Strike looms over U.S. prod'n in Canada

The Hollywood Reporter
October 27, 2006
By Etan Vlessing

TORONTO -- A strike threat looms over U.S. film and TV shoots in Canada
after domestic actors on Thursday said they could take to picket lines
to fend off North American producers' demands for steep pay cuts.

Negotiations on a new Independent Production Agreement between ACTRA,
representing 21,000 domestic performers, and Canadian and U.S. producers
broke off Wednesday, with the performers urging that a mediator be
brought on board to end an apparent impasse.

Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director, on Thursday said
the call for formal conciliation was a necessary step before he could
legally poll his membership on a possible strike.

"It starts the clock," Waddell said. "Our contract expires on Dec. 31,
and you need conciliation to terminate the contract."

ACTRA also has promised labor peace for producers shooting north of the
border if they sign a "continuation letter" and agree to pay unionized
actors higher minimum daily rates in line with current demands at the
bargaining table.

Producers that sign the safe harbor document will be able to continue
shooting in Canada after Dec. 31 in the event of a strike or lockout.

A possible strike would not affect British Columbia, where producers
have a separate collective agreement with the Union of British Columbia
Performers).

Talks on a new indie production pact between ACTRA, U.S. producers,
Canadian English-language producers represented by the Canadian Film and
Television Production Assn. and Quebec producers aligned with the
Association de producteurs de films et de television du Quebec (APFTQ)
got off to a rocky start Monday when actors were asked to take pay cuts
of 10%-25% for minimum daily rates paid on film and TV productions shot
here.

The North American producers opening gambit also included proposed
reductions in overtime rates, turnaround times and producer
contributions to insurance and retirement accounts, according to ACTRA.

Waddell, whose membership called for a 15% raise in minimum rates over
three years for homegrown shoots and a 40% jump over five years for U.S.
productions in Canada, said his membership will never accept a rollback
agreement. He urged the North American producers to take their
"wretched" demands for workplace pay and conditions off the table before
negotiations could resume.

But negotiatiors for the Canadian producers association urged ACTRA to
regroup and resume negotiations, rather than lay the ground for a
possible strike by formally calling for labor mediation.

"I don't see how a mediator here will solve the problem," said CFTPA
national vp of industrial relations John Barrack, the group's lead
negotiator.

The current talks on a new collective agreement between Canadian actors
and North American producers was originally scheduled to start last
March, well ahead of the Dec. 31 expiration of the current indie
agreement.

But those talks were delayed as U.S. producers, represented by the
Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, bargained in
Vancouver with the UBCP on a new B.C. Master Production Agreement, which
governs workplace rates and conditions for actors in the western
Canadian province.

Representatives of ACTRA and the CFTPA sat in as observers on the
AMPTP/UBCP talks, which have since gone to arbitration. The mediator in
that dispute, Vincent Ready, recently got both sides to agree to
extending the current B.C. Master Production Agreement through March 31.

ACTRA's Waddell said that U.S. producers including studio
representatives from Universal, Sony, Warner Bros. and Disney have
threatened to move planned movie shoots to Vancouver or elsewhere
internationally, if necessary, to back their wage and workplace demands.

Typically, studios avoid shooting where a strike or lockout is possible
to avoid having to duplicate locations elsewhere in the event of
disruption.

Waddell accused U.S. producers of reducing their number of shoots in
British Columbia in 2005 to force recent concessions from the UBCP, and
insists that he will resist a similar strategy in Ontario, which has
seen a severe downturn this year in the number of U.S. runaway shoots.

ACTRA sought and received strike mandates from its membership during
earlier IPA talks in 1995 and 1999 but has never initiated a strike. But
given the current demands from producers, Waddell predicted his
membership will "overwhelmingly" back a strike mandate should he order a
referendum.

The Canadian actors and producers earlier planned to continue bargaining
in November and December on a new IPA agreement, but no dates have been
firmed up after this week's opening round.