Editors Guild Putting “Final Touches” On Protocols For Resuming Post-Production Work Amid Pandemic

The Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700, is putting the “final touches” on its plans for restarting the post-production business, said Cathy Repola, the guild’s national executive director, in her latest video message to her members.

The guild’s craft-specific protocols, like those being drawn up by the industry’s other guilds and unions, will be used to implement the white paper on reopening film and TV production that was sent to government officials last week. Eventually, she said, those craft-specific guidelines will have to be negotiated with management’s AMPTP.

“I know you all want to get back to work, but I also know you want to do so safely, and safety is a primary concern of the union and its membership,” she says in the video (watch it here). “On Monday, we sent out an email blast to the members on the White Paper that was put together by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Task Force. It contains general guidelines that government officials can utilize in order to make sure that issues specific to motion picture and television production, and ultimately post-production, can be addressed in the reopening phases that everyone is outlining.”

“The next step is to provide craft-specific considerations and concerns,” she said. “We’re putting the final touches on our documents right now and we’ll be submitting them to the IATSE. The next steps will be to create North American-wide standardized guidelines. On the production side of things, that means collating input from over 50 IATSE locals. Since we have national jurisdiction over post-production, our work and our input will need to only to be collated with the post-production aspects of work covered by IATSE Local 891 in Vancouver.

“Down the line, we will also need temporary adjustments to our collective bargaining agreements so that we can adopt these return-to-work protocols. These will need to be negotiated with the AMPTP. I don’t have a time frame when that will begin to happen, but as always, I promise to keep you updated.”

The Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600, issued its own protocols last week, including a core principle that “no one should have to waive their rights or assume liability in order to go back to work.”