It's Not Heavy Metal, But It Is Union - IATSE Welds 4-Year Agreement with Alternative Metal Supply, Studio Division

April 5, 2006

The International Alliance of Theatrical Employees (IATSE) and a new Hollywood metal fabricator, Alternative Metal Supply, Studio Division, have welded a four-year memorandum of agreement for film and television production based on the innovative flexible, production agreement the IATSE started to use 18 months ago.

The flexible agreement is not pre-set mold of ironclad wages, benefits or working conditions. Instead, it is an amalgam of agreements that obligates the employer to follow the IATSE contracts that cover the type of work being done in film and television. So, if a film is being produced under the Hollywood Basic Agreement; the Low Budget Agreement, the Music Video Agreement; or the Commercial Agreement, the crew at Alternative Metal Supply working for that film will be bolted to the wages, benefits or working conditions of the agreement applicable to that production.

"The flexible agreement is tempered to allow facilities to compete for work under any of our applicable industry agreements," said Gavin Koon, point person for the Los Angeles Facility Organizing Committee made up of Local 80, Local 44, Local 729, Local 800, Local 33, and Local 683. The committee was forged to organize non-signatory production facilities in the Los Angeles area.

Alternative Metal Supply is currently doing the metal work for Spiderman III and has two other major projects signed.