A Grand Dame - ACTRA Toronto

IPA Bargaining Team at work
diversity provisions; incrementally improved working
conditions on set; included stunt coordinators in the residuals
pool (a long-standing request from these members); provided
voice performers with a new residuals tier (a 200% prepayment
for a longer 10-year Use period, also a long-standing
request from these members); and protected our new media
gains, won during our 2007 strike. All of the rollbacks came off
the table. e industry got three years’ stability and a return to
a focus on improving Canadian content and cultural policies –
issues producers and unions and guilds can work together on
in our common interest.
Did we pay anything for this? Yes we did.
ere won’t be a “substantial snack” for actors if none of the
crew get one – that will occur on some sets and not on others.
And the meal penalty was reduced a bit to bring it more in line
with meal penalties in other union and guild contracts.
Did we have proposals we would have liked to have made more
progress on? Yes we did.
But that 99 per cent “yes” vote for ratification tells us
our bargaining committee called this negotiation correctly.
Collective bargaining is what ACTRA does. We fielded
an excellent team during this round, dodged some pretty ugly
proposals and made some helpful gains.
But as I write, we weren’t quite done yet on bargaining in the
film and television industry.
Our sister branch in British Columbia, UBCP-ACTRA,
operates under a separate provincial contract. And despite our
national gains, in late January engagers were refusing to drop
steep rollbacks they continued to demand in that B.C. contract.
We’re not done until we’re all done, and so this work will
continue until the UBCP Master Production Agreement has
been successfully concluded. •
Lead negotiator, Stephen Waddell (L) with Mimi Wolch, Director of
Independent and Broadcast Production (R) during bargaining.
Brian Topp, Executive Director of
ACTRA Toronto. Photo: Jag Gundu
Spring 2013 17