fellowship & service award

The Editors Guild held its annual installation dinner on Saturday, January 10, where it presented IATSE International President Emeritus Thomas C. Short with its Fellowship and Service Award. The Guild's Executive Director, Ronald G. Kutak, presented the award to Short. The Guild also acknowledged its outgoing and incoming board members, and recognized two of its staff for 20 years of service. The annual banquet was held at the Loews Santa Monica.

Thomas C. Short, right, International President Emeritus of IATSE, is presented the Motion Picture Editors Guild Fellowship and Service Award by Editors Guild Executive Director Ronald G. Kutak at Loews Santa Monica January 10, 2009.  Photo by Wm. Stetz

Hollywood, CA — November 18, 2008 –– The Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG) has selected Thomas C. Short, International President Emeritus of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), to be the recipient of the Guild’s Fellowship and Service Award for 2009. The Fellowship and Service Award was established by the MPEG to recognize an individual who has demonstrated professionalism, collaboration, mentorship, generosity of spirit and a commitment to the labor movement. The distinguished honor will be presented to Mr. Short at the MPEG annual Board of Directors Installation Dinner on January 10, 2009 at Loews in Santa Monica.

“Tom Short has dedicated his career to the labor movement with integrity and exemplary leadership. He serves as a positive example to everyone in the entertainment industry and beyond,” said MPEG President, Lisa Churgin, ACE. “Tom embodies everything that the MPEG Fellowship and Service Award represents and I am delighted that he will be this year’s recipient.”

Thomas C. Short has been a member of IATSE since January 1968. He was a Charter Member of Special Department Local no. B-27 founded in 1977 and was elected to serve as Local 27’s President in 1978. In 1988, Mr. Short was appointed as IATSE’s Eleventh International Vice President, a post he held until 1993 when he was elected to be the General Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. In December 1994, Mr. Short was elected to the position of International President. While under his leadership, the Union grew from 65,000 to over 110,000 members; and was restructured to include five Divisions - Stage Craft, Motion Picture and Television Production, Organizing, Trade Show & Display Work, and Canadian Affairs. Mr. Short retired as President in 2008.  

THOMAS C. SHORT
International President Emeritus
Biography

Photo Courtesy of IATSE

International President Emeritus Thomas C. Short has been a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories, and Canada, AFL-CIO, CLC since January 9, 1968 when he was initiated into Stagehands Local No. 27, Cleveland, Ohio.

President Emeritus Short is also a Charter Member of Special Department Local No. B-27, founded in 1977, as well as having served as its Business Agent. He was elected to serve on the Executive Boards of Stage Local 27 and Studio Mechanics Local 209 of the State of Ohio in 1971, and in 1978 was elected to serve as Local 27's President.

At the 59th Biennial Convention of the IATSE held in August of 1988, Short was elected to the position of Eleventh International Vice President. He held that office until February of 1993 when the General Executive Board unanimously elected him to fill the vacated position of General Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance.

In July of 1993, at the International’s Centennial Convention in New York City, Short was elected to a full two-year term by the delegates to that Convention continuing his tenure as General Secretary-Treasurer of the International.

On December 16, 1994, Mr. Short was elected to the position of International President when the late President Alfred W. Di Tolla resigned. He was re-elected to his first, full three-year term as International President at the 62nd Convention of the International Alliance held in Miami Beach, Florida in 1995. Short was re-elected, unopposed, to his fourth term by the delegates to the International’s 65th Quadrennial Convention held in Honolulu, Hawaii in July 2005.

Under his leadership, the Union has been restructured to include five Divisions - Stage Craft, Motion Picture and Television Production, Organizing, Trade Show & Display Work, and Canadian Affairs - and during his aggressive approach to organizing the IATSE has realized tremendous growth in membership with an increase from 65,000 to over 110,000, and the successful negotiations of over 1,500 national term agreements with industry employers.

During his tenure in office Short conveyed the understanding of the benefits to political and legislative involvement. Under his leadership, the IATSE Political Action Committee was established and the IATSE has participated in the political and legislative processes in campaigning for candidates and legislation to benefit IATSE members, the labor community and working families.

President Short was elected to serve as a Vice President on the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO. He was elected to that post at the 2005 AFL-CIO Convention held in Chicago the week of July 25th. This is the first time in 31 years that the IATSE has held a seat on the Council.

He served as a Co-Chairman of the IATSE National Benefit Funds, and until recently retiring his post he also served as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans. He was also a member of the Board of Directors on both the Motion Picture & Television Fund, and The Actor’s Fund from which in 2004 he received The Actor’s Fund’s Medal of Honor for his dedication and outstanding leadership throughout the entertainment industry and in the community. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Richard F. Walsh/Alfred W. Di Tolla/Harold P. Spivak Foundation which sponsors a number of annual academic scholarships to benefit the children of IATSE members.

In December 2000, President Emeritus Short was honored by the Directors Guild of America with the DGA Honors Award recognizing his distinguished contribution to American culture.

Along with fellow recipients Jeffrey Katzenberg and August Busch IV, President Emeritus Short received the Lew Wasserman Spirit of Democracy Award presented by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor at its Voter Improvement Program Awards dinner in 2003.

Short was also honored as one of the 2004 recipients of the Heart to Heart Award presented by Encore Community Services, a non profit organization in New York City whose mission includes bringing dignity and independence to the elderly of the community.

In October 2007 President Emeritus Short was honored by the Motion Picture & Television Fund at an event held in Los Angeles, with its “Silver Medallion Award” which is presented to individuals whose contributions to the Fund have resulted in improvements to the benefits received by its participants. Short served as a member of the MPTF Board of Directors.

On July 31, 2008, Short announced his retirement as International President to the General Executive Board at the San Diego Board meeting held the week of July 28.