'Chicago Fire,' 'Chicago Med' P.A.s Ratify First Union Contract
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- LIUNA Local 724 ratified first contracts covering 26 production assistants on 'Chicago Med' and 35 on 'Chicago Fire,' both Universal Television productions, after votes of 14-1 and 24-3, respectively.
- The contract raises minimum pay from $19.93 per hour by 25 cents each year over three years and grants access to the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans, which carry significantly lower premiums than the employer-based coverage P.A.'s previously had.
- Production Assistants United formed during the 2023 writers and actors strikes and allied with LIUNA to push for union protections, formally ending the job's long-held status as a non-union entry-level role.
- The deal includes standard union benefits — paid holidays, meal penalties, and sick leave — plus a 'pathway subcommittee' dedicated to mapping career advancement routes for P.A.'s.
- LIUNA has previously organized P.A.'s on 'Abbott Elementary' and 'The Pitt' and is currently bargaining a contract for 'The Four Seasons,' another Universal Television show based in New York.
- Local 724 business manager Alex Aguilar credited Universal Television as a 'collaborative partner' and said the union's longer-term goal is a multi-employer deal covering P.A.'s industry-wide rather than show-by-show deals.
Why it matters: After decades of non-union precarity, 61 production assistants on two major NBC shows just locked in wage increases, industry pension and health plan access, and career-advancement talks — with LIUNA targeting an industry-wide multi-employer deal rather than continuing to organize one show at a time.
