The apftq is currently conducting sectorial negotiations with the apvq video technicians, the film technicians in stcvq (renewal of collective agreement), the writers in sardec (tv and features), the directors in the aqrrct (tv currently and features soon), spacq, the music composers guild, and in the near future with the uda performers guild.

STCVQ

stcvq union director Pierre Lafrance says the final count on the 1995 salary mass is just over $32 million, up from $28 million in ’94.

The stcvq and apftq are presently negotiating a new collective agreement, the last one having expired some 18 months ago.

‘What’s important for us is to preserve a minimum quality of working conditions,’ says Lafrance.

‘Our approach is to offer more flexibility in production terms so it will be easier for producers to shoot here. We’ve proposed a nine-day on 14 guaranteed schedule instead of a guaranteed five on seven. That will open things up for weekend (shooting).

‘In addition, we have to protect technicians against abuses like 18-hour days. We want to dissuade producers from this sort of thing. Where we are not in agreement is that the apftq has asked us to drop ‘les guards de fous’ (an expression akin to guard rails). We have to protect some producers from their own turpitude. The (pay) increases we are asking for are in line with inflation. There has been no real increase since 1989, except for 1% in the first two years.’

Lafrance says the current level of Quebec tv series work should stay steady while the union hopes to see a continuing increase in coventure activity in ’96/97.

‘As for Quebec features, that’s another story,’ says Lafrance. ‘Nobody has a crystal ball. People are very preoccupied by this issue.’

DGC – Quebec

In other guild news, the Quebec Council of the Directors Guild of Canada has been recognized as the exclusive representative bargaining agent for directors working in English in Quebec, for both guild members and non-members. The three-year representation mandate comes out of a vote by directors who were asked to choose between the guild and the aqrrct, the French-language directors association. The agreement covers film, tv, commercial and industrial production.

The dgc is responsible for advancing directors’ and members’ rights and interests, establishing model contracts and group agreements including contracts. The guild has 110 members in Quebec including some 35 directors, production designers and managers.

Fortner Anderson, dgc business agent, says the guild’s approach here has been to negotiate on a project-by-project basis as opposed to longer term collective agreements, the primary practice on the French side.