NABET 700’s business manager Ross Leslie says the biggest issue currently facing the union’s approximately 1,250 film technicians is the general slowdown in the production industry.

‘We’ve still got quite a few shows on the books, but it is not as busy as it usually is,’ says Leslie, adding that much of the slowdown can be attributed to the current state of the economy and the threat last spring of a SAG strike.

‘In July, when we thought it was going to be dead, we had 21 shows at one time that we were prepping and shooting,’ says Leslie. ‘[Because of strike fears], people pushed up their shows and tried to shoot them right away. It is slow now, but we still have nine series that we are doing, two TV pilots and five movies, so we are doing quite well.’

Leslie adds NABET will step up efforts in the next while to encourage U.S. filmmakers to bring their productions north, despite the push from the American film industry to keep the work at home.

Based in Toronto, NABET has escaped two turbulent years relatively unscathed. In April 2000, NABET came out of a trusteeship (implemented in fall ’99 by its mother organization, the Communications, Energy and Paperworks Union of Canada) and has been moving forward since. Membership, he says, is starting to increase again after a ‘raid’ by rival union IATSE. Deemed a membership drive by IA, the initiative that took place in fall/early winter ’99 while NABET was under trusteeship targetted NABET members in an unsuccessful effort to get all film technicians under one umbrella.

‘If you believe all the things you hear, we don’t exist anymore, which is why we’ve been stepping up our advertising, as well,’ says Leslie. ‘We did lose some people to the raid by IATSE, but some of them did come back.’

Of the 50 or so members who made the jump to IA, there are still some wanting to return, but first they must appeal to the NABET board of directors, he adds.

NABET holds information seminars every second Thursday at its new location on Lombard Street in Toronto, where film technicians can get information on how to become members.

‘We are also putting a big drive on training our members, making sure they learn more and improve their existing skills, which is one of the big things we are doing right now,’ says Leslie. ‘The more training we provide our members, the better it is for them, the producers and the productions.’

A new contract between NABET and the CFTPA was ratified and approved April 1 and lasts until December 2002. Unlike its predecessor, the new contract has different tiers.

‘We have one tier for low-budget productions, anything below $2.75 million. The next tier is from $2.75-million to $8.5-million [features, TV series or MOWs]. Anything above $8.5 million is the larger-budget films. We have a nine-hour day rate time, and then go into time and a half after that. And we are quite flexible on a lot of issues. So everyone is on the same playing field, which is great,’says Leslie.

-www.nabet700.com