Isle movie union
defies mainlandLocal 665 refuses to reinstate
an agent until a grievance trial
is completed
Leaders of the local chapter of an international stage and movie production union will not reinstate their business agent, despite receiving orders to do so from the union's mainland president.
Scott Wong, business agent for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 665, was suspended without pay for 30 days, starting Oct. 10. Mainland representatives were called in to investigate the suspension, based on a grievance by Local 665 President Archie Ahuna.
Earlier this week, the local union's executive board wrote a letter to international President Tom Short in response to the investigation, which cleared Wong.
In the letter, the board said the earliest it would bring Wong back is after a union grievance trial is completed. The trial is scheduled for tomorrow.
But the board did say it would reinstate Wong's salary from the date of his suspension.
"I think it's a bit confusing for me to be suspended with pay," Wong said in a telephone interview last night. "I would rather just be back at work."
The union's 380 members include stagehands, motion picture technicians and other specialists for television shows and movies shot in Hawaii. Recently, its members have worked for the Fox TV show "American Idol," NBC's "Average Joe" and an infomercial starring David Hasselhoff.
Ahuna declined to elaborate on the investigation or the board's response until after Wong's trial.
"We responded and now we're just waiting," he said.
The executive board sent its letter to Short Friday via fax and express mail, and Ahuna said he had hoped to receive a response by the next day.
In the letter, the board told Short that "your directive ... is, we believe, without precedent and any proper authority."
They cited a rule that they say limits Short's "authority to issue any unilateral edicts."
Wong, who was elected in December 2001, has said the grievance that prompted his suspension accused him of intimidating Ahuna. He said the grievance stems from a conversation he had with Ahuna in late September in which he questioned the union president's job performance.
Along with the discussion surrounding Wong's suspension investigation, sources say there is an ongoing dispute in the union on whether IATSE members should also hold cards to the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which has competed for a number of IATSE's Hawaii contracts.
Wong has said he is against his union's members holding IBEW cards. However, Ahuna and other executive board members have supported dual membership.
