA local to turn it down and we should hold our heads high.

Our challenge now will be to keep this wonderful solidarity going forward as we plan for the next negotiations, when we can fight for a more just and generous contract.

Until then, I ask you all to keep active in the Guild and enforce the provisions of the current contract. Also, I invite you all to attend our monthly Board meetings as guests to see how our Guild operates. Just call the office, find out the dates of the meetings and register your intention to attend. I hope to see you there.

Yours in solidarity,
Alan Heim, ACE
President, Motion Picture Editors Guild,
Local 700 IATSE

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DepartmentsPresident's Message

Guild’s Goal for 2018:
More Member Involvement

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written by uncredited 2 minutes read

by Alan Heim, ACE

Brothers and Sisters,

I wish you all a Happy New Year and want to say a little about what’s been going on at our Guild and what we are looking forward to in the year ahead.

Alan Heim, ACE

Last year our great organizing team of Rob Callahan and Preston Johnson was successful in organizing Vice Media. We negotiated a card check agreement, and the Guild was certified as the bargaining agent. Our National Executive Director Cathy Repola is currently negotiating a first contract for about 200 members. This will bring our national membership roll up to nearly 8,000.

More members attended our annual meetings on both coasts than have come in years (I hope it wasn’t the beer tasting alone!) and, apart from Board of Directors nominations, a long and lively discussion of working conditions occurred. Many more members signed up to attend our special events — so many, in fact, that we are looking at ways to increase participation even more with simpler sign-up methods and roomier venues.

In a similar vein, more of you voted last year than in 2016 — 19 percent as opposed to 14 percent. Not a great turnout since no members had to leave their house, but it is a positive sign. This resulted in many new faces on the Board, and I look forward to working with them all. We are your Guild, and we need your input to respond to your needs. To get more members involved, we intend to send out short surveys to the membership throughout the year. I urge you to watch your e-mails and please respond.

In a couple of months, we will be entering into negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for a new contract, and we intend to focus on an area about which we’ve had many complaints: long hours and consecutive work days in editorial. In addition, we will work on continuing to shore up our pension and health plans.

Shortly, the Guild will be sending out a survey to our picture editorial members, the results of which we will rely upon during negotiations. Please be on the lookout for that in your inbox and reply ASAP.

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President’s Message:
General Membership Meeting 10/11/17

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Board of Directors of our guild has been receiving a lot of complaints from our picture editorial members, who work primarily in scripted episodic television and features, about excessive working hours and the need to deliver a full cut, with sound effects and music on very tight schedules. A large part of this problem is caused by the use of digital cinematography coupled with a reluctance on the part of directors to say, “Cut.” This results in editors getting three to six hours of footage a day, which makes it impossible to view the material in a careful and caring manner, thereby squeezing all the decisions into the editing room — and mostly under terrific pressure.

We are getting swamped by ever-advancing technology on the set, and it’s not going away. Our members have to take some control of their work and family situations.
We on the Board have been asked, “What can we do about it?” The honest answer is: “Very little on our own. We need to all work together to collectively take part in addressing this.”

One first step would be to observe the terms of our contract, which we already have in place. Take lunch hours and put in for every penny of overtime. That goes for everyone in the cutting room. As far as I know, editorial personnel tend to be the only people on a project who don’t insist on lunch breaks or meal penalties. When was the last time a mixing crew worked through lunch? In my memory, never. The same goes for a crew on the set, but when the meals are delayed, they all put in for their meal penalties. Perhaps just insisting on our contractual rights would create an awareness of the cost of long hours.

I recognize that other classifications within our membership face other challenges, and these should be discussed as well. My call to observe the contracts is directed toward our entire membership.

We’re having a General Membership meeting on Wednesday, October 11, at 7:30 p.m. at both the Guild’s Los Angeles and New York offices.  Our National Executive Director, Cathy Repola, and I will address the New York meeting via video, and will be live at the LA meeting. If you have any ideas to address this problem or to introduce others into the discussion, please join us. Many board members will be there and are happy to engage in these conversations.

After the conclusion of Guild business, there will be refreshments hosted by the Membership Outreach Committee. Please RSVP at the links below.

Yours in Solidarity,
Alan Heim
President

RSVP – Los Angeles

RSVP – New York

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AGENDA

• Nominations — Election Committee Chairperson Bill Elias
• President’s Report — Alan Heim
• National Executive Director’s Report – Cathy Repola
• Social Mixer — Following Guild Business

 

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DepartmentsPresident's Message

Editors Guild Enters a New Era

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written by uncredited 3 minutes read

by Alan Heim, ACE

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Alan Heim

As we approach our 80th anniversary, we are beginning a new epoch in the Motion Picture Editors Guild’s history, with Cathy Repola as our National Executive Director having followed Ron Kutak, who retired from that position last October after 32 years at the helm.

Following our annual Board of Directors election in December and installation of the new and returning Board members in January (see accompanying photo), I’d like to make you all aware of what’s going on at our Local.

Now is our chance to step up and express our opinions while we plan for negotiating a new contract early next year. Only a very small percentage of our members voted in the last Board of Directors election and, if you want input into the contents of our contract, you should stay in touch with our Guild’s Board members and let us know your wishes, desires and problems.

The Guild has recently formed a Diversity Committee with a goal towards raising the visibility, and ultimately increasing the numbers of our minority membership. Through our Membership Outreach Committee, we’ve also launched a mentorship program, in which experienced Guild members in all fields of work meet with small groups of younger members in a series of Master Classes to offer suggestions on how to navigate the politics of the cutting room and sound stage. In addition, the “mentees” work on scenes under a mentor’s watchful eye. They have enjoyed the program very much so far. We will soon be having more Master Classes in various classifications.

I suggest that you come out to our mixers and events, where you can meet Board members and network with your peers. The next few years might become a very tough period for unions in general, so I ask you all to let your voices be heard.

Remember, We are the Union!

The 2017 Motion Picture Editors Guild’s Board of Directors: Back (fifth) row, from left: Molly Shock, Mary DeChambres, Kevin Ross, John Vitale, Robert “Bubba” Nichols, Jerry Ross; Fourth row: Nancy Richardson, Christy Richmond, Frank Delgado, Jr., Jeff Burman, F. Hudson Miller, Lisa Churgin, Dorian Harris, A.J. Catoline; Third row: Rachel Igel, Frank Morrone, Stephen Rivkin, Richard Sanchez, Shiran Amir, Paul Overacker; Second row: Maysie Hoy, Michael Tronick, Alan Heim, Bill Elias, Stephanie Lowry, Dave Jackson, Joe Birkman; First row: Glenn Morgan, Aziza Ngozi, Sharon Smith Holley and David Barnaby. Not pictured are Diane Adler, Rob Kraut, Alyson Dee Moore, Harry Oxnard and Sidney Wolinsky, as well as Eastern Region Board members Louis Bertini, Rick Derby, Tom Fleischman, Carrie Puchkoff and Alexa Zimmerman. Photos by Martin Cohen

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