After a deadlock that came within days of a strike that would have halted operations across the United States, film industry crew workers narrowly decided to approve a pair of contracts with Hollywood producers, according to union leaders.
Delegates from the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees’ 36 local unions voted 56 percent to 44 percent in a voting procedure that resembled the Electoral College in the United States.
However, of the 45,000 members who voted from Friday to Sunday, 50.3 percent said yes and 49.7% said no to the two contracts combined in the popular vote. The larger of the two contracts, which largely covers film and television production on the West Coast, was actually defeated by a razor-thin margin in the popular vote.
The razor-thin margins contrasted with the previous referendum, in which 98 percent of union members favored giving union leaders the ability to declare a strike.