Susan Ham

MPEG negotiates new collective bargaining agreements (union contracts) and enforces existing agreements with employers involved in post-production. We provide assistance for securing better conditions, including but not limited to financial (better pay), medical (better health insurance), safety (turnaround time) and artistic concerns (assignment of credit). As Local 700 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), an international union over 100 years old, we are allied with some 375 affiliated locals in the United States and Canada. This strength increases our collective power at the bargaining table and results in better contracts with superior benefits. When you join the Motion Picture Editors Guild, you are also becoming a part of a larger entity, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Pictures Technicians and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE). You are joining an organization that is over 140,000 members strong! The primary job of the IATSE (www.iatse-intl.org) is to negotiate the contracts under which we all work and to protect our safety and well-being from employer exploitation. The Union also provides a means of receiving pensions and continuous healthcare, despite working for a variety of employers. This is a rarity in a freelance industry such as ours, and we are fortunate to have well-funded pension and health plans which have among the best benefits to be found anywhere in the country. While corporation health and pension plans are rapidly disappearing, the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans and the IATSE National Benefit Funds remain solvent and strong due to the diligent commitment of the IATSE and its Locals.