Directors Guild Of Canada BC Releases Details Of Tentative Agreement That Will End Unusual Labor Dispute In British Columbia
The Directors Guild of Canada BC has released the terms of a tentative agreement that ended the recent labor dispute in British Columbia. The new three-year deal with the AMPTP and Canadian Media Producers Association includes what the guild says are “significant gains” for the lowest paid and entry level workers, as well as new provisions to deal with brutally-long workdays.
The tentative agreement was reached on June 8 after 15 months of on-again off-again bargaining. The deal will end an unusual labor dispute that saw the guild issue a “strike notice” back in April but never actually go on strike due to a quirk in Canadian labor law, which gives “safe harbor” to production companies so that they can keep on shooting as long as they agree to sign a new contract when it’s finalized. All those companies that had been filming in the province had signed safe harbor agreements and are now bound by the terms of the new contract, once it’s ratified by the guild’s members.
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“I’m so proud of the solidarity shown by our members through these long and challenging negotiations,” said Allan Harmon, District Council chairman of the DGC BC. “The membership’s resolve drove significant gains, especially for the lowest paid and entry level workers.”
“This agreement will help the entire industry here in BC,” said Kendrie Upton, the guild’s executive director. “As a union, the number one tool we have to build and diversify the industry’s workforce is a strong, fair collective agreement. These gains will help us attract and retain a quality workforce for years to come.”
The guild’s negotiating committee is recommending that the membership ratify the deal. The guild will be holding memberhip meetings this week in advance of five days of voting, which begin June 19.
Highlights of the agreement include:
• Wage increases of 3% each year, retroactive to July 11, 2021.
• Minimum wage differentials to ensure that, as minimum wage increases, the wage rates for positions just above minimum wage continue to increase as well.
• Outsized wage increase for location managers resulting in a 15.8% wage increase over the term of the agreement.
• Meal penalties that incentivizes producers to provide guild employees with meals in a timely manner and a monetary penalty if they fail to do so. The guild called this “a huge gain.”
• Mandatory accommodation or transportation to be provided upon request at the employer’s expense for DGC BC crew who work 14 hours or more and are too tired to drive home.
• Full retroactivity on COVID-19 testing stipend payments.
• Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which honors the estimated 6,000-15,000 indigenous children who died under deplorable conditions at 140 federally run Indian Residential Schools from 1831-1998, will be recognized as paid holiday every Sept. 30.
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