TORONTO – After months of contract negotiations, actors union ACTRA went on strike Monday in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with the rest of the country to come soon.
However, the union is not striking in British Columbia, where it is covered by another agreement.
And, side agreements with individual producers have also been worked out to keep actors working on shows currently in production. So, no one is really picketing.
"ACTRA’s has refused a wage increase of more than double of that agreed to by the Writers Guild of Canada and three and four times greater than agreements negotiated with the Directors Guild of Canada and NABET. The Producers offered a 3 percent wage increase for each year of the three year agreement in an effort to address what ACTRA had identified as its number one concern, closing the pay gap between themselves and actors covered by the Screen Actors Guild in the United States. Not only does the final proposal address ACTRA’s concerns it was also designed to avoid any further disruption to the production sector," says the release from the Canadian Film and TV Producers Association.
The actors want a 5% increase as well as additional compensation for work appearing on other platforms, like the Internet.
"We’ve put forward a comprehensive package that gets producers what they need to continue to creating quality Canadian productions in today’s production environment as well as demonstrating significant flexibility in addressing ACTRA wage concerns." said John Barrack, chief negotiator, CFTPA.
The Negotiating Committee representing the producers is a three-way partnership made up of the CFTPA, APFTQ along with all the U.S. Studios who negotiate with one voice for the mutual benefit of all producers.
"ACTRA seems to be under the impression that the new media issues are only of interest to the U.S. studios. Nothing could be further from the truth. The new media package is at least, if not more important to Canadian producers." said Steve Comeau, president, Collideascope Digital Productions.
"ACTRA seems to be bending to pressure from the Screen Actors Guild who have been present through out these negotiations. ACTRA seems unwilling to run any risk of doing something in Canada that would set a precedent that its U.S. masters might find offensive.
Steve Waddell, ACTRA’s Chef Negotiator, seems to be willing to sacrifice the Canadian industry to placate his old bosses at SAG." added Barrack.
As for the letters allowing certain productions to continue, the CFTPA will appear before the courts in Ontario and other provinces to have ACTRA’s illegal continuation letters deemed invalid and possibly challenge the legal status of their organization. The CFTPA has always held the view that ACTRA cannot selectively strike against members of the CFTPA or APFTQ, says the producers’ release.
"I am in disbelief that ACTRA can not find the courage to deal with the new business realities that face our industry. There is a real lack of leadership and understanding which is effectively writing ACTRA and its members out of the future" added Julie Patry, director, industrial relations, APFTQ.
“ACTRA offered significant discounts and flexibility on internet use," said ACTRA’s Waddell. "What the producers want is the right to distribute our members work, worldwide on the Internet, for free. That’s not acceptable."
“Enough is enough. I’ve had to take a fifty to seventy-five per cent pay cut over the past five years," said Canadian actor Eric Peterson. "Actors have been hammered back to scale. And now here we are looking at demands from this trade association, trying to hammer down even those minimums.”
Along with demands for free Internet use, producers’ final wage proposals would further widen the gap between Canadian and U.S. performers working side-by-side on the same sets in Canada.
“Professional performers don’t work for free. Not on TV. Not on film. And not on the Internet," added Canadian actor Wendy Crewson, in the ACTRA release.
