I am a hyphenate driver. I got into 399 as a production van driver and was also driving commercials as a hyphenate before 399 was a part of them. When 399 came to commercials to turn them into union jobs, I as a hyphenate driver supported this. There were no van drivers, gang bosses or stake bed drivers before this in commercials on a regular basis. Hyphenates and production motorhome drivers wanted to be teamsters and paved the way for these jobs to be available for the rest of the 399. Back then, I was making $450.00-$500.00 for 10 hours. We were paid the “good guy rate” with overtime calculated by dividing the rate by ten. That put our rate at $45.00-$50.00 an hour. That was in the late 90’s. That was a very good rate back then. But please understand that the work is hard and you never know when your next job is. It was easier for me work a show and get a steady pay check for half the pay. But I enjoyed working hard and stayed in commercials. In the last seven years, scale has been creeping up to our 10 and 12 hour deals. And now scale is the going rate for 70% to 80% of the jobs I work on. To be a hyphenate, you have to be in two unions. Some of us are in three or four. We pay the dues for each. We do not get extra benefits or receive another pension for it. What the hyphenates are asking for is $10.00 an hour for the hyphenate bump. That may seem like a lot but for production we are saving them money. It cost production about $11.00 an hour for benefits and pension. Then they would have to pay the guy or girl their hourly rate too. At this point in time, I am paid $35.00-$40.00 an hour for being a Teamster and driving the truck in. The hyphenate bump is $3.00 an hour for being an, art, grip, or set lighting technician after the truck is parked. $3.00 an hour. I ask you, my Teamster brothers and sisters, is it fair that all hyphenates Teamsters want or should get $10.00 an hour for the hyphenate bump? We feel that we are worth the $10.00 and the committee and AICP believe we are worth $2.00 and $3.00 an hour to do the IATSE job after we park the truck. There are discussions going around of eliminating the hyphenate position altogether which is debatable considering without them and the motorhome drivers, there would have not been any Local 399 in commercials. We also believe that all Teamsters should not work for less than Class A rate because we are required to have a Class A license to be grouped. That benefits the van, stakebed, 5 ton and 10 ton drivers. We also believe that no group 1 should be treated as a 2nd class citizen and denied the opportunity to gangboss a commercial. The committee is saying we have to give to get. I and the majority of Hyphenates say thats bullshit and are willing to strike commercials to get it. We are asking that we all get what we feel we deserve and stop the arguing among ourselves, the committee and administration and fight for it together. Not get one or two things and give in. Not negotiate with the AICP and to get our demands or strike. The production companies didn’t have the power to keep us out when commercials first turned union and right now we are in a great position to get a fair contract for all the 399 members. There are too many jobs lined up for February and March. Keep in mind this doesnt affect the TV and Feature world at all and maybe it might put some fear in the minds of future negotiations involving the black book contract. I and the majority of Hyphenate 399 drivers are asking the general membership to vote “NO” if the terms are less than $10.00 bump. We are asking the general membership to support 399 Hyphenates in securing this. We are not asking for something we weren’t getting already. Just that it is in the contract and non negotiable.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 03:19:21 +0000
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