Chuck Parker Re-Elected To Art Directors Guild’s Top Post

deadline.com:

Chuck Parker has been re-elected national executive director of the Art Directors Guild, IATSE Local 800. Three years ago, he ran unopposed, but this year four challengers were on the ballot.

With 391 votes, Parker handily defeated former guild president Thomas Walsh, who received 171 votes; former guild president Mimi Gramatky, who got 114 votes; Susan Largent, a member of the guild for more than 20 years, who received 91 votes, and Marcia Hinds, a former member of the guild’s executive board, who received 39 votes.In a surprise upset, Joel Cohen, the guild’s field rep for the past five years, defeated Parker’s ally, who goes by the name dooner, in his bid to be re-elected associate national executive director.

In that race, Cohen received 421 votes to dooner’s 388.The Art Directors Guild is unusual in that it’s the only Hollywood guild with national jurisdiction that elects its top executive officer – the result of a 2016 Department of Labor ruling that found that its national executive director is an “officer” and not an “employee,” thus requiring an election by the members.

That’s how Parker first got elected to the post in 2016, defeating longtime incumbent Scott Roth, who had never before stood for election but was appointed by the executive board for 18 years.In his campaign statement, Parker said he was running on his record over the past six years, and on his support for IATSE’s past two film and TV contacts, including last year’s narrowly ratified pact that was approved by two-thirds of the guild’s voting members.“In both of those negotiations, we were able to significantly increase contribution levels into our benefit plans,” Parker wrote. “It was those increases achieved during the 2018 negotiations that