Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/501792
46 CINEMONTAGE / SPRING 2015 46 CINEMONTAGE / SPRING 2015 do any bargaining unit work there, so I recommended not to sign them up as signatory to the contract." It was, he says, a precursor to the digital age. "Now there are little boutique operations all over, doing what used to be done in labs and facilities, without the benefit of a collective bargaining agreement," he says. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE This work also set up his move to the management side when he returned to CFI to become the Vice President of Labor Relations and Human Resources in 1987. "When I was asked to take the assignment, I had concerns about that situation and, in my voicing them, management committed to doing things by the rules, doing things right," Aredas explains. "They stood by that, and we had a good decade there of solid support, being fair to the workers while the company did well." But in another example of an event that has become more common, CFI management changed, and the new CEO had some new ideas. "We all got trained by consultants to have missions, agendas and objectives," he continues. "We would spend time working on these things, including writing up our own tasks. So I made one of my tasks 'how to get rid of the union' — as that was clearly what this new CEO was looking to do. I got and read the textbooks on union-busting, basically to create an impasse, force a vote, and then convince 50 percent plus one of the workers to vote the union out. And when I made that presentation, I made a point of exactly how that wouldn't happen — the workers would have to give up their pensions and benefits, their terms and conditions and so on. And this guy says, 'We can do that.'" Aredas pauses, still wondering how someone could be so out of touch with the values and priorities of the people working for him. His eyes make a subtle dismissive expression, adding, "I made a point to renew as many collective bargaining agreements as possible before I left, because conditions there were not going to get better." Just before the dawn of the new century, Aredas returned to the service of organized labor as CEO of the Industry's Contract Services Administration Trust Fund, and then as the International Representative in Charge of the IATSE West Coast Office, from which he retired in 2006, and then held many board positions with industry-related organizations, including the California Labor Federation, the AFL-CIO Entertainment Industry Development Corporation (EIDC), the Motion Picture and Television Fund, the Entertainment Industry Foundation and the California Film Commission. It has not all been as easy or simple as that first challenge in the machine shop. "When you take an assignment, you have an idea of what you think the job entails, and how you will go about it," Aredas considers. "But it doesn't always work out that way. You have to adjust and find a way." So how did he find that way? Aredas opens his hand in front of him, palm up, and points to his thumb as he numerates, "Keep a smile on your face, especially when it is difficult; give your employer When Local 683 merged with Local 700, the Editors Guild Board of Directors added five new members, representing the Laboratory Film/Video Technicians and Cinetechnicians classification, including Joe Aredas, right, and, from left, Joe Aredas, Jr., Frank Delgado, Jr., Christi Moore and Charles Benci III. Joe Aredas, second from right, is introduced as a Commissioner of Los Angeles World Airports by then- LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, at podium, in 2005. Photo by Gunnar Kullenberg/ fotosearch.com Then Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, right, and Joe Aredas in 2001.