Bryan Evans, a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 480, spoke about the organization's settlement with the New Mexico film industry.
A new labor contract was recently made in favor of union members, after a strike occurred at the end of 2021, according to KOB 4.
"I mean, it was a difficult moment – it was a difficult moment for our members, you know," Evans said. "We ultimately settled on a contract that had fairly good across-the-board increases. We also settled on a contract that had caps on how much you could work in the evenings and the weekends."
Evans said there are guarantees that certain safety measures are followed when you are a member of a union on a film or TV set, KOB 4 reported. As part of these measures, the union improved turnaround times after workers spend 12 to 14 hours working in one day.
"Having that in the contract – it's going to save lives; it really is," Evans said. "The number-one hazard for a studio mechanic is falling asleep at the wheel when you're driving a car. We've had multiple members – before this contract – get into car accidents commuting home after a long production day."
IATSE Local 480 created a new position to monitor everyone on set after a death on the non-union set for the movie "Rust."
"That's one thing that we've done as a union – to make sure that there's qualified people on the sets," Evans said. "The other thing that we've done is we've partnered with one of our armors [sic] and we've started to provide a gun safety class in terms of set safety."