Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1124770
14 CINEMONTAGE / Q2 2019 by A.J. Catoline photos by Scott Sebring W hen members are awake and aware, a union is strong. Solidarity remained on display at the Motion Picture Editors Guild Town Hall Meeting on a Saturday morning in mid- April at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, a block away from the Guild offices on Sunset Boulevard. Nearly 200 members came to hear the "State of the Union" from National Executive Director Cathy Repola, who said, "Our union is more engaged and more enthusiastic than ever before." A PowerPoint presentation entitled "A Membership Awoken" was displayed on the theatre's large screen. The meeting went over the two-hour schedule as members enthusiastically asked questions and shared comments and ideas on a variety of issues. MPI PENSION & HEALTH PLANS At the outset, Repola confronted concerns about the Motion Picture Industry (MPI) Pension Plan. The annual report mailed to participants by MPI disclosed that the pension funding percentage has ticked down to 66.8 percent — a drop of more than half a point from the prior year. "This is cause for justifiable concern," she stressed, "and something on which we need to continue to stay diligently focused." She assured members the plan is certified to be in the "Green Zone," the legal threshold under federal guidelines in which the MPI actuary projects where the plan will be in five years, with above 80 percent funding. However, Repola presented this MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH A Saturday of Solidarity Guild Holds Town Hall for a Membership Awoken Members were woke at the Editors Guild Town Hall as they listened to National Executive Director Cathy Repola. President Alan Heim and National Executive Director Cathy Repola.