Monday, April 24, 2017

No Strike - No Lockout: What Does It Mean?


The Union agrees during the existence of this Agreement, unless the Producer fails to comply with an arbitration award, not to strike against, picket or boycott the Producer for any reason whatsoever, and to order its members to perform their obligations to the Producer hereunder and to use its best efforts to get the employees to perform such obligations.
Article 21J, TAG-Local 839 Master Agreement, (page 104)


No Strike, No Lockout is a common clause in labor agreements. Local 839 has one in every agreement - but we're certainly not alone in this. 




Here are some other entertainment labor agreements with a no strike, no lockout clause:


No strike, no lockout essentially means that Producers and Labor both agree that for a specific time, ( the term of the contract ) work will continue without interruption. Once the term expires, though, the clause expires as well.

For the WGA, their current term began May 2, 2014 and will conclude after May 1, 2017.

For Local 839, our current term began August 2, 2015, and will conclude after July 31, 2018.

This term is important - we put it on the cover of our contract, like the WGA did.

The WGA's term ends before ours, and as of this writing their leaders have asked members for a strike authorization vote. According to the WGA, 67.5% of eligible members voted, with 96.3% voting to authorize a strike. As a negotiating tactic, this is a strong statement by the WGA membership that they support the decisions of their negotiating committee. It is a show of unity during the final week of their talks, before their contract expires next week.

Will there be a work stoppage? No one knows for sure. But for Local 839 members, for Local 839 covered work, our contract will remain in force until its term expires, after July 31st, 2018.

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