Wavemist Certified

Wavemist Certified: Labor & Bidding

How union labor, classifications, dispatch, CBAs, the bid anatomy, incentives, and settlement actually work — the business of getting a show built and paid for.

What this track covers

1. 01

   IATSE, Unions & Labor

   • ·Explain how IATSE's federation-of-locals structure means a producer hires from a specific local holding jurisdiction over a venue's geography and craft, not from 'IATSE' as a whole
   • ·Identify the components of a union labor rate stack (ST/OT/DT, fringes, premiums, minimums, meal penalty, turnaround) and why omitting fringes under-prices a bid
   • ·Describe how a fair hiring hall fills calls by defensible out-of-work order, and what fairness record wins a grievance
   • ·Map the other unions in the room (AEA, Teamsters, AFM, the above-the-line guilds) and why jurisdiction determines who can be hired and at what cost
2. 02

   Production Management & Bidding

   • ·Understand what it means to advance a show and why the production book is the single source of truth that predicts a smooth show
   • ·Break a production bid into its structured parts (labor, gear, expendables, trucking, travel, markup, contingency) and know why each gear line must be defensible against a market range
   • ·Distinguish the discipline of change orders, settlement, and variance capture, and how each protects margin or sharpens the next bid
   • ·Separate the three roles (PM, TD, producer) by what each one owns
3. 03

   Incentives, Permits & Tax

   • ·Distinguish the forms a production incentive can take (refundable vs transferable vs non-refundable tax credit, cash rebate, exemptions, uplifts) and know which mechanic determines how a producer actually monetizes it
   • ·Identify the diligence questions that drive an incentive's real value: qualified-spend definition, caps, minimum-spend threshold, application timing, and legislative/sunset risk
   • ·Match a production activity (pyro, drone, street closure, temporary structure) to the governing body and permit it requires, and the pattern for pulling permits on the advance
   • ·Recognize production-company tax mechanisms (deductions, bonus depreciation/Section 179, Section 181 expensing) as frameworks that always defer to current code and a CPA — never a quoted rate
4. 04

   Industry Map & Business

   • ·Classify any vendor into the correct value-chain category so a bid, sourcing decision, or relationship can be reasoned about
   • ·Read market structure — consolidation, vertical integration, the regional fabric, and the ownership graph — as the frame for competitive intelligence
   • ·Apply the module's forecasting frameworks (sell-through, gross potential, ROI, 'will this show work?') using inputs rather than fabricating numbers
   • ·Know what structured facts to capture from every document so the relationship graph compounds into the moat
5. 05

   Teamsters 2785: Convention & Trade Show

   • ·Identify what work falls inside Teamsters Local 2785's jurisdiction on a convention/trade-show call versus what belongs to IATSE stagehands
   • ·Explain the Local 2785 dispatch sequence — employer name-request, then Business Agent filling the balance in seniority order off the out-of-work list, plus the referral slip
   • ·Draw the dock-vs-show-floor jurisdiction line between Local 2785 and Local 70 (including the dead-vehicle rule) and why getting it right on the call sheet prevents grievances
   • ·Describe the components of a 2785 rate stack and steward's-report workflow in structural terms, without reciting any specific dollar figures that live in the private rate data
6. 06

   Teamsters in Entertainment

   • ·Distinguish Teamster jurisdiction (moving the show — freight, dock, forklift, transport) from IATSE jurisdiction (building/running the show) on a live-event load-in
   • ·Explain the trade-show labor model: the exclusive General Contractor, drayage/material handling, the hand-carry line, EACs, and the exhibitor service manual as source of truth
   • ·Break down what a Teamster CBA rate stack is made of and what triggers each component, without assuming any specific figure
   • ·Describe the Teamster hiring-hall/dispatch conventions (seniority order, capped name-request, referral slip, casual pipeline) and why an auditable order matters

The exam is drawn straight from these modules, with a passing bar and a verifiable credential. It tests the framework and the vocabulary — exact union wages, fringes, and penalties always come from the governing collective bargaining agreement, never a figure memorized for a test.