British Columbia Film Unions Ratify AMPTP One-Year, 5 Percent Wage Hike Deal

Etan Vlessing
·4 min read

British Columbia film unions and guilds have voted to ratify an agreement with North American producers to extend their labor contract agreement for another year to March 31, 2025 in return for a 5 percent wage increase.

The Directors Guild of Canada’s B.C. branch was the first to announce it had accepted the earlier deal reached between the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) and its local counterpart, the B.C. branch of the Canadian Media Producers Association, and local representatives for IATSE 891, IATSE 669, Teamsters 155, the DGC B.C. branch and UBCP/ACTRA, which represents union performers in the westernmost Canadian province.

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“The DGC BC is pleased to announce that, after consultation with our membership, we have agreed to the one-year extension of our contract, with a 5 percent increase in wages effective March 31, 2024.  The other BC Film Unions: BC Council of Film Unions: IATSE 891, ICG 669, and Teamsters 155; and UBCP/ACTRA) have also agreed to the extension,” the board of the DGC B.C. branch said in a statement.

Beyond the wage increase, which is set to take effect on March 31, 2024, all the terms and conditions of the current collective agreement will remain in effect for another year.

“Our goal, as always, is creating a stable production environment. We stand in solidarity with the WGA and SAG AFTRA and we look forward to their negotiations ending in a fair result for both unions. Once those negotiations conclude, we expect that the stable labour environment will encourage productions to land here in B.C.,” the guild’s board added in a statement.

Because of provincial labor laws, all of the five film unions and guilds had to accept and ratify the proposed contract extension for the local AMPTP affiliate and CMPA-B.C. to be successful with their bid to secure labor peace north of the border.

The one-year extension applies to the B.C. Master Production Agreement, which governs wage rates and workplace conditions on film and TV sets in the Canadian province. The B.C. unions and guilds leadership polled their members after agreeing to a potential contract extension with the North American producers. The current B.C. Master Production Agreement expires on March 31, 2024.

The proposed extension comes as local film and TV talent and crews face American production in Vancouver slowing to a trickle as a strike by the Writers Guild of America is well into its third month and SAG-AFTRA performers have also taken to picket lines south of the border.

The appeal for local unions and guilds to agree to an extension of the B.C. Master Production Agreement was being more assured of work when American production returns north of the border after stalled negotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA lead to eventual deals.

A contract extension would also buy North American producers labor peace in British Columbia, a major production hub for American film and TV series shoots. Local unions cannot declare a strike while their collective agreement with the AMPTP is still in effect.

The B.C. unions also argued the one-year extension will allow them to build on the possible gains to come from new labor deals for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA south of the border when they are finally hammered out and ratified, and as the local unions negotiate their own new labor contracts with the AMPTP down the road when American film and TV production is expected to return to strength next year, in contrast to the current virtual industry shutdown.

But the B.C. union members faced opposition to giving a thumbs up to the AMPTP deal extension from unions and guilds in the rest of Canada.

In all, 68 Canadian actors, led by Tatiana Maslany, Elliot Page and Martin Short, put their names to a July 10 letter that urged West Coast performers with the UBCP/ACTRA union to reject a “preemptive deal” they claim will undercut current contact talks stateside with the SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America that has led to a double Hollywood strike.

The signatories to the letter argued that extending working conditions to 2025 will also reduce leverage for Canadian actors when they renegotiate their own labor deal for the rest of the country set to expire in 2024.

The westernmost Canadian province, whose production sector is dominated by American film and TV production, has seen labor stability since a year ago when the The Directors Guild of Canada’s local branch reached a new deal with AMPTP, representing Hollywood producers, and the CMPA B.C. that included a 3 percent wage increase for guild members.

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