Talks in the ACTRA strike have broken down since this story went to press. See the Jan. 24 issue of Playback Daily for the latest news.

Actors and producers have hired an independent facilitator and were back at the bargaining table last night in a last-ditch effort to avoid going to court today.

The two sides spent Monday in separate meeting rooms at the Hotel Intercontinental in Montreal, with independent facilitator Mary Ellen Cummings of the Ontario Labour Relations Board going back and forth between them.

‘The tone is very matter-of-fact, very businesslike,’ said Jeff Brinton, spokesperson for the CFTPA, which represents producers in English Canada. ‘There’s not a lot of personalities involved, which is a good thing right now.’

Shortly after the ‘business-as-usual’ walkout was called by ACTRA, the CFTPA filed litigation with the Ontario Superior Court challenging its status as a trade union, the legality of its Independent Production Agreement and the legality of the continuation letters it has signed with various producers. Two days of hearings are scheduled to begin today in Toronto.

‘If this goes to court, we’ll be forced to ask the question of ACTRA’s legal status as a union,’ said Brinton. ‘It might end up breaking the national agreement down into several provincial agreements. I don’t think the CFTPA wants that, but we’re not going to settle for a deal that doesn’t work for us to avoid court.’

‘We have no problem going to court,’ said Steve Waddell, chief negotiator for ACTRA. ‘We’ll be vigorously defending our position.’

The previous IPA expired Dec. 31. ACTRA went on strike in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan on Jan. 8. Quebec joined the list on Jan. 10, and ACTRA has said that it expects all of the provinces its agreements cover to be in a strike position by mid-February. (B.C. is the only province whose actors are covered by a different collective agreement.)

In an unprecedented move, however, ACTRA has offered continuation letters to any producer willing to pay an additional 5% wages and 2% benefits, and ACTRA reports that all ongoing productions in the relevant provinces have signed, making this the first business-as-usual strike on record.

The two sides held unofficial meetings in Toronto for much of last week in an effort to hash out two sticking points, wages and the contentious issue of new media rights, away from the glare of the media and interested onlookers. The two sides are close on wages, while new media remains tricky. Producers want a deal, while ACTRA wants the issue put to a bipartisan committee for study.

Over the weekend the two sides agreed to move the negotiations to Montreal, and to hire Cummings to grease the wheels.

While the two sides appeared to be on the verge of a deal earlier yesterday, Waddell pointed out that, in addition to wages and new media issues, ACTRA is also leaning on producers to strike the litigation and to declare that ACTRA is a bona fide trade union and the IPA a collective agreement.