The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists is “relieved” by the tentative agreement its sister association SAG-AFTRA has reached with the AMPTP, which represents major Hollywood studios and streamers.
“We have been closely following SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations. Their problems are the same as our problems. Their fight is our fight,” Eleanor Noble, ACTRA national chair, said in a statement. The Hollywood actors’ strike officially ended at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday. The deal will go to the union’s national board for approval on Friday, ahead of a vote on ratification by the union.
“We look forward to learning the details of the preliminary agreement with the AMPTP,” Noble added, as the US deal, which was reached after a 118-day strike, could set the pattern for future talks on the renewal of Canadian writer-producer contract.
ACTRA called on its members to strike in early 2007 after talks with North American producers over a new Canadian labor agreement ran into the thorny issue of new media residue.
“SAG-AFTRA’s collective labor actions have shown the industry that artists will, in fact, fight in solidarity to get a fair deal for workers. We congratulate SAG-AFTRA on addressing the issues facing artists worldwide,” Marie Kelly, ACTRA national executive director and chief negotiator, added in her own statement.
The twin Hollywood strikes meant that Canadian film and TV talent and crews exposed to American production north of the border gradually dwindled to a trickle as American writers and actors took to picket lines south of the border. US production is now expected to resume in Canada after major studios and streamers regroup following the strikes.
ACTRA and SAG-AFTRA held two joint solidarity rallies in Toronto in July and August to support US actors in their labor action and to draw attention to a long-term commercial lockout by the Institute of Canadian Agencies, which represents advertising agencies.
