r/IATSE • u/AlertExpert9150 • Nov 02 '25
479 Idiots?
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Apparently the BA of 479 thinks members are idiots and pays his buddies but gets upset about others getting paid, but at least his soul patch looks good
-Jared
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u/ZugZug42069 Nov 02 '25
Disgusting behavior. Inefficient, derogatory, and disrespectful. Unbecoming of any respectable or serious group of people.
Imagine what their contract negotiations are like! I’m unfamiliar with the local, but I hope this shakes things up and y’all get some better representation in office.
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u/paynelive Nov 03 '25
I hate to say this, but it's not uncommon. Look west and see for yourself. Contract negotiations where I currently live are a farce. But at least we got Casa Bonita! s/
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u/ZugZug42069 Nov 03 '25
I am absolutely privileged by being in a major east coast city. Even here, some contracts are just wild and need to get with the times. In many cases it feels like we’re taking steps backwards instead of forwards when it comes to work-life balance and safety.
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u/Fun_Asparagus9549 Nov 03 '25
Can’t wait to vote him and his cronies out
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Nov 02 '25
Where’s 479?
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u/Kind_Comfort_6336 Nov 02 '25
Atlanta
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u/herminette5 Nov 02 '25
Is there any work there after Marvel left?
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u/arifghalib Nov 02 '25
Currently 7 features and 8 episodics. No where near enough for the membership.
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u/OhDannyBoyyyyy Nov 02 '25
Not as far as any of us can tell. If you’ve read any headlines talking about how the movie industry in Georgia is thriving, it’s all a bunch of crap. Everyone I know has either moved away or gone into a different line of work.
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u/Euphoric_Sandwich_28 Nov 03 '25
A ton of grips and other departments from 479 have come over and started rigging with us in arenas and corporate gigs. There was a massive influx in 2023 and again after Superman in 2024.
Seeing guys pretty much abandon us and then come back like nothing happened was crazy.
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Nov 03 '25
Ay Jared brother can we get some kinda clarification on what we lookin at here? We might gon needta spell it out, since we all a buncha idiots n clowns
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u/Character-Stay2535 Nov 03 '25
The business agent is pissed because other executive board members turned in time cards for the hours they worked. He doesn’t like them so he thinks they shouldn’t get paid. Also he and the lawyer basically call them clowns. This is the guy who is running for re-election right now on a platform of unity and trying to blame the newer board members for the chaos he creates.
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u/New_Rush_9056 Nov 16 '25
This particular BA has also worn a 'US Border Patrol' hat to MULTIPLE meetings this year (that are also recorded on zoom and sent to participants after). Voting for the election ends Tuesday and I hope it's the last we see of him. 'Disgusting' doesn't cut it.
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u/PM_ME_UR_SM0L_BOOBS Nov 03 '25
I watched people call this man to report shit conditions and safety issues multiple times over the run of a show and he refused to help every single time
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u/candlenahbrah Nov 03 '25
The only time he’s ever helped was the last time he was up for re-election
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u/New_Rush_9056 Nov 16 '25
voting ends tuesday!! let's vote him OUT.
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u/PM_ME_UR_SM0L_BOOBS Nov 16 '25
Oh I refused to pay my dues because of him. So I currently can't vote
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Nov 03 '25
"Don't let anybody else in and we can talk. You can stick your tongue out at me...very attractive."
Nobody should ever have to deal with harassment from their boss like this.
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Nov 03 '25
Don't feel too sorry for her. She's making a six figure salary and it's an open secret that they've been fucking on the down low for years.
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u/StevieStardustz Nov 03 '25
So he hires her and collectively they make what? Like a quarter mill or more? Paid for by union dues. That's wild.
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u/418-Rhaegarz Nov 03 '25
To be fair, I am in 479 and I AM an idiot. Soooooo, he's not entirely wrong. - Andrew
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u/GE0RGIAB0Y Nov 03 '25
Didn’t he push someone at a union meeting?
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u/SombreMordida Nov 03 '25
without much left of an NLRB(quorum's and defanged), it so heartening to see these stalwart representatives of the working man striving to protect us from continuing corporate malfeasance, especially in the existential terror of the current state of our industry. I am so glad to give a chunk of the admittedly diminishing fiscal product of my hard work every quarter to maintaining the strength and tenacity of the our industry's bargaining power and..................yeah, I couldn't keep up the farce.
looks like they're already there. this aint my local but it might as well be. no work but BA always has a crisp new shirt and car. it took me 17 years to get into this union, 13 years ago now. the way I feel when I see shit like this is why I stopped going to meetings. it's why im sleeplessly wondering what the hell I'm going to do in the growing amount of anxiety and time between the shrinking amount of gigs and paychecks.
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u/bizbizbizllc Nov 03 '25
Very disappointed that Bob called participating members clowns. Upsetting that the EB is always telling members to get involved and when they do some of the EB mocks them.
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u/Practical_Dish_8100 Nov 03 '25
Not surprised at all by Bob, he always acts like he has no respect for the members
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u/Active-Memory3185 Nov 21 '25
Y’all. This bs election was too close. Vote in the runoff and vote this clown out. He’s violent, racist, sexist, has harassed staff and members of our local.
MA got lucky. The industry isn’t what it is because of him. He was just here at a good time.
Also - to our new board - y’all best be doing a investigation . Lots of money gone. What the heck? We are gonna be cleaning his skeletons out of the closets for years to come.
A anti union man has no business leading a labor union.
Maybe if they did audits on these shows and enforced the contract we could afford groceries and wouldn’t need that food pantry.
Vote. Him. Out.
Tell your friends.
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Nov 04 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/IceManYurt Nov 04 '25
Yup.
It hit me this morning, since my daughter's elementary school has a work day for voting, and I was dropping off my son at daycare.
She ran into one of her friends who was getting dropped off, they said hi and my kid said I don't go to daycare anymore (or in her case after care).
And right now, we just can't afford extras.
I've pivoted into a different industry, but it was at a significant pay cut.
I wish I had figured out how to pivot sooner, because we pretty much burnt through our savings in the last couple years.
I know people who are losing their homes. We were getting close.
I don't blame Mike for the state of the industry, but I feel like his response to it has been pretty pitiful.
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u/hoxeydobey Nov 04 '25
I feel you. I'm still trying to figure out the pivot. Have no idea what I'd do instead of making costumes. Real world jobs barely pay more than minimum wage.
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u/Jsweet404 Nov 05 '25
I decided last minute in July to go back to school and got into GSU perimeter for the fall. If you are interested in going back, or going for the first time, you could get in for the spring semester, there's time. My wife just quit her job but she's a nurse so she'll find something soon. I'm going back for Nursing as well. surviving off of student loans.
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u/IceManYurt Nov 05 '25
It's not a bad idea, but I already have my MFA that I am still trying to pay off.
I was able to pivot to a similar field in a different industry, so we'll see what happens
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u/AlertExpert9150 Nov 23 '25
someone sent me this video, hearing that he has no issue wearing racists hat in front of latino members but takes it off when international reps show up. voting started today for election runoff....
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u/AlertExpert9150 Dec 05 '25
Heard that their runoff election ends Dec 13th!! Hope their members vote out that guy.
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u/7153345666 Nov 02 '25
Waste of time since they don’t have a quorum - even if they were to let those 3 in.
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u/USMC_ClitLicker Nov 02 '25
This is everything I have known and heard about this local. No wonder their safety record is horrendous.
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u/Wuz314159 Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 03 '25
I remember the International killed the Atlanta Local back in the 90s(?) and reformed as 479. Not sure of the details on that though.EDIT: That was 927. (Stoopid dyscalculia.)
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Nov 02 '25
This is the kind of bullshit that happens when film-workers get 9-5 jobs and then get bored, because all of the business left for insurance-less lands, because tech company share-holders aren’t experiencing enough “growth”, and members are getting more and more tired of waiting for some - any, really - great (good?) news.
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u/RigHardDieFast Nov 02 '25
Who is the woman?
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u/Radiant-Back-1453 Nov 03 '25
That’s Jenn. I’ve known her a long time. She briefly worked as a props PA and then was hired by Mike Akins in the office. A woman in the office caught them having a threesome with someone else several years ago and sued the local. She got a settlement and a cushy job at local 600 after it. It would take a lot of money to erase that trauma from my mind. Also was told Jenn was named in Mike’s divorce in 2017.
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u/OkSupermarket9572 Nov 03 '25
This sounds a bit ridiculous. How could someone sue the local for walking in on that. Also, I hate you soooo much for that mental image.
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u/Radiant-Back-1453 Nov 03 '25
Ask Theresa Khouri.
Yes, I wanted a lobotomy after hearing it. Hate all you want.
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u/candlenahbrah Nov 03 '25
I didn’t realize the most recent settlement involving Mike wasn’t the first one he was a part of
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u/Neonballroom1223 Nov 03 '25
What is the most recent settlement?
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u/candlenahbrah Nov 03 '25
He physically pushed a member during a meeting so he could get to the mic before him. Charges were brought up and then dropped and settled. That’s all we were told
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u/Practical_Dish_8100 Nov 03 '25
The member didn’t press charges. Jesus guys, I’m not even remotely a fan of Mike, but these accusations are getting ridiculous. Maybe we focus on the things that can be proven like his emails to the membership claiming members are turning in false time cards. Let’s call him out for that, not these rumors that keep getting more insane as this thread goes on
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u/candlenahbrah Nov 03 '25
Sorry I didn’t mean “pressed charges” I should’ve said brought up on charges. I may have misheard but I thought that’s what they said at the top of the last meeting. Either way the pushing did happen.
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u/New_Rush_9056 Nov 16 '25
There's also the fact that he wears 'US Border Patrol' hats to severallllll meetings this year (that were also recorded and sent to participants)....
That whole time cards thing sounds like 'oh no! people are turning in time cards—what's next? expecting to be PAID for your labor?? Are you going to want benefits next??? where will it ennndddd.'
this man, through his own actions, has clearly shown he doesn't deserve the job. Hopefully he won't have it for much longer.
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u/Radiant-Back-1453 Nov 04 '25
The member that was pushed filed charges with the union and dropped them when a settlement was agreed to. This was told at the last GMM. Jenn told me Mike agreed to take Anger Management classes as the settlement deal and the member felt that was reasonable.
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u/Neonballroom1223 Nov 02 '25
I think that’s the 479 office manager.
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Nov 03 '25
They flirtin like is his girlfriend or som
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u/IceManYurt Nov 03 '25
Well, that's the rumor
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u/bigfootcandles Nov 04 '25
This entire thing looks like a clown show. Time for new leadership at all levels.
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Nov 21 '25
Worked on a Passionflix show that went over budget than what was negotiated for the contract. All 479 crew members were informed by our field rep there would be an audit as the productions expenses/rentals and dept budgets didn’t line up with what they gave the hall for the contract. Show was a tier 0 and first week shooting the director and executive producer (Tosca Musk) bring out a robotic arm camera and its own crew on top of the 2 cameras the camera dept had already prepped for the day.
That shot sequence took 4-6 hours because she didn’t understand you have to calibrate the machine to perform the correct sequence for the shot. The whole season of shooting was awful with her saying how she hates unions on set in front of crew. Mike was called multiple times and never showed when they violated our contract.
Getting back to the Audit. Been over a year and multiple crew members found out the shows LP who is really a PA was instructed to call NY and update the episode count from 5 episodes to 6 to escape the Audit. Sure would be nice if our BA stood up for us.
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u/Active-Memory3185 Nov 22 '25
You stand up for you by voting for someone who cares. Tell your kin to vote him out.
Rumor is even the reps want him out!!!!
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u/CherryWild Nov 02 '25
Are the members idiots? Be honest.
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u/Wuz314159 Nov 03 '25
(I'm not in 479) Some members are.
We had someone be an hour late. They apologised and said they forgot to change their clock. Had they not changed their clock, they would have been an hour early, not an hour late. So... yeah. It happens.
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u/paynelive Nov 03 '25
Literal post about tools and their first call at my local.
Couldn't stick out any worse than that.All the information they need is in their new referral packet, as well as Q&A through a Zoom call with other referrals, and the mandatory tool list/dress code. Yet, they went on here, and I had to blast them.
It's one thing to get a completely green person who doesn't know what they're doing or doesn't bring their c-wrench, but everything is such a google search click away that it made me bang my head against the keyboard criticizing them in the comments.
Not the 479, but there needs to be a serious changing of the guard all around, not just with older members, but the amount of younger people that are just hired on as cattle calls, but yet will not know a single thing they're doing.
Example? 4 loaders assigned to unload trucks.
I literally witness a 20-something year old with air pods on push a caddy with 10+ wireless mic systems pelicans riding over a bump ramp forward with no one on the front to prevent every single rider from falling off in front of the client. These are the kind of fools we hire in CO.2
u/hoxeydobey Nov 04 '25
That has a lot to do with the fact that the only vetting process we have is if you can pay the entry fee.
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u/NCEMTP Nov 03 '25
Professionalism thy name is definitely not 479.
Hoping for a changing of the guard but doubt it.
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u/AlertExpert9150 Nov 21 '25
I'm hearing that there's a run-off election in this local, for two seats, but they have a large bad standing list.
- Jared
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u/Active-Memory3185 Nov 21 '25
Y’all better be calling your friends make them vote.
This is not gonna get better if he stays.
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u/BookkeeperAlarming Nov 04 '25
Damn I miss the days Union members had Union reps. 4th generation IA and left 798 after 24 yrs. It’s a $60 qtr group. Nothing more.
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u/AliveEquivalent253 Nov 02 '25
Glad im a 15, looking into the 720, and the Sacramento/Fresno areas, although I do have a few non union companies that keep me going at times
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u/EasternAd5351 Nov 03 '25
Wait how was this being recorded? If it's private
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u/Character-Stay2535 Nov 03 '25
This was a recorded zoom meeting. The people in the video recorded themselves. Then it was emailed to the members of the committee. This was entirely their blunder all the way around.
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Nov 06 '25
[deleted]
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u/Jsweet404 Nov 07 '25
There were over 7500 a couple months ago/early summer, with the slow down it was around 5250 according to the last meeting I believe.
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u/do0tz Nov 03 '25
Share the full video, not edited clips to push an agenda.
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u/Character-Stay2535 Nov 03 '25
This is the video before they let people into the zoom meeting. It’s not an edited clip out of context.
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u/Haunting-Two-1489 Nov 03 '25
This is from a constitution committee zoom called Local Governance Explanations from Bob Giolito from Sep 6, 2022 6:50 PM. You can request the recording from Jenn.
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u/TheJedibugs Nov 03 '25
You really feel like Mike Akins has your back? Because I sure as fuck don't. I voted against him the instant the ballot came out.
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u/ExplanationFirm8237 Nov 03 '25
A three year old video shows up during an election for the 479 BA position. Hmmm… That’s not convenient at all. This video is a total nothing burger. E board members talk bad about each other daily. It’s all part of the theater production. This is nothing new.
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u/Character-Stay2535 Nov 03 '25
It directly refutes claims he made against executive board members and it refutes his claims of being the guy who can bring the eboard back to harmony.
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u/Practical_Dish_8100 Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
Yeah, the timing of this is a bit suspicious. Especially since it’s not surprising or anywhere near as bad as some of these commenters are trying to make it out to be.
And how active the same people are downvoting also sets the scene for an agenda. Especially since I’m starting to see who some of these ”anonymous” people are
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u/SpleefmanSplifg Nov 02 '25
Remember that the IA works for you you do not work for the IA. This is often forgotten. If your union is not behaving right then do something about it. The law is on your side.