{"id":280961,"date":"2026-04-22T22:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/280961\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:25:07","slug":"iatse-backs-tom-steyer-in-race-for-california-governor-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/280961\/","title":{"rendered":"IATSE Backs Tom Steyer in Race for California Governor (EXCLUSIVE)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe largest crew union in Hollywood has endorsed Tom Steyer<\/a>, the hedge fund founder whose anti-corporate rhetoric has attracted labor backing in the race for California governor.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn making the announcement, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees noted Steyer\u2019s interest in keeping film and TV production in Los Angeles. Steyer has also slammed the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. and proposed a tax on AI computations in order to fund training for displaced workers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTom Steyer is committed to protecting union work, advancing labor standards, and keeping production in California in live events, film and TV,\u201d said Brigitta Romanov, the president of the California IATSE<\/a> Council. \u201cHe recognizes that without immediate action, we risk losing the jobs and infrastructure that power our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSteyer is among the top Democrats running in the June 2 primary, according to polls. He has spent more than $115 million of his own money on TV and radio ads, vastly more than his rivals.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe has also picked up endorsements from the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, and the California Nurses Association. He supports a single-payer health system for California and promised to tax wealthy people and corporations to pay for health care and education.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an interview with Variety last week, he said he wants to expand the state\u2019s tax incentive for film and TV production, though he did not offer a specific proposal.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI look at this tax credit and I see it as an investment where we get more than our money back,\u201d Steyer said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t see this as a cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSteyer also blasted Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav, saying that his $700-$800 million buyout as a result of the Paramount merger is \u201ctruly disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther candidates have also vowed to increase the tax incentive. Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, and Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, promised to eliminate the $750 million cap on the tax credit, though neither said how much that might cost.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the Teamsters union \u2014 including its Hollywood local \u2014 has thrown its support behind former Rep. Katie Porter.<\/p>\n

\n\tIATSE represents about 50,000 motion picture workers in California and 130,000 workers overall in the U.S. Its ranks include grips, prop masters, cinematographers, set dressers, boom operators, sound mixers, hair and makeup workers, costumers and others.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI look forward to safeguarding the entertainment industry and ensuring production not only stays in California but thrives with substantial tax credits and a commitment to unionized labor \u2014 and I\u2019ll never be a rubber stamp for the AI industry,\u201d Steyer said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m honored to have IATSE\u2019s support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIATSE has led the way in pushing for a federal subsidy for film and TV production, which it argues is needed to put Hollywood on a level playing field with foreign competitors like London and Toronto.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Entertainment Union Coalition, a group of Hollywood labor groups, has met with nine candidates for governor, including three who have since dropped out. Rebecca Rhine, the president of the coalition, said that all of them, including Republican Steve Hilton, were generally receptive to the group\u2019s point of view. The coalition does not make endorsements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The largest crew union in Hollywood has endorsed Tom Steyer, the hedge fund founder whose anti-corporate rhetoric has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,120884,25299],"class_list":{"0":"post-280961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-iatse","12":"tag-tom-steyer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}