IATSE and Studios Reach Agreement on Zone Standards

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IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced Thursday that they have reached a tentative agreement on all issues related to the Area Standards Agreement, the companion contract to the basic agreement that received its own tentative agreement Tuesday night.

The latest agreement between the union and representatives of studios and broadcast companies means that, pending ratification, there will be no strike action at IATSE this summer.

“Members and signatories will have the opportunity to review the agreement in the form of a detailed summary in the coming days, followed by a memorandum of understanding at a later date,” the two sides said in a joint statement today.

The news comes after the two sides reached an agreement on Tuesday night on the basic agreement more than a month before the expiration of that contract, which covers about 50,000 members of the 13 West Coast unions based primarily in Los Angeles.

The preliminary agreement for the regional standards agreement came after two days of talks. The agreement represents 23 IATSE locals across the country and their 20,000 members.

What remains to be done is to get a full sweep of Hollywood labor deals. Those negotiations are expected to pick up again before the current contract expires on July 31. It’s unclear how much progress those negotiations have made, but both the Teamsters and the Truckers Association have previously indicated they are not interested in extending their contracts past that date to accommodate more talks.