Union Leaders Say Back-To-Work Plans Not Yet Finalized, But Joint Efforts Are “Unprecedented”

The presidents of SAG-AFTRA, the DGA and IATSE released a joint statement today saying that no agreement has been reached yet on a White Paper that will provide guidelines for the safe resumption of film and television production.

Those joint efforts with the companies, and the White Paper it will produce, are being handled through the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee’s task force. The statement was signed by SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris, DGA president Thomas Schlamme and IATSE international president Matthew Loeb.

“We all want folks to get back to work as soon as possible, but we need to do it right,” the statement says. “At this time, no final draft of the Industry Task Force White Paper exists, and it would be premature to agree to or comment on standards that have not even been finalized. As we create our back-to-work plans, the level of coordination between our unions has been unprecedented in frequency and productivity.”

The task force’s White Paper is intended for a high-level audience of governmental and public health officials, including the governors of California and New York, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which is considered one of the primary gate-keepers for greenlighting a return to work in L.A.