Montreal: The STCVQ film technicians union is asking a government administrative tribunal to overrule sections of a newly signed three-year collective agreement between producers in the APFTQ and video technicians in Association des Professionnels/Professionnelles de la Video du Quebec (APVQ).

The agreement, effective Oct. 15, covers all video-originated production, including film-style dramatic and TV series shoots originated in digital formats, many of which are majority crewed by STCVQ members. The STCVQ is contesting the Oct. 15 collective agreement as it affects its members (up to 16 positions) on non-film-originated productions and has asked for a ruling from Commission de reconnaissance des associations d’artistes et des associations de producteurs, a Quebec government administrative tribunal.

Those hearings opened Oct. 29 and are expected to continue throughout November.

About 160 film technicians are members of both the STCVQ (membership 2,500) and the APVQ (700 to 800 members). The agreement between the producers and the APVQ has been ratified by a majority of APVQ members.

A spokesperson for the APFTQ says all of its contracts over the past four years on video productions (including digital) have been signed with the APVQ. It also confirms it obtained a court injunction on Oct. 29 prohibiting STCVQ members from blocking access or interfering with current APVQ-signed and -crewed shoots.

Shoots named in the injunction include Bliss Exposed, Tribu.com, Tabou, Fetes fatales, Big Wolf on Campus III, Chiefs and the new 3D/live-action series Galidor, Defenders of the Outer Dimension.

Pierre Lafrance, STCVQ union representative, says at a recent STCVQ general meeting attended by 500 members, film technicians voted overwhelmingly against representation of its members under the APVQ collective agreement. Lafrance says virtually all of the film technicians on a half-dozen current video shoots have signed a petition stating they do not wish to be represented by the APVQ.

The inter-union jurisdictional hassle has its origins in the evolution and advances made in digital and video production-originating formats, and the growing number of Quebec primetime drama and teleroman-plus series shot in DV and other non-film formats. The other contributing issue was the STCVQ’s inability to finalize its long-planned merger with the APVQ – before producers closed the door with a separate deal.

In terms of drama productions shot in film style, the APFTQ-APVQ collective agreement says STCVQ member remuneration will be based on minimums established in the (grandfathered) APFTQ-STCVQ collective agreement signed in November 1996. It specifically identifies dramatic productions of $700,000 or more, including one-offs and episodes, as well as half-hour dramas budgeted at $450,000 or more. It also includes scheduled minimum pay increases for STCVQ technicians (on APVQ shoots) of 3% on both Oct. 1, 2002 and Oct. 1, 2003. STCVQ member benefits paid by the producer on APVQ shoots are paid to the APVQ.

‘What we are saying is that the people who for years now do those jobs – in the film manner – have always been members of the STCVQ. They negotiated a collective agreement with producers [for those positions and productions] and the producers signed that agreement,’ says Lafrance.

‘We decided to go in front of the commission to determine which negotiation sectors we represent,’ he says.

The STCVQ says the producer agreement with video technicians does not cover commercials and accepts the principle of double-duty, with the only limitation being tasks must be related in nature. This will have a major negative effect on hair and makeup departments, Lafrance says.

The agreement widens the definition of ‘force majeure’ to include an investor or broadcaster who pulls out of a production.

‘Last year there were four or five productions which were interrupted. And each time [our] members were entitled to an indemnity. If we had had the APVQ agreement there is no indemnity,’ says Lafrance.

The agreement includes a clause on subcontracting and service providers, defined as ‘an enterprise that specializes in renting out equipment, technical personnel or who furnishes materials, and that is not responsible for the overall production.’

The definition, which the STCVQ calls ‘dangerous,’ allows the producer to hire service subcontractors for preproduction and post-production, up to four service company employees on a set during production, and it also allows the producer to hire technicians who are otherwise employees of a broadcast or broadcast-affiliate company.

A producer can also hire a service company for the purposes of makeup and hairdressing requirements if the service provider is part of a sponsorship-financing agreement and if the work is performed off set.

The APFTQ-APVQ collective agreement also differs from the APFTQ-STCVQ agreement in areas like work schedules, guaranteed work days and producer obligations related to meal and turnaround, night shooting, holidays and out-of-town expenses.

Collective agreement negotiations between the STCVQ and APFTQ are continuing. *

-www.stcvq.qc.ca

-www.apvq.qc.ca