Ian Fritz, business agent for IATSE Local 415 in Tucson, Ariz., Amanda Sager, international representative for International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE), and Victor Bostick, a three-year Loft Cinema employee and shop steward, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the ratification of first contracts at two Tucson workplaces.
Twenty workers at the Arizona Theatre Company ratified a contract with the Live Theatre Group, while three days earlier, employees at the Loft Cinema voted unanimously to finalize a three-year contract with the Art House Film Hub. Fritz said bargaining has been underway for over a year since the organizing wins were first discussed on the podcast. He credited the Loft Cinema unit for demonstrating an unusually high level of solidarity throughout the process. The contracts deliver meaningful wage increases — projectionists at the Loft moved from $15.50 to approximately $20 per hour — and were built around the specific conditions and economic realities of nonprofit arts organizations rather than corporate entertainment standards.
Sager said the international responded to the Locals’ organizing requests with a “yes-and” approach, because contracts in the arts and entertainment nonprofit space are never cut-and-paste. Fritz said the wins are sending a signal to other unrepresented workers at venues across Tucson, including AMC Cinemas and the Fox Theatre, that union organizing is an available path to a dignified life.
- Twenty workers at Arizona Theatre Company ratified a contract with the Live Theatre Group, and Loft Cinema employees voted unanimously three days earlier to ratify a three-year contract with the Art House Film Hub. Bargaining followed an organizing win reported on this podcast approximately one year ago. Projectionists at the Loft moved from $15.50 to approximately $20 per hour, a priority the bargaining committee set deliberately because lower-paid workers were most in need of relief. The contracts are three-year agreements.
- The Loft Cinema unit demonstrated exceptional solidarity throughout the bargaining process. They maintained a group chat so all members were informed of conversations as they happened. They also welcomed new hires, bringing bargaining unit members to the table so they could hear management's positions directly. Fritz said management's recognition that all workers were participating in the process — rather than being represented by a third party — was a significant factor in the outcome.
- Amanda Sager described IATSE International's approach to nonprofit organizing as building contracts around specific situations, venues and the people involved, rather than applying corporate entertainment standards. She and Fritz acknowledged that the nonprofit argument is a standard management counter at the bargaining table, but said the antidote is a contract that reflects the venue's actual economics. Fritz said the wins in Tucson are already generating inquiries from other entertainment workers in the area, and plans are underway for a labor night at the Loft to bring the union community out to support union-contracted businesses.
A Year in the Making
When Ian Fritz last appeared on the AWF podcast about a year ago, he was discussing organizing wins at the Loft Cinema and Arizona Theatre Company. This time, he discussed the year of bargaining that produced ratified first contracts at both workplaces.
Twenty workers at the Arizona Theatre Company ratified a contract with the Live Theatre Group. Three days later, employees at the Loft Cinema voted unanimously to finalize a three-year agreement with the Art House Film Hub. Both outcomes are the product of a lengthy process that Fritz described as finally bearing fruit.
Amanda Sager, an international representative for IATSE, was assigned to Tucson to assist with both organizing drives and bargaining. She described the International’s approach as a “yes-and” response to requests from affiliate locals for help with organizing and bargaining, with support extending to legal assistance when needed.
The Loft Cinema: Solidarity as the Model
Fritz described the Loft Cinema unit as a model for worker solidarity. From the beginning, the workers maintained a group chat that kept every member informed. New hires were welcomed immediately into the communication network and briefed on what the union was trying to achieve. Bargaining unit members were invited to witness management's positions.
That last element, Fritz said, makes a difference. When workers hear management explain directly why it cannot give what the employees are asking for, it changes the dynamic. And when management looks across the table and sees the entire bargaining unit participating, they realize these are our coworkers.
Victor Bostick, who has worked at the Loft Cinema for three years and was part of the original organizing effort, credited IATSE with guiding the group through a process none of them had navigated before. He described the tension of sitting across the table from management while trying to convey that the organizing effort was not adversarial. The workers want the business to succeed and believe that a successful business should mean its workers share in that success, he said.
What the Contracts Deliver
The wage increases at the Loft Cinema were a clear priority going into bargaining, particularly for the lowest-paid members of the unit. Projectionists moved from $15.50 per hour to approximately $20 per hour. Bostick said the increase was his most significant personal win because those workers were struggling the most with Tucson's cost of living.
Both contracts are three-year agreements. Beyond wages, the process produced better benefits and, as Bostick described it, a better mutual understanding of what the staff actually goes through day to day. The renovation of the Loft Cinema during this period added a layer of complexity to the bargaining that included new management, new equipment, larger spaces and a business in transition. Coming out the other side with the contract in place has been worth it, Bostick said.
The Nonprofit Question
The nonprofit status of both the Loft Cinema and Arizona Theatre Company was raised at the bargaining table, as it is at virtually every such negotiation in the live entertainment and arts sectors, Sager said.
The nonprofit argument is neither new nor exclusive to Tucson, she said. The overwhelming majority of the venues IATSE Local 415 and the International work with in theatrical entertainment are nonprofit organizations. Ballet companies, opera companies and regional theater companies are often nonprofits.
Her response is the same in every case. The contracts IATSE negotiates are built around the specific conditions of the venue and the economic realities of the organization, not imported from a Broadway standard or a corporate multiplex template, she said. The goal is not to strain the employer to the breaking point. It is to ensure that workers share appropriately in the success of the organization they are building every day. Getting that right requires a custom approach, and Sager said neither she nor Fritz is in the business of proposing cut-and-paste contracts.
What Comes Next in Tucson
Fritz has been in his current role with IATSE Local 415 for more than six years and has been an IATSE member for 18 years. He is seeing more inquiries from entertainment workers across Tucson than ever before. Workers at AMC Cinemas, the Fox Theatre and other venues without union representation are noticing what happened at the Loft and at ATC and asking what they can do.
The answer is the same as it has always been: come together with your coworkers, organize and demand better.
The Local is also acting on the responsibility that comes with winning a contract. Plans are underway for a “labor night” at the Loft Cinema to bring union supporters out to patronize a business with a new union contract. Encouraging union members and their families to support businesses that pay union wages and provide union benefits is how the movement reinforces itself, Fritz said.
More information on IATSE Local 415 is available at iatse415.org. More information on IATSE’s International work is available at iatse.net.
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