Hello IATSE 891 members, and thank you for your continued subscription to the Workers’ Rights Substack.
The COVID-19 issues are still very prevalent in our industry as a whole with seemingly no end in sight. The federal government failed to pass a motion in the House of Commons to remove the mandates for travel, and the Liberal government continued to double down on the issue. Only after international airports have fallen into chaos did the government finally lift some of the travel restrictions.
Within the industry itself there is no continuity of policies or mandates from show to show. Some shows have reduced the amount of testing and removed the necessity to wear masks in certain zones if working outside. Meanwhile, other shows such as Snowpiercer (and all Netflix shows) require all crew to be vaccinated and Yellowjackets Season 3 and others are requiring all Zone A or Red Zone members to be vaccinated but not other zones.
COVID-19 has been shown to be aerosolized and therefore, if all workers are working in a small room or house, with both mandatory vaccinated Zone A and not vaccinated Zone B workers sharing the same air and space, does it stand to reason that the vaccination requirements are somehow protecting one group from the other?
Does this lack of continuity not appear to be arbitrary? The union leadership maintains that it is the employers right to manage, however, they should also be addressing the arbitrary rules that are being enforced on members where exemptions have been allowed.
There have been stories of actors, directors, producers and other above the line people who are not vaccinated being allowed by production to work on locations and shows requiring vaccinations, while IATSE 891 members have been unable to work. Does this not show that the rules are different for some people while negatively impacting our workforce?
It has become accepted public knowledge that the COVID vaccines do not prevent transmission, nor does it prevent people from getting sick. If the shot is not doing either of these two things, then why are we preventing people from accessing work who have decided not to take an experimental drug?
It is time that we show our union that we no longer can allow our employers to arbitrarily make rules that are no longer supported by science. Why is our union standing quietly while allowing our employers to mandate arbitrary and unscientific policies, preventing our members from working?
This union is just another corrupt organization and I hope they are all held accountable for their complicity in these illegal and abusive mandates which are inflicting harm on the members. Why are they getting paid money when some of us can’t even work. I think it’s high time we took them to court
I have written a letter to the union about the invasive test with these chemical swabs. The president Mitch Amanda and Phil MO RESPONSE!!!!. This is what I wrote:
To whom it may concern
I would like to know in this stage of the insanity of the Covid testing why we are doing invasive penetrating tests. I have no problem spit testing but will not subject myself to any more bodily invasive testing. Many many members are asking the same questions. I also have had several facial surgeries as well as sinus issues and surgery which gives me a stronger reason and RIGHT to refuse. The swabs have chemicals on them. What harm? Where are they made? Etc etc. Please stand up for the membership and stop this. I want an exemption but I also would like to see the union start looking after the members rights and needs. We pay lot of dues and don’t even have a pension plan. With these invasive requirements I can’t even retire out properly as my employment is limited.
Another issue is when did the key of a department become the employer? I understand production hiring the key and the key first assistant. The rest of the calls background second unit etc. etc. with truck without truck etc. etc. should all be called through the hall. I will bring this up as a motion but don’t you think you should look into it. It becomes very skewed and biased and unfair. It’s bad enough that we have settled a crappy contract and our collective agreement just weakens our once great union. In closing I hope that you all do the right thing.