IATSE delegates have re-elected the crew union’s longtime international president Matthew Loeb and a host of other incumbent leaders after they ran unopposed.
Loeb, general secretary-treasurer James B. Wood and 13 international vice presidents were re-appointed at the union’s quadrennial convention in Honolulu on Thursday. Loeb, a former scenic artist and shopperson who worked on Jacob’s Ladder and Malcolm X, was first elected to the top job in 2008 and has retained his seat ever since.
The election means that Loeb will serve another four-year term and, by the end of it, will have helmed IATSE for over two decades. IATSE international presidents, who oversee a nearly 170,000-person union across film and television, theater, concerts, television broadcasts, exhibits and trade shows, do not have term limits.
“I am honored and humbled to continue the work we do together,” the New York-based Loeb said in a statement about his reelection. “Let’s seize this momentum, lock arms and get ready for the fights of the future.”
The election also saw three trustees and a delegate to the Canadian Labour Congress re-appointed.
The re-elected leaders have some fights on their hands. IATSE members are reeling from the effects of Hollywood’s streaming bubble bursting, with one international vp stating earlier this year that some Locals were seeing nearly 50 percent unemployment.
IATSE has been at the forefront of efforts to bring more production work back to the U.S. Their union leaders notched a win with increased funding and changes to the film and television tax incentive program in California, but now they are readying an attempt to persuade members of Congress to pass a federal tax incentive that would layer on to states’ individual tax credit programs. At one point, union advocates pushed to include the tax incentive in President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” but that never came to pass.
During the Honolulu convention, delegates unanimously passed a resolution to advocate for this federal incentive. They also greenlit resolutions to further support the unionization of production accountants, renew investment in efforts to protect against disruption by generative AI and machine learning but also train members in its uses and assist Canadian members during the ongoing trade disputes between the U.S. and Canada. They reaffirmed their support for protecting diversity in the entertainment industry and to advocate for legislation that aims to protect American workers.
According to the union, 982 delegates attended the Honolulu convention, which represented the highest level of turnout to the event in the union’s history.