August 30, 2023
From August 27-30, thousands of union leaders from around the world gathered in Philadelphia, PA for the 6th UNI Global Union World Congress. The goal of the conference was to build a stronger global labor movement and speaking on behalf of the DGA was National Executive Director Russell Hollander. Subsequently, Director of Government Affairs, Sarah Howes, and DGA Consultant, G. Bryan Unger, spoke before the UNI-MEI Executive Committee.
During Hollander’s speech to fellow union members, he reiterated the importance of the work unions do. “20 years ago, former DGA president Michael Apted, addressed delegates of the UNI-MEI conference stating, ‘The freedom to do good work in decent conditions is shared by all our organization.’ Today, that sentiment is more necessary than ever as the global digital revolution is upending longstanding practices in the entertainment industry.” stated Hollander.
He also addressed the gains achieved in our recent BA & FLTTA negotiations, extracting as much as a 76% increase for international residuals for the films and television programs we create.
There was also discussion of the need to stop global digital entertainment conglomerates from establishing a two-tiered system where American Directors receive significantly more pay, benefits, and job protections than their international counterparts for doing the same work. Hollander shared, “No matter where you live and work, you should be paid the same and have the same protections.”
Taking on the need to protect our members from artificial intelligence, Hollander mentioned how our recent negotiations secured a commitment that our jobs cannot be replaced by AI, but warned that this only protects our members working under our agreements with signatory employers and said, “We need to stand together and demand a legislative response here and in the rest of the world that protects all workers.”