ACTRA Strikes and Union Actors in Canada Face Work Stoppages

ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists hit the picket lines this morning, disrupting some regularly scheduled programming and frustrating producers.

On January 3rd, union representatives said that ACTRA would strike on January 8th, 2007 if their needs were not met, including a wage increase of 10% to 15% and agreements regarding ACTRA performances being presented via new media. With the coming and going of the strike deadline set for 12:01 a.m. this morning and several demands still smoldering on the table, ACTRA walked out of negotiations at 6:20 a.m. EST displeased with dialog regarding ACTRA performances being consumed through new media online.

While associations representing the producers fail to see eye to eye on the issue with the union, ACTRA is determined not to see what happened in the past with the unprecedented popularity of DVDs repeat itself with new media such as Internet broadcasts, podcasts, and the like.

Actors are not to report to work, auditions or ADR on any IPA production that has not signed a continuation letter with ACTRA. The strike does not affect other ACTRA contracts, such as work for the UBCP, commercials, student films, and broadcast agreements.

Voices.com Public Relations Director, Stephanie Ciccarelli says, “We’ve been following this story closely and are here to support people affected by this work stoppage. Many of our customers are members of ACTRA or work with ACTRA talent. I trust an agreement will be reached sooner than later and everyone can get back to work.”

ACTRA chapters in the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are already on strike with Quebec to follow on Wednesday. Other provinces may join the strike shortly after.

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