Vancouver: Producers shooting in b.c. can expect more disruptions on the set this summer as rival performers unions, the ubcp and actra, continue to squabble over jurisdiction.

The most recent fracas erupted June 16 when 200-plus members of actra (many of whom also hold membership in the ubcp) gathered for their annual general meeting at the Hotel Vancouver. The confab was called to discuss a new collective agreement and to ratify agreements for recent productions. The meeting, however, took on an entirely new agenda when an ‘overwhelming majority’ of actra members present voted in favor of firing John Rooney, president of the actra b.c. local over alleged ‘gross lack of professional conduct in his duties.’

Members were enraged that actra’s collective agreements negotiated by Rooney with producers over the last several months allegedly severely undercut their minimum rates, terms and conditions as well as allowed for more u.s. performers to work in b.c. at less cost to producers than local actors. After heated discussions, hotel security personnel were called in to escort the council safely out of the hotel.

The b.c. branch council of actra, following legal advice, issued a statement dismissing the motions of its members as not meeting the terms of its constitutional bylaws, reiterated its confidence in Rooney, and vowed to carry on business as usual.

The members were furious.

On June 27, the ubcp upped the ante and moved in to certify performers working on the Disney set of Man To Man starring Chevy Chase and Farrah Fawcett. This action, says Steve Adams, president actra B.C. branch council, means the ubcp would raid what is currently an actra picture and any union monies collected would go to the ubcp.

In the hopes of returning peace to the workplace, Peter Partridge, president of the ubcp, says several film groups, including the B.C. and Yukon Joint Council of Film Unions, talent agents, casting directors and the B.C. Film Commission, have now come together to bring pressure to bear on the unions to solve their dispute. He says the group is collectively calling for the B.C. Labor Relations Board to convene a meeting of both unions to take a vote of the entire membership to choose which union the performers wish to have represent them in b.c.

In March, after three years of fighting, the warring unions had announced plans to reunite under one group and talks were underway, with a time frame of three months.

‘We have tried on numerous occasions to get actra to sit down with us and negotiate, we don’t understand their reluctance,’ says Partridge.

Adams says the problem stems from a recent ubcp decision that it would only consider an ‘affiliation’ not a ‘merger’ with actra. The problem with that, he says, is that ‘we are an autonomous local, part of a national organization, and you can’t affiliate with our local, only the whole national ACTRA Performers Guild. Yet they still want to negotiate with our local, so we are at an impasse.’

‘I don’t see how two actors’ unions with essentially the same membership can operate in the same province,’ says Adams. So as of July 7, b.c. performers belonging to actra will have to choose their allegiance.