Canadian actors have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the CBC to run to 2010.

The latest ACTRA agreement for radio and TV at the CBC replaces the old two-year deal which expired in June 2005.

Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, said Monday that the new five-year deal, unusual for a union that generally goes for two- or three-year agreements, reflects the three years it took to negotiate.

The latest agreement, which came into effect June 30, 2005, calls for a 15% pay rise over five years, to be paid retroactively.

The other key terms focus on made-for-new media programming, where ACTRA seized on the CBC’s vast programming library to negotiate an upfront payment for distribution of content, and a new media residual amounting to 10% of gross distribution revenue.

The new media residual from the CBC is more generous than the 3.6% gross distribution revenue share that ACTRA secured in early 2008 from its latest Independent Production Agreement with the CFTPA, and from commercial producers in the latest National Commercial Agreement that was signed in November.

The CBC in December also inked a new five-year deal with the Canadian Media Guild.

Waddell said the new media terms hammered out by ACTRA in its three 2008 agreements with the CFTPA, commercial producers and the CBC stand to enrich Canadian actors financially and provide a possible industry template.

‘I’m confident our hard work in 2008 will pay off for our members in the years to come as ACTRA continues to lead the industry in negotiating a fair deal for cultural workers in this growing medium,’ Waddell said.

ACTRA, which represents around 21,000 unionized actors, also said on Monday that its members voted overwhelmingly in favor of an addendum to the NCA to govern commercial production outside of Toronto and Montreal.