The employer had warned about making cuts or seeking concessions, prompting a creative response from Local 13: organizing. “We wanted to make sure we had a strong bargaining unit there to withstand that kind of pressure,” reported Royce Jackson, IATSE Local 13 financial secretary. “We went through a membership drive.”
From a base of five members, he said, “we brought in about 30 individuals who work under our contract as new members.”
On July 6, members ratified a new contract.
“We were able to push back any concessions the employer wanted,” Jackson said. “It was very apparent to management the bargaining unit was cohesive. We were working together as a solid unit.”
To boost the membership drive, Local 13 and the International waived the customary initiation fees required for workers to get a union card.
“I was the first one to get my card as part of the membership drive,” reported Mat Terwilliger, Minneapolis, staff electrician at the theater and now Local 13 steward there. “It’s not a good economy to negotiate in,” he observed. “We came out better than we expected going in.”
He said the union focused on work rules in the negotiations and maintained retirement funding and longevity increases.
Reprinted from the Minneapolis Labor Review.
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The employer had warned about making cuts or seeking concessions, prompting a creative response from Local 13: organizing. “We wanted to make sure we had a strong bargaining unit there to withstand that kind of pressure,” reported Royce Jackson, IATSE Local 13 financial secretary. “We went through a membership drive.”
From a base of five members, he said, “we brought in about 30 individuals who work under our contract as new members.”
On July 6, members ratified a new contract.
“We were able to push back any concessions the employer wanted,” Jackson said. “It was very apparent to management the bargaining unit was cohesive. We were working together as a solid unit.”
To boost the membership drive, Local 13 and the International waived the customary initiation fees required for workers to get a union card.
“I was the first one to get my card as part of the membership drive,” reported Mat Terwilliger, Minneapolis, staff electrician at the theater and now Local 13 steward there. “It’s not a good economy to negotiate in,” he observed. “We came out better than we expected going in.”
He said the union focused on work rules in the negotiations and maintained retirement funding and longevity increases.
Reprinted from the Minneapolis Labor Review.