Directors Guild Of Canada BC Ratifies New Film & TV Contract

deadline.com:

Members of the Directors Guild of Canada in British Columbia have voted overwhelmingly – 89.5% to 10.5% – to ratify a new three-year film and TV contract with the AMPTP and the Canadian Media Producers Association-BC.The guild said Thursday that 64% of eligible members and permittees took part in the vote “to make their voices heard.”The agreement on a new contract, reached June 8 after 15 months of on-again, off-again bargaining, ends an unusual labor dispute that saw the guild issue its first “strike notice” back in April.

The guild, however, never actually went on strike because of a quirk in Canadian labor law that gives “safe harbor” to production companies so that they can keep 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.“Today is a momentous day,” said Allan Harmon, District Council chairman of the DGC BC. “It has been a long and challenging process.

But thanks to the efforts of many, we have a deal we can be proud of. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the negotiating committee for their thoughtful representation of the membership at the table; the DGC National, and other District Councils for their solidarity; our expert legal counsel; and the DGC BC executive board and staff.