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Good Jobs Provide Good Benefits

Represented stagehands receive benefits through Employer Contributions, typically above and beyond hourly wages.
The IATSE National Benefit Funds are multi-employer, Taft-Hartley trust funds established by the IATSE through collective bargaining with various entertainment industry employers. Generally, funding comes from contributing employers that are engaged in industries such as live theatre, motion picture, television, commercials, music videos, and trade shows and that have Collective Bargaining Agreements with IATSE or an affiliated local union.
The Funds are governed by Boards of Trustees made up of an equal number of representatives of the IATSE (labor) and the employers (management). The IATSE National Benefit Funds include the Pension, Annuity, Health & Welfare, and Vacation Funds. Employees and employers participate in one or more Funds, depending on the terms of their Collective Bargaining Agreement. 

What makes multi-employer benefit funds so appealing is they allow small businesses to make fair contributions to their employees health and welfare without breaking the bank. Many hands make light work. The costs are shared and the risks are pooled. Therefore multi-employer plans typically provide a competitive benefit for the same or better rate when compared to a single employer health plan.

For the employee, who may work for many different employers in a calendar year, the multi-employer plan is the answer for portable healthcare. Employees can move among participating employers without losing coverage.

Stagehands have been at the forefront of the "gig economy" for some time. Having good benefits that address the transient nature of this employment is critical for a healthy life-style.

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