About IATSE Local 118  

With a legacy spanning over 120 years, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) is the cornerstone of the entertainment industry. A leading labor union, IATSE champions the rights of skilled professionals across North America. At the heart of this network is IATSE Local 118. This Vancouver-based branch plays a key role in providing skilled crews for stage productions, events, and performances across the region. 

The Challenge: Complicated Communication Systems and Tight Timeframes 

Much of IATSE 118’s work is time-sensitive. Job offers can often demand a response in as little as 30 minutes. A missed message or delayed reply isn’t just inconvenient: it can cost a worker the job and leave the union scrambling to fill the role. On top of that, during peak times, the Dispatch team can manage upwards of 40,000 SMS messages a month. That kind of volume demands dependable, real-time communication at scale. 

To streamline dispatching, the union had adopted Microsoft Teams and integrated SMS through a third-party provider. But the solution quickly became cumbersome. Its features were overly complex and didn’t align with the speed or simplicity the team needed. Email didn’t help either. It was ‘messy and slow’, Salazar says. Replies were often buried in separate emails and that made follow-ups difficult and easy to miss.  

It was clear the tools they were using weren’t built for the high-speed, high-volume demands of dispatching.  

The Solution: YakChat SMS in Microsoft Teams 

Quote: ‘YakChat really is so much better than what we had before.’ 

For IATSE 118, SMS remained the most effective way to connect with members, being simple, direct, and quick to respond. YakChat SMS for Microsoft Teams offered the perfect solution. Deep integration with Teams, intuitive design, and powerful features that cut through the clutter and delay of other channels.  

‘SMS just makes it easier to reach more people quickly, and lets our members respond faster without effort.’ Says Salazar 

For Salazar and her team, YakChat brought the speed and clarity they were missing—helping them dispatch messages at scale, reach workers instantly, and keep everyone aligned.  

‘YakChat,’ she declares, ‘really is so much better than what we had before.’  

How YakChat Made a Difference 

Stay Organized 

  • Unified Message Stream: Incoming and outgoing messages are grouped in a single view, so conversations stay clear and contextual. 

  • Mark as Unread: When multiple team members share an inbox, YakChat’s "unread" feature ensures important messages aren’t overlooked. 

  • Message Filtering: Quickly locate unread or unanswered messages to stay on top of urgent replies. 

Act Faster 

  • Message Assignment: Directly assign a message to a team member for follow-up, improving clarity and accountability. 

  • Shortcuts & Auto-Responses: Customizable replies save valuable time—especially during peak hours when every second counts. 

Work Smarter 

  • Team-Managed Contacts: Dispatchers can update and share contact information in real time, keeping the team aligned. 

  • Chat History Export: Export full message histories for audits, follow-ups, or compliance—ensuring transparency when it matters. 

The Impact: A Faster, Smarter Dispatch Process 

  • Speed & Efficiency: YakChat lets IATSE 118 dispatch messages rapidly, keeping response times short and workflows moving. 

  • Greater Accountability: Message tracking and assignment features have brought structure and visibility to the dispatch process. 

  • Improved Collaboration: With shared inboxes and centralized contact management, everyone stays in sync—even under pressure. 

  • Scalability: Whether handling dozens or thousands of messages, YakChat scales effortlessly to meet the demands of large-scale productions. 

Quote: ‘YakChat is always developing new features and is very open to suggestions. That’s really helpful. It means the features are exactly what we need.’ 

Summing Up 

Asked if she would recommend YakChat, Salazar doesn’t hesitate: 

‘For sure! I love YakChat […]. We’re able to dispatch high volumes of messages efficiently and with ease. It’s really beneficial for our work. I like that YakChat is always developing new features and is very open to suggestions. That’s really helpful. It means the features are exactly what we need.’ 

For IATSE 118, YakChat isn’t just a replacement for a communication tool, it helps them stay fast, focused, and ready for whatever the next production demands.