Leo T. Reed, Hollywood Soccer’s longest-serving secretary and treasurer, has passed away. He was 83 years old.
Teamsters Local 399, which represents thousands of members of the entertainment industry, said on Monday Reed had died of natural causes. “Leo is a fierce labor advocate who has dedicated his 25-year career to the members of Teamsters Local 399,” current Local secretary and treasurer Steve Dayan said in a statement. Dayan added, “As Teamsters Local 399’s longest-serving Lead Officer, he has grown our Local from near bankruptcy to the gold standard it is today. He prioritized organizing and negotiating strong contracts that would underpin the benefits, wages and working conditions we build to this day. He is smart, strict and most importantly focuses on the perfection of the members.”
Raised in La’ie on the North Shore of Oahu, Reed was the eldest of a large family and was raised largely by his Samoan grandparents. After graduating from Kahuku High School, he attended Colorado State University on a football scholarship: “I wanted to get off the island and the whole community sent me off because in 1958, going to Colorado was like going to the stars. Fire today,” he told the Teamsters Winter Newsletter. Reed turned professional in 1961, joining his former team the Houston Oilers before being transferred to the Denver Broncos, and was one of the first Polynesian players to play professionally.
After leaving football for “personal reasons”, as he told TV channel Teamsters, he joined the Honolulu Police Force and was assigned to the department’s Metro Team before he started. his union career. In 1973, Reed was hired as a supervisory business agent for the Hawaii Association of Government Employees and two years later, joined Team Hawaii (Local 996) before moving to California in 1980 and serving as a local driver. 399. Not long after, he rose to become a local business agent.
By the time Reed became Secretary and Treasurer of the Local in 1988, first appointed by the executive board and a year later elected to the role, he said that the Local had “spent 41 thousand dollars” and he had to temporarily shut down his business. agent to cut costs. During his tenure, he focused on organizing commercials, low-budget productions and cable projects. “The money started coming in and more members started joining,” he recalled in the newsreel. Reed refused to do a “New Media” deal with the studio because he didn’t want to agree to a reduction in salary standards, thus forcing individual “New Media” projects to make one-time deals with Location. direction.
After becoming director of the theatrical and cinematic commercials at Teamsters in 1994, Reed traveled the country to other Locals, pushing Locals towards a standard salary for users. make it less difficult for employers to move work to other jurisdictions to cut costs. Beginning in 1986, he was also director of the Film Industry Health and Pensions Plan, and in 1988 became president of Basic Crafts. After eight three-year terms as secretary and treasurer, Reed lost to Dayan in a 2013 election.
For several years, Local 399 has offered a Reed scholarship fund to graduating seniors with at least one parent who is a member of Local. The Foundation provides financial assistance to select students to attend a four-year college and university as well as a training and vocational program.
Reed is survived by his wife, 5 children, 16 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
