In an announcement to its members today, Local 727 stated that it has negotiated the best overall deals on behalf of membership with NBC/Universal and Disney/Twentieth Century Fox (respectively) since the Union began representing the movie group over a decade ago.
Long term projects such as those for the One Chicago productions (Chicago Fire, P.D. and Med) and the former long-running series Empire resulted in the Union and the studios agreeing to negotiate deals meant to cover multiple projects (both current and future) over the lives of multi-year agreements.
With the cost of living rising so drastically over the past few years, one of the Union’s biggest priorities during the last independent negotiations with NBC/Universal and Disney/Twentieth Century Fox was to increase the groups’ overall wages and yearly increases. After months of standing firm in negotiations and refusing to back down, the Union was successful in their endeavor.
“Over the past decade, and with the unforeseen burst of productions during the COVID pandemic, Chicago has continued to evolve into a real go-to for film and tv projects,” said John Coli, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 727. “Productions come here for the dependable hard work they know they will get from our members and our members’ wages should reflect that.”
Coli continued, “While these members admittedly made good money before these new agreements were put into place, it’s still important that the wages reflect current industry standards nationwide – namely those in Los Angeles and New York. Local 727 is proud of the representation we provide to these members, and we will continue to do so for decades to come.”
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