On May 16, 2007, IATSE International President Thomas C. Short and Henri Massé, President of La Fédération des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) met with members of IATSE Locals 514 and 667 on the set of “Whiteout,” one of six feature films slated for production this year in Montréal under the jurisdiction of the IATSE.
Henri Massé took the opportunity to publicly express his support for the organizing efforts of IATSE Locals 514 and 667 in Montréal. “The IATSE has a long and proud history of representing employees working in the entertainment industry in Québec since 1898. There needs to be one union to represent the interests of motion picture workers in Québec and that union is the IATSE.”
Added Massé, “These locals are committed, and we owe it in good part to their determination that Montreal once again has the favourable conditions to attract important American productions that threatened to go and shoot elsewhere.”
President Short said, “The motion picture workers in Québec have asked the IATSE to represent them. We intend to do so. I appreciate the support of the FTQ. The six locals of the IATSE in Québec are members of the FTQ and we continue to support the leadership of Henri Massé and the FTQ in fighting to improve the lives of working families.”
The IATSE is an International Union that represents members employed in the stagecraft, motion picture and television production, and trade shows industries throughout the United States, its Territories and Canada.
The FTQ (the Federation of Quebec Workers) is Québec’s biggest union confederation with more than a half a million members.
