Alex Aguilar, Secretary-Treasurer of LIUNA Local 724, the Hollywood Laborers Union, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the ongoing efforts to unionize production assistants in the entertainment industry. Aguilar highlighted the challenges faced by production assistants, the union's organizing strategy and the impact of recent immigration policies on Hollywood workers.
Production assistants in Hollywood often face significant workplace challenges, including low wages, lack of benefits and grueling work schedules. Aguilar emphasized that many PAs earn minimum wage despite working on productions with multi-million dollar budgets. The union focuses on securing healthcare, livable wages and basic workplace protections such as proper meal breaks and adequate rest periods between shifts. These issues are industry-wide, but LIUNA Local 724 has chosen to target Warner Bros. Television as a starting point for organizing efforts.
The union's organizing campaign has already succeeded, with unanimous votes to unionize on shows like "Abbott Elementary" and "The Pit." While previous attempts to organize production assistants have failed, LIUNA's resources and strategic approach have brought them closer to success than ever before, Aguilar said. The union is now preparing for contract negotiations with Warner Bros. Television, focusing on addressing the primary concerns of healthcare, wages and working conditions for PAs.
Recent immigration policies have created anxiety among Hollywood workers, particularly in the Latino community. Aguilar expressed disappointment that major studios have remained silent on the issue, given the significant contributions of immigrant workers to the industry. He emphasized the need for studios to support their workforce and called for a more vocal stance from industry leaders. Despite these challenges, Aguilar remains optimistic about the union's ability to secure better working conditions for production assistants and other Hollywood laborers.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about LIUNA Local 724's efforts to improve working conditions in Hollywood.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
