Directors Guild of Canada BC issues 72-hour strike notice

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The Directors Guild of Canada BC has issued a 72-hour strike notice, a first for the union.

“We need an agreement that provides respect, fairness and safety for everyone working under our contract,” read a statement on the DGCBC website on Tuesday.

“We have been without a contract for over a year. We have exhausted every option to try and get a deal,” the statement read.

According to the website, the DGCBC met with the negotiating producers on Monday. “We expected they would address the issues that are vitally important to all our Members,” read the statement. “They did not.”

Union members voted for a strike mandate earlier this month, with more than 92 per cent voting in favour of labour action if an acceptable deal was not reached.

With the 72-hour notice, any production that is not covered by a so-called safe harbour agreement could be subject to labour action. The BC Labour Board imposed the agreements in 2008 to provide labour stability during collective bargaining.

As of Tuesday, the DGC says, all productions currently shooting have this protection.

With the strike notice issued, no new safe harbour agreements can be reached.

Key outstanding issues include payment terms for COVID-19 testing and minimum wage differentials; that is, as minimum wage goes up, so should wages for lower paid positions, the union says. The union is also seeking a retroactive wage increase to March, 2021, when its last contract expired. And it opposes what it calls employer clawbacks in the most recent offer.

The DGCBC says it has told the negotiating producers that it is eager to return to negotiations and is waiting to hear back from them.

According to Creative BC, more than 20 films and series are in production in B.C., including The Flash, The Good Doctor, Riverdale, Firefly Lane and Snowpiercer.

Calls and e-mails to the DGCBC and the Canadian Media Producers Association did not receive an immediate response Tuesday evening.

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