An Ontario judge ruled that ACTRA’s strike against the CFTPA is, in fact, legal. However, the two sides were also ordered to go into arbitration. The one thing that was left unclear in the ruling was the legality of the continuation letters ACTRA was using that many producers have signed to allow various productions to continue in lieu of the strike.
Arbitration may begin within the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, ACTRA members in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland may find themselves on strike in their respective provinces in mid-February.
Also, Playback Daily reports that the BC Performers Union is now negotiating with members of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, which represents indie film producers as well as ones out of Hollywood. Members of both ACTRA and the CFTPA will be in BC to oversee what’s going on.
CBC Arts
Playback Daily
ACTRA and the CFTPA went to court today (Tuesday), after talks failed to produce results the day before. Details are soon-coming.
UPDATE (1/24): A decision on the legality of the ACTRA strike will be handed down early next week.
UPDATE (1/27): Playback Daily reported on Friday (1/26) that, in court, a lawyer for the CFTPA argued that ACTRA “was acting in bad faith” as early as October 24, 2006–a day after collective bargaining began for the renegotiation of ACTRA’s contracts–when they filed “for conciliation in Ontario under the Labour Relations Act, while starting to sign individual deals with producers.” The lawyer argued that this went against IPA protocol.
Conversely, ACTRA’s lawyers contend that they did follow protocol according to provincial labour laws, and…
“It is ACTRA’s position - a position that it has consistently taken before the Ontario Labour Relations Board - that the IPA is a collective agreement and that ACTRA’s members are employees who are subject to the Ontario Labour Relations Act,” argued ACTRA lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo of Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton LLP.
Also, according to ACTRA, the continuation letters that over 120 production crews have signed are legal, adding that when the IPA was up for bargaining in 1995, it was producers that time that asked ACTRA members to sign similar letters. In 2001, ACTRA had filed with Ontario court about re-establishing continuation letters at the insistence of the producers’ unions in Canada, as well as some producers Stateside, who were accusing ACTRA of “fostering industry instability and driving production out of Canada.”
Playback Daily (1/24)
CBC Arts
Globe and Mail/Canadian Press
Playback Daily (1/26)
Sullivan Boutique has announced that the final season of Road to Avonlea is available for preorder and will be shipped on March 2.
Special “goodies” for this sent include…
- A special Behind the Scenes Souvenir brochure
- Photo Gallery Souvenir DVD with soundtrack
- landscapes and souvenir moments of the cast and the locations.
The price for the five-disc set is $79.99 USD.
Sullivan Boutique
After some stumbling blocks, Wordpress has been upgraded to the newest version. Enjoy!
Sarah Polley’s feature film directorial debut, Away from Her, had its gala US premiere during Sundance this past weekend, in Salt Lake City with warm reception.
“The film’s done really well in Canada and we’re really excited that the reception here has been equally as warm,” said producer Daniel Iron of Foundry Films, speaking to Playback Daily at Telefilm Canada’s opening cocktail party - which has become the main gathering for Canucks at the festival. Iron added that, since the film has sold in most territories, “we’re here just to enjoy the potential accolades.”
The film will open in Canadian theatres in a couple of months’ time. It is unknown when it will have a US release.
Playback Daily
Sundance official website
