ACTRA’s national office has a new director of research with the hiring of Jacob Leibovitch.

Leibovitch, whose appointment was unveiled Monday and was effective immediately, comes to ACTRA from the Ontario Taxi Workers Union where he served as executive director.

As chief of the department, he’s responsible for work such as overseeing the compilation of statistical research to support ACTRA’s collective bargaining and public policy objectives.

He will also provide information and counsel to ACTRA’s lead negotiators and negotiating committees during collective bargaining.

He fills a vacancy that was created when Marit Stiles was promoted to the position of national director of public policy and communications.

Also, on Tuesday ACTRA was to return to the bargaining table with the CMPA and the APFTQ. Their current Independent Production Agreement expires at the end of December.