Hollywood Basic Crafts and Studios Reach Tentative New Deal to Avoid Strike

All local members of Hollywood Basic Crafts have agreed to a tentative new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, averting a strike just three days before the July 31 deadline.

“After the last 48 hours, we are proud to announce that ALL Hollywood Basic Crafts Locals have reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP late tonight,” Teamsters Local 399, representing its member locals, said in a statement Saturday.

“The grassroots have worked closely with our member-led negotiating committees today to secure a deal with the AMPTP that we can now say is unanimously recommended by our member-led negotiating committees.”

The announcement comes less than a day after Basic Crafts presented a counteroffer to what AMPTP called its “last, best and final offer.” Details of the deal will be made available Sunday afternoon following a general membership meeting of Teamsters Local 399, the union said.

Insiders told TheWrap last week that wages are a major sticking point, particularly long-standing wage disparities that make it difficult for Teamster members to afford the cost of living in Los Angeles.

AMPTP, in turn, used the phrase “last, best, and final offer” during talks with the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA last year to end the dual strike. Basic Crafts, meanwhile, had promised not to renew contract talks past July 31, when its current contract expires — at which point a strike would go into effect immediately.

In reaching a new deal, Basic Crafts follows IATSE, whose members approved a new contract by a supermajority of 86% on July 18. While there were concerns among some IATSE members that the contract didn’t go far enough to curb artificial intelligence automation in several IATSE jobs, union members who voted yes told TheWrap they did so because of gains in other areas, such as wages and safety, along with pressure to return to work following the financial toll of last year’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Together, the Teamsters and Basic Crafts represent 7,600 entertainment workers, including drivers, dispatchers, electricians, caterers, laborers, cement masons, plumbers, animal trainers and casting directors.

The other unions within the Basic Crafts are the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 40, Laborers International Union of North America Local (LIUNA) 724, United Association Plumbers Local (UA) 78 and Operating Plasterers & Cement Masons International Association (OPCMIA ) Local 755.

More to come…