Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Good Jobs Now! Rally - Thursday, April 29, 2010, 4:00pm to 6:00pm at New York City Hall

Good Jobs Now! Rally
(Followed by March down Broadway)
Thursday, April 29, 2010, 4:00pm to 6:00pm
New York City Hall
(Enter at Broadway & Chambers Street)

A Call to Action from the New York Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
As our city, state and nation continue to climb out the current financial crisis, workingclass
Americans still struggle to keep their homes. While taxpayer dollars were used to
prevent a complete financial collapse, 1 in 10 Americans remain unemployed.
In response, the IATSE and National AFL-CIO have embarked on a long-term campaign to
ensure that working people do not get left behind and the economic recovery reaches
Main Street, not just Wall Street.

On April 29th from 4 to 6pm, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now
campaign, the NYC Labor Movement will rally at City Hall and then march down
Broadway through the Financial District.
AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka will
lead the rally where we call for the recovery to make its way to working people on Main
Street. We need to make sure that the economic bailout does more than just protect CEO
bonuses, that it helps to bring back the 10 million jobs lost since 2007.

Collectively, we will show that when working men and women speak with one voice, they
are heard loud and clear. This AFL-CIO Good Jobs Now mobilization will be our call
for action. Taxpayers bailed out the big ban; now we need to make sure that working
men and women have the same opportunity to get back on their feet.

The IATSE New York Production Locals are pledging
their support to this crucial call to action.

We hope for a large turnout of Local 600 members on April 29th.
If you would like join our contingent, please call Business Agent David Blake at
(212)647-7300, or email dbl@ipgla.com. David will arrange a meeting location for us at
the rally and coordinate our participation.
___________


Last Friday, Local 600 members joined with more than 1,000 unionists from Los Angeles and across Southern California for a rally to support the locked-out miners of Boron, California. Many of you may have read about the issue in this newsletter, but for those who haven't, the British conglomerate Rio Tinto has locked out 560 miners in a small desert town near LA.

This town lives and dies by mining jobs and Rio Tinto is waging a campaign against the community that not only makes working in the mine less safe, but may result in the wholesale outsourcing of these critical union jobs. It's just the sort of unfair big business that unions were created to fight, and I am proud to say that Friday's two-hour rally in front of the British Consulate truly was union solidarity at its best. You'll be able to read more about it soon on our website and in Camera Angles.

In our own industry, the news this week has some bright spots as you can see in the articles below. Shrek is going 3D on DVD, as Jeffrey Katzenberg announced last week. 3D films are also bringing in big box office numbers overseas, yet again re-enforcing that this technology is here to stay and will be a growing area of work in the coming months and years. Our 3D training sessions are packed, proving that Local 600 members have the foresight and drive to learn these skills. We will continue to work hard to make 3D training available to more members in the near future.

There is also news that despite a decline in DVD sales, more people are using their digital recorders to watch programs with conflicting time slots, and overall, TV viewership is up. Advertisers are returning and ad prices are rising, and the market is adjusting to the fact that the viewers are there, they just want to watch on their own timetable. We are also seeing an increase in revenue from paid downloads of entertainment. While this is still a small source of revenue overall, in our last contract IATSE negotiated an 80% increase in residuals for these downloads, so we are taking in our fair share of what I am certain will be a growing area of entertainment distribution.

Fraternally,

Steven Poster,
ASCICG
Local 600 National President

3D TRAINING UPDATE

The three-day 3D training program hosted by Sony is now in full swing. The program has been extended at least through the summer, and we are working on ways of increasing the numbers of students that can take the class.

We have nearly three hundred members who have signed up for the class. We do not know precisely how long Sony will be able to provide the staff and facilities for us. We will continue to put names on a waiting list. We will also continue to place students as fast as we can.

Click here for details.


ICG 600 National Office (323)876-0160 7755 Sunset Boulevard Hollywood CA 90046

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