Thousands of TV commercial production workers across the United States are in the midst of a historic union drive to join the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
Stand With Production, the grassroots movement representing commercial production workers, is currently leading this drive to unionize line producers, production supervisors, assistant production supervisors and production assistants.
Production workers Erin Wile and Cheyenne Cage founded the movement-turned-union campaign after walking off a multi-million dollar ad campaign in protest of its inhumane working conditions. Cage, a Production Supervisor, recalled, “We had each worked almost 200 hours and that was working through the weekends with no rests or breaks. We were definitely getting somewhere between 4 and 6 hours of sleep every night.” In addition to unsustainable hours, lengthy commute times, understaffing and cost-cutting pushed workers to a breaking point.
After they had raised their concerns with the employer to no avail, Wile and Cage walked off the job in October 2021 with many of their coworkers following suit. Within days, the story of this rare production team walk-off had circulated and the pair received hundreds of calls, emails and texts from other production workers across the country thanking them for their action.
From there, Wile and Cage hosted regular virtual town hall meetings attended by hundreds who wanted to continue the discussion on workplace abuses, and Stand With Production was immediately formed.
In the aftermath of the historic IATSE strike authorization vote and the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the Stand With Production movement was able to evolve into a union campaign. Commercial production workers found themselves struggling with the same chronic inhumane working conditions as film and television workers, and the demands for justice around a living wage, reasonable rest and safety further bolstered their organizing.
Cage told Liberation News: “Seeing film and TV crews unite to combat the same profit-driven exploitation we were facing in commercials inspired us to take the same stance for our well-being and quality of life. When Halyna Hutchins was killed later that week after we had walked off, it further cemented the importance of pushing back on the culture of cutting costs at the expense of the safety and well-being of the crew.”
For decades, these workers have been some of the only non-union workers on commercial sets and therefore the most exploited with unsafe turnarounds, low wages, understaffing and no protections. Production workers not only rely on close relationships with companies in order to procure work, but their work is also spread out all over the country, making the commercial industry difficult to unionize.
In addition, production assistants, historically seen as “unskilled labor,” have never been represented by any union whether that was on a film, television or commercial set. As “entry level positions,” they are responsible for performing a variety of tasks including answering phones, escorting actors to and from their trailers, moving equipment, getting coffee and much more. They are critical to the day-to-day logistics of any production, but due to their high levels of exploitation their positions experience high rates of turnover and a more easily replaceable workforce. This creates another hurdle to unionization.
However, recently the Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, successfully unionized production assistants alongside other production staff for The Simpsons, American Dad!, Family Guy, Rick and Morty, Titmouse New York, Titmouse L.A., ShadowMachine, and Solar Opposites, showing that it is possible to unionize all workers even under the most difficult circumstances. Cage added, “By unionizing PAs we are raising the standard of employment for entry level positions. By ensuring they are paid a living wage and receiving the same protections as their fellow crew members, we are providing access to the industry for people who may not have previously been able to afford to work for the low wages or untenable hours that up until now have been standard for Production Assistants.”
Stand With Production is currently in the process of gathering union authorization cards and requesting recognition from the Association of Independent Commercial Producers, representing the commercial production companies. However, following this announcement, the AICP escalated its union-busting efforts, giving member companies the greenlight to blacklist production workers engaged in unionizing efforts.
“There are members of Stand With Production who have been blacklisted and are no longer able to work in this industry as a result of their dedication to this cause and to the community.” according to Cage.
However, this setback has not dampened the motivation to organize and fight back: “Even in the moments where we’ve felt emotionally drained, there has never been a point in this where this movement lost momentum. Workers rights are tied into a lot of the bigger systemic issues we see today. While the issues we see in this industry might just be a microcosm of society’s more pressing problems, they are connected.”
Follow @standwithproduction on Instagram or visit standwithproduction.org to stay updated on their struggle for a better workplace. Donate to their GoFundMe to support the full-time volunteers driving this movement.
