Negotiations between the apftq, representing Quebec producers, and Association des professionnels de la video du Quebec, representing video technicians, have bogged down under the weight of mutual recrimination.

The union, affiliated with the csn, has given its executive a strike mandate and issued a press release saying negotiations are taking too long and that producers are demonstrating bad faith.

The union wants an agreement on 56 positions, but the producers have balked, offering to settle on 18 posts as required by the Commission de Reconnaissance, an administrative tribunal responsible for contract agreements between artists and producers.

The apftq says the apvq, under pressure from the csn, has violated an earlier agreement not to negotiate in public.

The producers say the timetable for the talks is ‘normal,’ especially in view of the fact the apftq is currently negotiating 11 collective agreements and contracts, including a tv agreement with the aqrrct, the Quebec directors association; a first collective agreement with the Directors Guild of Canada; a feature film agreement with sardec, the screenwriters union; and a new collective agreement with the stcvq, the freelance film technicians union.

The apvq is headed by president Michel Charles Major and crews independent video production including programs such as La Petite Vie, Moi et l’autre, Zap and Watatatow.

The two sides met at a crucial negotiating session Oct. 19.

Talks between the apftq and the apvq began early in ’95.

In other news, the apftq, actra, the sctvq and Union des artistes, the Quebec performers guild, have established a safety committee mandated to review standards during production.

The industry-wide initiative stems from the death in May of 35-year-old film technician Jean-Francois Bourassa on the set of the action film Hollow Point.