Day in and day out, we the men and women of Local 51, go and do the job that we get paid for very well. We need to maintain a certain standard to justify the higher wage and better conditions that we have worked so hard for. When asked to present ourselves in various venues, we should follow the guidelines for appearance and attitude. These days are as much corporate as theatrical and our clientele in both are usually high profile and high maintenance.
It saddens me to hear about valued members who flaunt these reasonable requests and force the steward or Business Agent to sit them down for such meaningless reasons.
We work in business to pick and choose our calls and when we take a call and decide that we need to 'be our ownselves', at the expense of our brothers and sisters, it must be brought to all's attention is this exactly the argument we get from our producers about freezing or lowering our earning capability.
Feel free to express yourself because we work in a creative business, but remember it is a business and that the bottom line is not always what a great job you could do but how you do it and with what kind of attitude.
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4 comments:
I do not understand why people think that our local does not send qualified hard-working well dressed people to the jobsite. Even when abnormal situations arise, the local does it's best to make sure that we always put our "Best Foot Forward." Just the other day I was working for one of our major employers, TUTS, and someone did not show up for the first day of load-in. The steward contacted the local and within an hour the person was replaced. Just because the replacement had a bullet in his leg, and could hardly walk, I think the local showed that we always put our Best Foot (or leg) Forward.
Ah, sweet commentary from the rank and file!
Let the burning of the castle begin! The local has always been a place that qualified sound people land after years of perfecting their craft. There are without exception some very qualified individuals that always had the IATSE card in hand but they are rare. These individuals learned the skills necessary to obtain a position like the one in question by touring not by standing in line waiting for the introduction to noise course offered once a year. It is not possible for a person to learn the skill set required for this type of position from within this local nor should the local be expected to teach any of these skills. The qualified and assertive people who have taken the time to perfect their craft should be welcomed into this local and viewed as assets not line cutters. The job in question had many applicants from all over the country and of those qualified for the position the local contained two qualified people that applied. Get over it and educate yourself prove you can do it by building a resume that reads like the ones submitted and you'll have a chance. Just because you worked next to the CEO at the bank for the last thirty years in no way qualifies you for his or her job. The line your standing in will not guarantee you anything but a ringing phone to fill a void on a call. Positions in audio like the one in question require a diverse and formal education gained through a wide variety of experiences that you can not obtain within the walls of Area 51
Great response, Thank god for this Blog! Normally people would have questionable opinions regarding your union values for making such a valid point. Do you think this is a problem regarding the membership or the office staff?
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