A victory for 12on12off, crew members, and all those who have been fighting to have the industry-wide health and safety issue of chronic long hours officially acknowledged --- the Long Hours Resolution was adopted by the 67th Quadrennial IATSE Convention, the 805 delegates in attendance passed the resolution unanimously.
 
I am posting the resolution in full below for those who have not read it. Officially adopting this resolution will do little on its own to combat the scheduling of 14 and 15 hour days routinely working all Friday night into Saturday, week after week on movies and episodic TV shows, but it does give a big boost to the movement as we publicize the significant adoption of this resolution at the I.A. Convention.
 
 
LONG HOURS RESOLUTION
 
WHEREAS, there exists indisputable evidence from scientific, medical and
empirical studies linking sleep deprivation and fatigue to critical safety
and health hazards,
 
WHEREAS, workers continue to work excessive hours,
 
WHEREAS, an AFL-CIO report on the state of safety and health protections for
America's workers entitled "Death On The Job: The Toll Of Neglect" states
that "Long hours of work and the way work is organized are emerging as major
health and safety issues affecting workers across many industries and
occupations."
 
WHEREAS, the IATSE has acknowledged the safety, health, and well-being of
our members to be of the greatest concern,
 
WHEREAS, overtime was created as a deterrent to excessive hours, not merely
as a supplement to income,
 
WHEREAS, this is a critical issue of health, safety and life that despite
efforts has yet to be treated in a substantive way,
 
WHEREAS, our health and safety should be beyond compromise.
 
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the IATSE continue to communicate these
concerns to labor-management safety committees and make efforts to increase
awareness that long hours of work cause injuries, illnesses and
deterioration in job performance, as part of the IATSE Entertainment and
Exhibition Industries Training Trust and CSATF Safety Pass Programs, and
 
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that efforts be made to require all
signatory companies to recognize fatigue as a health and safety hazard in
their safety guidelines.

Our Union Health and Safety resolution says:

“there exists indisputable evidence from scientific, medical and empirical studies linking sleep deprivation and fatigue to critical safety and health hazards.”

This truth is not denied by anybody who works excessive hours making entertainment, and that includes producers and directors that are obliged to supervise our employment conditions.

Even OSHA, a government-chartered organization, “is well aware of the hazards of long work hours and extended workshifts.  OSHA has  publicly acknowledged that fatigue is a risk factor for occupational injuries and illnesses.” So why do we continue doing something which seriously impinges on our health and safety?

Strangely, the answer can be found in a far away Russian city on the slopes of the Ural mountains.  The NY Times headline reads: “Russian City Named for Asbestos Can’t Give up it’s Carcinogenic Livelihood.”

Workers develop asbestosis, a respiratory illness caused by breathing in asbestos fibers which scar lung tissue.  Asbestos exposure also causes cancer.  The town of Asbestos “is one of the more extreme examples of the environmental cost of modern Russia’s deep reliance on mining.”

A former employee says, “Every normal person is trying to get out of here.”  “Gasping for air,” he asks, “If we didn’t have the factory, how would we live?”

It may be less apparently dramatic than the Russians with asbestos, but we also make a Faustian bargain with the multinational corporations who call the tune in the profitable enterprise known as entertainment.  In either case, it is strikingly clear that corporate greed has tipped the scales against human priorities.

In our case, those organizations chartered to protect us — like OSHA, like the SEC, the FDA and the CDC — all seem to be rendered impotent by compromised politicians of both parties.  The longer we remain quiet about this Faustian deal, the more we are obliged to accept it as a natural phenomenon.