Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469328
THE ARTISAN SUMMER 2022 • 7 creating the 'Return-to-Work Agreement,' further ensuring the safety of our members. I gave everything I had to make sure that we were all protected at work; our members and family members we lost still haunt me, but I know that I made a difference. I addressed the issues of diversity within our Local and our union head on; this was not a subject from which I shied away… I talk- ed to—and listened to—our members, SAG- AFTRA, writers & journalists, and I served on numerous panels where I took the hits for the intolerant stance of our Guild against Black and brown artists, Jews, gays, and women in the last century. While I may not have been able to erase the racism & misogyny, anti- Semitism, homophobia & transphobia of this Local, I know that Polly and I "moved the ball" in this regard—hopefully making it bet- ter for our future members. These are the larger events that I am most proud. I am proud of the 300 contracts that I successfully negotiated—including our recent 2021 Basic Agreement, the most lucrative in the IATSE's 129-year history; increased daily and weekend turnaround, ensured meal breaks, and MLK Day. wage parity—a first on the Low Budget Theatrical (Feature Film) Agreement. Also, the smaller efforts: the daily fight for our members; representing you in the workplace; getting wages and benefits paid, working conditions improved, listening to you when you were down, or hurt, or in need. I know that I was there for you: days, nights, weekends, and holidays. Each one of you. Now, it is time for all of us to support our new Business Representative, Karen Westerfield. Please give her the backing and encouragement she will need to do this job, as this position is unlike any other. Wish her luck—as I am. Please remember what I have told you all for nearly two decades: It all starts with you. You are the union. Please enjoy your issue of The Artisan. Sincerely—and in solidarity, Randy Sayer Valued Sisters, Brothers and kin, It has been my great privilege and honor to serve the entire membership of IATSE Local 706 for more than 18 years, first on the Welfare Committee, then a 15-year seat on our Executive Board, then accepting the position of Assistant to the Business Representative at Tommy Cole's request in December 2006 because I wanted to "give back" to the Local that has given me so much. I have given back. My 15-plus years as your advocate and Representative was given to our Local's mem- bers, as was my commitment and dedication— and my heart. I am a founding member of the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions (CRLU), which brought together a dozen unions and organizations that represent more than 20,000 employees/ cast members at the Disneyland Resort. The CRLU has worked for six-plus years to increase the pay and condi- tions for our members—raising our own Theme Park members' wages up 50 percent in one very successful negotiation in 2019, and we have helped all cast members achieve higher pay and better con- tracts. We conducted the largest poll of Disneyland employees ever attempted, chronicled our findings in Working for the Mouse— published and released by the Economic Roundtable/Occidental College, got the Resort Living Wage Measure L on Anaheim's ballot (and passed!) and were honored by Sen. Bernie Sanders' presence in person at a huge rally to applaud and laud our efforts— which has now allowed a class-action suit to go forward. I am grate- ful to know that the CRLU will go on long after I cannot… When the global pandemic hit, I was already working with the Industry Wide Labor Management Safety Committee; we cre- ated the 'White Paper' that was sent to Governors Newsom and Cuomo. I formed our Local 706 COVID Safety Task Force choos- ing the 'best & brightest' from within our own Local to research and write the protocols and procedures to keep our members safe in the workplace. Thanks to the work of Howard Berger, Kate Biscoe, Polly Lucke, Todd McIntosh, Stacey Morris and Justin Raleigh, our recommendations were a huge success! This document has been shared with IATSE locals across the United States and Canada, and "our" policies have protected make-up artists and hair stylists from coast to coast using one set of protocols. I served on International President Matthew Loeb's Special Sub-Committee, I gave everything I had to make sure that we were all protected at work. " " LOCAL PERSPECTIVE R S Business Representative Emeritus, I.A.T.S.E. Local 706