Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1532181
P H OT O : M A R K E D WA R D S 35 S P R I N G Q 1 I S S U E F E A T U R E At the conclusion of those negotiations, I made a decision that I wanted to go work for a union. I was very young, and I didn't know anything. I'd been a shop steward, and I believed in the cause — power to the people, all that kind of stuff — and I started taking labor courses at night." But soon, Repola was representing the bargaining unit during negotiations and fell in love with the process, the meaning behind it, and the experience. She took a position as Assistant Business Agent with her union. ALL IN THE FAMILY When she saw an advertisement in the trades for a job with the Editors Guild in 1992, Repola seized the opportunity, and after interviewing with her predecessor, Ron Kutak, at what was then Local 776, s h e w a s h i r e d a s a s s i s t a n t e x e c u t i v e director. Over the years, his advice, expe- rience, and knowledge proved invaluable. K u t a k o v e r s a w t h e m e r g e r o f t h e East and West Coast Editors Guilds and expanded the postproduction union com- munity nationwide, which led to the Editors Guild becoming Local 700, a national union, in 1998. As the Guild's membership continued to grow, a particularly rewarding personal moment took place for Repola in 2010 when Local 683, the union her father had worked for decades earlier, was facing challenges as motion pictures and television shows started to be shot with digital cameras instead of film.