CFTPA and APFTQ have entered into a mediation process on February 7th and 8th. The process was lead by Ms. Elizabeth MacPherson, Chief Mediator of the Federal Minister of Labour, and Richard Champagne, Mediator appointed under the Quebec Status of the Artist Legislation to work towards resolving the remaining concerns presented by ACTRA.

Ms. Macpherson began the process by asking anyone not intent on finding a deal over the next 36 hours to identify themselves, to which no one stepped forward. The Producers took this as a positive sign that this process would not result in time wasted. Once both sides had the opportunity to present their position on the remaining issues Ms. Macpherson asked to meet privately with each party throughout the day.

The Mediators presented the Producers and ACTRA with creative solutions and put forth a comprehensive payment model to address ACTRA’s “internet for free” concerns. The Producers saw this new compensation model as a viable option for addressing these concerns, while providing basic rights along with essential tools to conduct business in today’s changing environment including New Media production.

In an effort to find the deal we were willing to take bold steps towards a new model that would work for both sides and satisfy ACTRA’s wage demands by providing a new stream of compensation when productions are exploited on any new platform. More specifically, in order to meet ACTRA’s total compensation demands we considered an increase to Use fee thresholds as compensation to performers for these new rights.

Notwithstanding the decision of the Ontario Superior Court, the Negotiating Committee was prepared to resolve their legal claims that both the strike and the continuation letters are unlawful which would give rise to damages, in order to get a deal. The CFTPA was even prepared to provide ACTRA with greater certainty as to the process that governs the right to strike and or lockout in the future.

However, despite the Producers willingness to remain flexible and find a deal, the creative and viable solutions presented by the mediator were not acceptable to ACTRA. A copy of our proposal can be found here.

There are no dates scheduled to resume bargaining at this time.