Building a power base below the line. (Who's Who Entertainment - Hollywood Unions).

As head of Hollywood's largest union, Tom Short preparing himself for contract talks this fall. But don't expect rabble-rousing. The last thing Short wants to do, at least for now, is to scare the studios with talk of a strike.

"My main goal is to get through the Hollywood Basic Agreement," says Short, the son of a Cleveland stagehand and president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Even the threat of a walkout, Short warns, can cause "mass, mass unemployment" for IA members.

Such measured tones might sound accommodating by Hollywood union standards--especially when compared with the rhetoric that accompanied last year's contract talks with the Writers Guild of America.

But under Short's leadership over the last eight years, IATSE's membership has gone from 65,000 to 103,000, with nearly half of those working in the L.A. area. That's higher than the 98,000 members in the Screen Actors Guild--many of whom are unemployed--and far higher than those in the directors and writers guilds.

In organized labor, numbers typically command power--and with it, leverage. For IATSE, the increasing numbers are largely the result of an aggressive organizing campaign and the easing of membership requirements that previously had made it hard to join.

Short, who is still based in New York and ran unopposed last year for a third term, estimates that 90 percent of Hollywood productions today are unionized, up from less than 50 percent in 1994. Over the past few years, IATSE has signed deals with several formerly non-union companies, including HBO and New Line Cinema.

But with looser membership rules have come critics who believe IATSE is bending too much. Some also see an increasing subordination to the studios during contract negotiations and an inability to stem runaway production.

"There's a lot of discord internally," says Gerald Home, a professor of film studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "There's a perception that the leadership has not been vigorous enough in combating some of these changes."

Short admits that not everyone was happy with the moves. "I'm not naive," he says.

Lucrative work

Within Hollywood's pecking order of organized labor, IATSE does not have the panache of guilds representing actors, writers and directors. Its members are strictly behind the camera--the electricians, makeup artists, grips, costume designers, scenic artists, projectionists and lab technicians. The work is straightforward and often laborious, whether it's an Academy Award contender or just another sitcom. But the pay can be lucrative, with a makeup artist making close to $2,000 in an average week.

"The very fact that you don't hear a lot (about IATSE) doesn't really accurately reflect the power or strength of the union," says Robert Bruno, associate professor of labor and industrial relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Don't expect many hints from the principals. "I don't believe in breaking my own arm patting myself on the back," says Short, who rarely grants interviews.

Nicholas Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, did not return repeated calls for this story. Executives at the studios did not return calls, declined to comment or referred questions to Counter.

The union was established in 1893 as the National Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, representing only theater workers. Since then, it has grown to include artisans, technicians and craftspeople working in several areas, including film, TV and even casinos and conventions.

IATSE, made up of dozens of locals covering various crafts (and some with national jurisdiction), is the exclusive bargaining agent for the Hollywood Basic Agreement, which sets the standard for most of the industry. Locals work out their own individual agreements with producers to cover issues particular to their membership.

While there have been some close calls, the union hasn't gone out on strike in decades. In the 1940s the Conference of Studio Unions engaged in a long and violent fight with the union that ended with the dismantling of the CSU.

"In the '20s, '30s and '40s, this was a union that had a serious problem with organized crime," says Bruno. "It was a union that was really sort of governed and controlled by the mob and the Hollywood moguls."

What the union describes as its "Dark Years" was the period during which IATSE was governed by George Brown and Willie Bioff, both who were said to have ties with the mob and were indicted on charges of labor racketeering in 1941.

Once a major player in Hollywood, IATSE fell on hard times in the 1980s. Non-union productions were proliferating and IATSE members were taking jobs without contracts.

"We were looking at a non-union workforce that was huge," says Thom Davis, the business representative for Local 80, which includes some 2,700 grips and crafts people. "They were all over."

Steven Hulett, who heads the union's Animation Guild, remembers going to union meetings in the late 1980s that he describes as "really sort of angry and desperate." Local strikes weren't effective, he says, because union members were crossing lines.

"A lot of people who wanted to work couldn't get into the unions," says Hulett. "The studios, at the same time, discovered there was this large non-union workforce they could exploit."

Producers demand concessions

Chaos within the union became apparent in 1987, when the leaders of IATSE's Local 44, representing Affiliated Property Craftspeople, barricaded themselves inside their North Hollywood offices with weapons in an attempt to resist a takeover by the international. The standoff ended in a peaceful surrender.

Given IATSE's weakened position, producers in the late 1980s began demanding major concessions to cut costs and become better able to compete with low-budget, non-union independents. While many major studio productions were under IATSE contract, most commercials, cable TV shows and low-budget, independent films were not.

The availability of non-union workers was "driving the terms and conditions of our contract," Davis said.

Soon after Short became president, he helped abolish the union's three-tiered membership system, which had inhibited new membership by dividing the work pool on the basis of seniority. In addition, some locals were consolidated into national guilds.

Short also went after productions that long had slipped by IATSE's radar. Beyond simply searching out non-union projects, IATSE offered the studios concessions--such as adjusting wage scales to fit a film's budget--in order to expand its reach.

In bringing formerly non-union companies under contract, critics say that IATSE has given up too much. For example, some members believe the union went too far in making concessions to HBO, which does not have to pay the same vacation and holiday pay that others do.

"When a company's out there shooting non-union for 17 years and you come in with a contract, it's not going to be a Grade A contract," says Bruce Doering, head of the International Cinematographers Guild (Local 600).

Leo Geffner, the union's West Coast counsel since 1974, argues that those concessions were made, in part, to keep productions and jobs from leaving the area, although he concedes they have been less than "overwhelmingly successful."

"It's a give and take," Geffner says. "The alternatives were grim. You might maintain 100 percent of all your other wonderful contracts but if no one is working under your wonderful contracts, what good is it?"

Runaway woes

There are still areas where IATSE falls short. Most "reality" TV shows and music-video productions are non-union, as are many boutique post-production houses. Meanwhile, runaway production poses a growing threat; the union has concentrated its efforts on supporting tax credits but the results have been disappointing.

IATSE came out in support of Assembly Bill 2747, legislation that sought to keep production in California by providing film productions with a 15 percent tax credit for qualified wages. Despite the support of Gov. Gray Davis, the bill failed to make it out of the state Senate.

Despite a diverse membership with often-conflicting interests, IATSE members say the union has managed to avoid serious factionalism. While locals do butt heads, Hulett credits Short with unifying the bargaining unit and reasserting the control that the union had lost during the 1980s. "The differences are like night and day," he says.

"The big problem that Tom Short had when he came in here is that there was anarchy in many of the locals," Doering said. Different groups within IATSE were trying to undercut each other, which only worked to the producers' advantage, he adds.

These days, as SAG and the WGA know only too well, the big problem is not infighting but industry consolidation.

Gone are the days when most of the major players were concentrated in Hollywood. Today, the union has to negotiate with media giants, such as Viacom Inc., AOL Time Warner and Vivendi Universal. "The dynamic has changed," Geffner notes. "Now, we're dealing with big conglomerates where, frankly, they don't have the same financial interest in keeping the studios operating."

In its last round of Basic Agreement negotiations with producers, IATSE received a 23 percent increase in pension plan contributions and improvements in the health plan. The union's Hollywood Basic Agreement, which covers the majority of members working in film and television, doesn't expire until July 2003. But IATSE likes to start talks early, "so as not to adversely affect everything." explains Short.

Come November, the union will be seeking to retain health benefits and asking producers for improvements to its pension plan and "reasonable" wage increases. "There's a lot of prosperity in the industry. We know what executive salaries are, we read about them every day. We know what superstars make," Geffner says. "We want to "share in some of the success of the industry."

While declining to predict the tenor of the upcoming negotiations, he says: "We're optimistic we'll get a deal."

RELATED ARTICLE: International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees

The union was founded as the National Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in 1893. Today, IATSE represents more than 100,000 technicians, artisans and craftspeople working in film, television, theater and trade shows throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Divisions Under the IATSE Umbrella

Amusement Area Employees

Animation Guild

Art Directors Guild

Arena Employees

Arena Facility Employees

Airline Motion Picture Employees

Admissions, Mutual Ticket Sellers

Affiliated Property Craftspersons

Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers

Back Room, Film Exchange Employees

Ball Park Ticket Sellers

Camerapersons

Costume Designers Guild 

Casino Hotel Employees

Electronic, Sound and Computer Service Technicians

Exhibition Employees

Exhibition Employees/Bill Posters, Billers and Distributors

Front Office, Film Exchange Employees

First Aid Employees

International Cinematographers Guild

Laboratory Film/Video Technicians

Laboratory Film/Film/Video Technicians/Cinetechnicians

Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists

Motion Picture Costumers

Motion Picture Projectionists, Operators and Video Technicians

Motion Picture Projectionists, Operators, Video Technicians & Allied Crafts

Motion Picture Studio Arts Craftspersons

Motion Picture Studio Electrical Lighting Technicians

Motion Picture Studio Grips/Crafts Service

Motion Picture Set Painters & Sign Writers

Motion Picture Studio Production Technicians

Motion Picture Studio Teachers and Welfare Workers

Motion Picture Videotape/Laboratory Technicians/Allied

Crafts and Government Employees

Mail Telephone Order Clerks

National Post Production Operators

Production Coordinators

Production Sound Technicians, Television Engineers and Video Assist Technicians

Radio & Television Sound Effects & Broadcast

Studio Employees

Stage Employees

Scenic Artists

Scenic Artists and Propmakers

Set Designers & Model Makers

Sound & Figure Maintenance Technicians

Studio Mechanics

Script Supervisors & Continuity Coordinators

Script Supervisors, Continuity and Allied Production

Specialists Guild

Script Supervisors, Production Office Coordinators & Continuity Coordinators

Theatre Employees--Special Departments

Television Broadcast Studio Employees

Television Broadcast Remote & Studio Employees

Ticket Sales Agents

Treasurers & Ticket Sellers

Theatrical Wardrobe Union

United Scenic Artists

Union Leaders

Tom Short

International President of IATSE

Union member since 1968... Became IATSE international vice president in 1988, following in footsteps of his father... Elected international president in 1994... Restructured the union into five departments... Credited with boosting membership to more than 103,000 from 65000 during tenure... Helped end longstanding fued with Teamsters.

Leo Geffner

IATSE Counsel, West Coast

Was West Coast general counsel for the Screen Actors Guild for nearly two decades... Has served as counsel to IATSE since 1974... Represented SAG in a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the union won the right to collect fees from non-union workers covered by its collective bargaining agreements... Member of Burbank law firm Geffner & Bush, which also represents the Directors Guild of America.

Joseph Aredas

International Representative In Charge of the West Coast

Entered industry in 1967 as a cinetechnician at MGM... Became a business representative for sound and cinetechnicians in 1980... Joined labor relations department at Consolidated Film Industries, a local film processing laboratory, in 1987... Member of the California Film Commission... Board member of the Motion Picture & Television Fund, which provides health and human services in entertainment industry.

Bruce Doering

National Executive Director, International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600

First became involved in unions while working in a Chicago steel mill... Started at the cinematographers local as the business representative in 1985... Became executive director in 1991... Helped consolidate all cinematographers, creating IATSE's first national local... ICM represents 5,500 camera operators, still photographers and others throughout the U.S.

Thom Davis

Business Representative, Motion Picture Studio Grips/Crafts Services, Local 80

Runs local representing about 2,700 below-the-line workers... Serves as 11th vice president of IATSE... A local AFL-CIO vice president... Longtime labor activist who has worked with the United Farm Workers... Lobbied for the return of an eight-hour workday in California... Spent nearly 20 years working as a grip.

Ron Kutak

Executive Director, Motion Pictures Editors Guild, Local 700

Heads one of the largest IATSE locals, representing more than 6,000 members... Serves as its chief negotiator... Takes part in IATSE's Basic Agreement negotiations... Member of the Motion Picture Industry Pension & Health Plan's Board of Trustees... Involved in the merger of the story analysts' local into the editors' locals... Has been working for Local 700 for more than two decades.

Makeup Power

LIPSTICK, wigs and powder brushes can be powerful tools in Hollywood.

The importance of appearance is what makes one not-so-large local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees an important player in town. Local 706, in Burbank, represents 1,600 makeup artists and hair stylists, most of those working on Hollywood film, commercial, television or theater productions.

As the local's business representative, makeup artist Leonard Engelman serves as chief negotiator on local contracts worked out with theaters and television networks. Film, commercial and other television productions come under the purview of the parent union.

Much of the local's power at the negotiating table comes from its members' influence with the stars. Actors often require specific hair and makeup people in their contracts, occasionally refusing to show up on the set without them.

"A celebrity or an actor will travel with a makeup artist and hair stylist. They don't necessarily travel with a cameraman," Engelman says. "It's a great bargaining tool that we have."

Makeup artists and hairstylists are the ones who know what the stars really look like and often serve as go-betweens and confidants. They can help keep the stars happy, which can determine whether a production stays on schedule.

"If somebody has a reputation, for whatever reason, of being difficult, the producer is very happy to have you there," Engelman says.

Formed in 1937, Local 706 represents hair and makeup people on the West Coast. While growth has slowed, the local continues adding to its ranks, according to Engelman. Makeup artists account for about two-thirds of the membership.

"There are times when we run low on hair stylists but we always have plenty of makeup artists," Engelman said. Hair stylists, he said, can always find work at beauty salons, but most jobs for makeup artists are confined to the entertainment industry.

While men once dominated studio makeup departments and women handled hair, women now far outnumber men on both sides. In an average week, a makeup artist makes $1,900, whereas a hairstylist gets $1,460. Engelman wouldn't talk about the pay disparity.

"That's what the hairstylists keep asking," he says. "I won't even go there because that's .an 'area that we are looking at in negotiations."

The artists often aren't tied to any one studio--many work with only one actor. "If you get in with a star, you can probably make more money, if they want to keep you around," says Michael Westmore, makeup designer and supervisor for the "Star Trek" television franchise. "You can raise your rates and move along with them." Members of the Westmore family, the most famous make up clan in Hollywood, have been doing hair and makeup for nearly 100 years.

Engelman believes the hair and makeup people command a certain amount of respect in Hollywood because of their skills.

"I've made up actors and actresses that have come in because they were ill and whatever it might be and I look at them and think, 'I hope this work,"' he says. "I call it 'cheating death."'

Claudia Peschiutta