Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1124770
59 Q2 2019 / CINEMONTAGE with striking UCLA workers in March and speaking during their single-day strike, writes Arik Schneider in Campus Reform. The senator stressed the significance of labor unions for just over 10 minutes in front of a crowd of several hundred striking workers, supporters and students at a rally held by the University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America, according to UCLA's The Daily Bruin. IATSE LOCALS ELECT NEW LEADERSHIP Leaders of three Hollywood IATSE locals have not been re-elected, writes David Robb in Deadline Hollywood. Steven Poster, ASC, president of Local 600, the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG), was defeated by digital imaging technician Lewis Rothenberg. In addition, Ed Brown, longtime business agent of Local 44, lost his bid for re-election, while Leslie Simon's contract as business representative for Local 871 was not renewed. Local 44's president Michael Diersing also lost his re-election race. The ICG represents 8,600 members and is the IA's largest West Coast local. Rothenberg pledged to mend fences with Local 700 and revisit areas of common interest. Local 871, which represents more than 2,300 script supervisors, continuity and art department coordinators, accountants and writers' assistants, agitated for a pay equity movement, which seeks to raise the salaries of those employed in Hollywood's historically female crafts. Prop Local 44, with more than 7,000 members, is one of Hollywood's largest IA locals. Its newly elected business agent is Tobey Bayes, a former Local 44 assistant business agent. The local's new president is Dutch Merrick, a member of its executive board. HOLLYWOOD WRITERS FIRE AGENTS At press time, the Writers Guild of America West announced that 7,000 of its 8,800 current members had fired their agents for refusing to sign the WGA's "Code of Conduct." The code prohibits packaging fees and affiliate productions, which generate significant revenue streams not shared with the writers. The WGA sued the four biggest agencies, seeking to halt these fees in court. The guild also sent a letter to its members saying that the WGA itself will reimburse managers and attorneys who have replaced their agents "if the manager or attorney would otherwise go unpaid because of a violation of the California Talent Agencies Act." Writers were asked to fire their agents on April 12, after negotiations with the Association of Talent Agents failed to reach an acceptable agreement. The WGA told its members in late April that it remains "willing to negotiate," but stressed that "this may not happen until the pressure increases." TRUMP LIES SURPASS 10,000 The Washington Post has undertaken a mammoth project to evaluate President Donald Trump's credibility. Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly have kept a running tally of the president's lies since his inauguration. From January 20, 2017 to April 27, 2019, Trump told a whopping 10,111 lies in 828 days. What did he say? The noise from wind turbines causes cancer. The southern border wall is already being built. Mothers, in consultation with their doctors, execute their children. "Bold, deranged lies," writes Bess Levin in Vanity Fair. Trump's pathological lying is only getting worse. After telling a mere 5,000 "misleading statements" during his first 601 days in office, the pace of his lies "has accelerated such that he doubled his bullshit in just a third of the time," adds Levin, telling about 23 lies a day in the seven months beginning in late October. STOP & SHOP, STRIKE & WIN The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, representing 31,000 striking Stop & Shop workers, declared victory on April 21 after it reached a tentative agreement with management to increase wages and preserve employee benefits that were under threat. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), a LABOR MAT TERS