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A growing number of us are working together to improve working conditions in our industry. We are the creative and technical professionals who produce non-fiction television and film, including reality, lifestyle, and documentary work. We have many different titles and work for many different companies. Many of us are independent contractors, earning our living at several companies in a year. Some us are on staff at a single production company. We are all concerned about how difficult it is to build a career in this industry.
We want fair pay, rules that are understood, safe sets, portable benefits and onscreen credits. All of this will benefit the industry as a whole, by stabilizing it and protecting it from a culture in which unreasonable budgets and deadlines are all too common. By working together, we can make real change in this industry.
Join now so you can find out more about what’s going on and how you can be a part of it. Note: We keep our list of supporters confidential.
Our campaign began five years ago, when a group of workers in the industry started asking tough questions about largely unwritten rules, exceptionally long hours and arbitrary pay. They soon realized that their experiences were widespread. This group began a campaign with the help of CWA Canada and its local, the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), to change things and since then, more than 400 people working in the industry have signed up to be part of the change.
We have written a ground-breaking guidebook to the industry, collected data about pay rates, held events to bring the community of workers together, advocated for changes to labour law and in 2018, CMG’s law firm, Cavalluzzo LLP, filed a $35-million class action against one of the biggest production companies, Cineflix, for unpaid holidays and overtime.
In 2019, IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), who represent film and television workers across North America, joined our effort. Together, our two unions have formed a partnership to successfully secure industry-wide union contracts that reflect the needs of those who work in the production office, on set, and in post-production.