TORONTO – While the clock ticks towards the December 31st expiry of the collective bargaining agreement between Canadian film and TV producers and the actors who perform for them, the two sides appear bogged down in a procedural battle.
The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) along with the Association de producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ) say the Bargaining Protocol which has worked to ensure proper bargaining between the actors and producers since 1995 is being tossed aside by ACTRA, the actors union.
"ACTRA is insisting on a conciliation process that is outside of the Protocol," says the CFTPA release. "The CFTPA has no interest in a provincial conciliation process that will effectively put an end to the Independent Production Agreement and will ultimately lead to direct negotiation between producers and the performers they engage."
“It has been brought to the attention of the producers that ACTRA is continuing to breach the very protocol that was freely negotiated many years ago, and renewed several times since.” said John Barrack, chief negotiator, CFTPA. “ACTRA is poised to bring this house of cards down with this unacceptable behaviour. We’re dismayed that they would jeopardize the integrity of this national agreement by insisting on a provincial conciliation process; a process that is entirely unnecessary if ACTRA would simply follow the Protocol that Stephen Waddell negotiated and signed. We have always said that we will respect ACTRA’s right to strike, so long as they follow the preconditions set out in the Protocol.”
The CFTPA filed a grievance against ACTRA
In its releases, ACTRA said some progress was made but added it was dismayed by the producers’ legal tactics.
"I think it’s fair to say we are finally making some real progress in negotiating this agreement," said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator. “Clearly the key development was that the producers claim to have – and we are hopeful that they really have – withdrawn their 25% pay rollback proposal unconditionally."
The parties also made some significant progress on several non-monetary issues – notably, further improvements on protection of child performers under the agreement.
"Our committee appreciated the better tone in the talks so far this week," Waddell said.
However, in a legal letter, producers demanded that ACTRA agree that provincial labour legislation does not apply to the ACTRA contract. If this was not immediately agreed, the producers’ associations threatened to refer this question to a provincial labour board, says the ACTRA release.
ACTRA responded by referring the issue to Ontario’s Labour Board. "What the producers are claiming is that they are outside of any law in Canada," Waddell said. "They’re wrong. The ‘peacetime’ provisions of our collective agreement don’t mean that our members have given up their rights under provincial labour law. But since the producers think that, we need to clear up the point and do it now."
