LOS ANGELES – The ACTRA strike has created a situation that could potentially have a devastating and long term impact on production in Canada, the Alliance of Motion Picture & television Producers said in a release issued Friday.
With the with the exception of British Columbia, where there is no strike thanks to a different collective agreement, the labour situation (where ACTRA members are on strike but still working on productions not yet completed) "poses a lost opportunity to the country with regard to U.S.-financed productions – pilots, series television, movies for television and feature films," said the release.
Given the lead time necessary to scout locations, set up production offices and engage the crew and cast, production companies will have to consider alternate locations the longer the strike goes on, "We are negotiating in good faith to create employment, and ACTRA’s proposal is thwarting those efforts. Everyone loses during a strike like this and these losses cannot be recovered," says the release.
"1 fail to understand ACTRA’s logic and feel that this is a lost opportunity by driving us out of negotiations," said Dean Ferris, Fox Broadcasting executive vice-president, labor relations. "We’re up here in an effort to create employment, and we refuse to fight ACTRA on these proposals. If they don’t want us to bring work to Canada, we’ll go home. No fight, no problem," he said.
The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) has been the primary trade association with respect to labor issues in the American motion picture and television industry. The AMPTP is responsible for negotiating with virtually all the industry’s guilds and unions, including the American Federation of Musicians (AFM); American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA); Directors Guild of America (DGA); International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE); International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); Laborers Local 724; Screen Actors Guild (SAG); Teamsters Local 399, and Writers Guild of America (WGA).
The AMPTP negotiates 80 industry-wide collective bargaining agreements on behalf of over 350 motion picture and television producers (member companies include studios, broadcast networks, certain cable networks and independent producers).
