When the CFTPA, APFTQ and ACTRA sit down on Nov. 28 and 29 in Montreal to continue bargaining towards a new contract, members of the actors union will already be marking mail-in ballots for a possible strike.

ACTRA says it will know if it has a strike mandate on Dec. 15. The union’s current Independent Production Agreement with the English and French producers associations expires Dec. 31.

But despite the fractious talks, both sides were much more positive about the chances for a settlement following a Nov. 14 meeting that resolved the issue of rest time between shooting days, with the parties agreeing to retain a period of 11 hours. Both sides agreed to set aside an additional 10 days for bargaining in December.

‘We left on a very positive note,’ says John Barrack, lead negotiator for the producers. ‘The mood was much different at the end of the day than at the beginning.’

Stephen Waddell, chief negotiator for ACTRA, says he’s ‘definitely hopeful we’ll be able to get a deal. It’s helpful to have these extra days.’

But the sides appear far apart on issues including wages, residuals and insurance and retirement benefits.

ACTRA is seeking a 5% boost to minimum pay rates for each of the next three years, plus a 2% increase for insurance and retirement benefits. It also wants an 8% raise for performers working on big-budget U.S. features, bringing its rates in line with those of the Screen Actors Guild by 2011.

Although two mediators – Reg Pearson for Ontario and the federal jurisdiction, Richard Champagne for Quebec – were appointed after ACTRA called for conciliation, neither will be at the table this week as the parties try to make progress on their own.

But a positive approach to the talks may have arrived too late. Producer Don Carmody says the public sparring over these negotiations has disrupted plans for two of his films and for an unknown number of U.S. studio pictures.

‘One [of mine] will be postponed until this works itself out,’ Carmody says. ‘The other may move, depending on the legality of UBCP’s position being determined, to another country… I have also been the recipient of e-mails from two major studios to their producers advising them to avoid shooting anywhere in Canada until this is sorted out. I can only assume that all the majors have responded likewise.’

Carmody previously said he hoped to move two of his films – originally slated to shoot in central Canada in the new year – to B.C. because the Union of B.C. Perfomers bargains separately and has an agreement in place until March 31, 2007.

However, a Nov. 7 open letter from UBCP says in the event of a strike it will ‘instruct our members not to accept any engagements on film and television productions shooting in Canada outside British Columbia.’

Meantime, Barrack says he’s ‘consistently getting calls’ from foreign producers asking if they should shoot in Canada. He says he’s advising them to figure out if they can afford to risk being hit by a strike. He also says a number of productions are ‘hanging in the balance’ in Alberta, but calls to substantiate this claim were not immediately returned.

www.cftpa.ca

www.apftq.qc.ca

www.actra.ca