Seeking a united voice and a strong, consistent collective agreement for all its district councils, the Directors Guild of Canada is currently in negotiations on a four-council collective agreement, spanning Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. DGC president Alan Goluboff hopes the new agreement will be ratified by February 2002.

For the past 10 years, due to differing provincial labor laws, DGC members have had two collective agreements – one in Ontario and one in British Columbia. Other provinces, with smaller memberships, have negotiated on a project-by-project basis.

On the West Coast, the B.C. district council’s collective agreement is set to expire Dec. 31 and new negotiations in the region are imminent. However, Goluboff hopes that in two or three years, ‘when we start to negotiate again, we will be able to expand the [broader-based, national] agreement [to include B.C.].’ He also hopes the Atlantic district council will fold into the new multi-council agreement.

Goluboff notes that the new four-council agreement will affect the district council in Quebec, where it has ‘been attempting to negotiate [a collective agreement] for seven years with the APFTQ [the Quebec film and television producers association].’

‘Because our director members work across the country, or certainly would want to, what is being negotiated has very much been debated at the national level. Even though Quebec can’t be signatory to it, the decisions flowing from it will affect those members [when they work in markets covered by the agreement]. The same is true for B.C. members working in Saskatchewan,’ Goluboff explains.

The DGC president is also leading the guild’s lobbying efforts, which are currently focused on the issues of copyright law, authorship and creative rights. ‘The federal government is reviewing federal copyright law in this country which will affect who is [considered] the author. Authorship is tied to copyright. It is our view as an organization that we as directors are authors – at the very least co-authors – of the audiovisual work, along with the writer,’ he says.

A believer in a united industry voice, Goluboff also continues to work closely with other industry guilds and associations for more resonant lobbying efforts, not only on copyright legislation issues, but Telefilm Canada and CRTC positions, as well.

The DGC represents 3,500 members across Canada, of whom 450 are directors. The bulk of the membership is made up of production managers, assistant directors, editors, and art department professionals along with other categories that vary by region. Goluboff says 500 new members have joined the DGC this past year, 25 of whom are directors.

Despite the increase in membership, the DGC president says ‘right now in Ontario production is down 25% from last year. And revenue is down 50%.’ Goluboff says this is partly due to a decrease in service work and an increase in Canadians working on Canadian productions. ‘That’s a good thing.’

-www.dgc.ca