Less than twelve hours before a threatened picket line, organizers from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Locals 487, 600 and the International’s Motion Picture and Television Division secured a long-term, national collective bargaining agreement with Red October Productions, it was announced by International President Thomas C. Short. Red October is the production arm of the venerable Republican media-consulting firm, Stevens and Schriefer.
The company, whose list of recent clients includes Bob Ehrlich for Governor (MD), John Cornyn for Senate (TX), Charlie Crist for Attorney General (FL), Bill Pryor for Attorney General(AL) and theNational Association of Realtors PAC commercials on behalf of Republican Congressional candidates Northup and Capito, was preparing to shoot a campaign spot for President George W. Bush at the White House.
Though the company had signed single project agreements in the past in union strongholds, it resisted signing a comprehensive agreement so as to preserve its ability to attempt to produce non-union. The resulting agreement eliminated the company’s ability to shoot non-union anywhere in the United States.
The IATSE has a growing list of political spot producers signed to its national term agreements and anticipates adding more as it aggressively pursues contracts with political spot producers during the busy 2004 campaign season.