On January 17, International President Matthew Loeb, along with Michael Miller (International Vice President and Director of Motion Picture and TV Production), joined the Local 695 membership at our first General Membership Meeting of 2015. President Loeb thanked the Local for the work we’ve done over the past year and installed into office your newly elected Board of Directors. I’m very much humbled by the trust that the membership has bestowed upon me and the rest of the elected Board. The Local’s leadership will keep pushing forward along the path we established during the Trusteeship and continue to look for ways to improve services and representation for the members.
President Loeb informed the membership of the progress Local 695 has made, was impressed with the new direction the Local is heading and confirmed that, going forward, Local 695 has his full support and the support of the International. President Loeb made the comment that “Local 695 is the creative and technical crown jewel of the International.”
After the newly elected Board was installed, we held our 1st Quarter Membership Meeting. I’m glad to report that President Loeb and Vice President Miller remained with us as guests of the Local.
During my report, I took the opportunity to address the current standing of Local 695 in the production community and how, with the help of the membership, we can increase awareness of the skills of our members. Here is an excerpt from my comments.
“We are the problem solvers. We are the people with the technical skills to get the job done. So what I would like to hear when I visit the set is ‘Wow, there’s the engineer Local—full of Hollywood engineers, video engineers, projectionists, maintenance engineers, video engineers on the trucks broadcasting the Emmys, the Oscars … we’re much more than a sound local. We are the production engineers that make it happen! We have the most talented people and we will let Hollywood know—we’re going to let the industry know— who we are.
“Every member is going to be represented by this administration. The Board works for you. And that’s not just a speech, that’s reality. But we need you behind us so, when we go to the negotiating table, they know who we are, they know who you are.
“Get involved. Stay involved. We work for you.”
Scott Bernard
Business Representative