Seniority Dispute Arises as Barrier to Teamsters’ Pact

Snags developed Monday in attempts to resolve a 3-week-old strike by Teamster drivers and two other unions against Hollywood movie and television producers.

Sources close to the unions said members of the Teamsters negotiating committee objected to terms dealing with seniority included in a proposed settlement reached over the weekend.

One striking driver said that if the drivers are asked to accept a contract where their seniority protections would be eroded, “there will be a riot.”

Delay in Meeting

Originally, Earl Bush, president of Teamsters Local 399, which represents 2,100 studio drivers, planned to have a membership meeting to vote on a new contract later this week. But sources said late Monday that the meeting had been called off and that further talks would be necessary.

“Are you familiar with the term ‘false start’?” one union official asked. “That’s what applies to today’s events.” Bush did not return several calls seeking comment.

Another Teamster source said it is possible that there would be a mail ballot rather than a voice vote at a meeting. The source, who like several others spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a mail ballot probably would produce a higher vote of members sympathetic to the terms of the contract.

Several sources said the contract called for most of the drivers to get raises of 45 cents an hour in each of the next three years. The typical driver’s wage is now $16.61 an hour. In return, however, the Teamsters agreed to concessions on overtime pay rates, the sources said. Now, all work on weekends is paid overtime.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has demanded that the unions agree that workers be paid straight time for any work done in a five-day period, meaning, for example, that if an employee worked Wednesday through Sunday the work would be paid at a regular rate. Studio officials have said they need this change in order to secure a more competitive position with non-union film companies operating here and in other states.

Weekend Pay

Hollywood union sources also said Monday that officials of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 40, which represents fewer than 100 strikers, objected to comparable changes in weekend pay rates. Sources also said some members of Laborers Union Local 724 were unhappy about the union agreeing to a two-tier wage system that will provide a lower starting rate for workers in its jurisdiction. Calls to both unions were not returned.

Herb Steinberg, spokesman for the producers, said he was not in a position to comment on any problems that had arisen in the tentative settlement, which was hammered out over the weekend at a Florida resort.

“The ball is in the Teamsters’ court,” he said.

Nicholas Counter, president of the Alliance, and negotiators for Universal and Warner Bros. who participated in the Florida talks, were reported to be on the way back to California and unavailable for comment.