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[antfishvo]

Strike vs. Lockout (What ACTRA has been dealing with)

So we all have a pretty good understanding of what a "Strike" is. But how many of you know what a "Lockout" is?

A labour strike is when workers are unable to reach an agreement during the collective bargaining process and collectively decide to stop working.

Makes sense.

Unlike strikes that are initiated by workers, a lockout is initiated soley by employers who refuse to provide work to workers as a tactic to pressure them into accepting the employer’s terms.

Gross.

This is what ICA (Institute of Canadian Advertising Agencies) has been doing to ACRTA (Canada's acting union) members for 500+ days.

Shame.

The mediator found that both parties were too far apart on issues regarding payment and AI regulations, and ended this round of mediation.

So what now?

We keep fighting.

We continue to boycott union-busting brands.

We continue rallying.

And we keep saying "Enough is Enough".

To peeps sharing and posting about what SAG-AFTRA and the WGA have been going through, I ask that you please also share this info as well.

Their fight is our fight.

If you would like to know more, please check out the following links. And make sure to follow ACTRA and their various other branches for up-to-date info.

[antfishvo]

Canadian union actors have been locked out of commercial work by union-busting agencies for over 500 days.

Because a lot of people don't really understand what is happening here, I'm going to take a moment to talk about what a lockout is.

A lockout is like the opposite of a strike: in a strike, workers withhold their labour until employers agree to their demands for improved conditions, while in a lockout employers essentially starve workers of work-- and by extension, crucially, wages-- to force them into accepting unacceptable conditions.

In the context of a factory, it might look like literally shutting down the factory because the owner can afford to simply eat the short-term loss while they sit and wait for the workers to grow desperate. Or they may bring in what are euphemistically referred to as "replacement workers". You may know them by the more familiar term: scabs. Those who are willing to put up with more for less, and in so doing worsen labour conditions across the whole industry. This is economically advantageous to the employers, and they can just sit there in comfort while they wait for the union and its members to break.

A lockout is a cruel power play in what is already an unequal relationship. It is intentional infliction of desperation and psychological distress.

The Institute of Canadian Agencies' lockout of ACTRA members has been going on for more than 500 days. It has intentionally inflicted more than 500 days of psychological distress and existential threat on thousands of people. And in the midst of this the ICA has done little but employ DARVO strategies (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender), when it has initiated this essentially in protest of not being given the freedom to slash union commercial actors' compensation by 80%. ACTRA has been ready and willing to bargain this whole time, but the ICA insists it's ACTRA holding its own members down.

The ICA's client companies are hugely recognised brands whose CEOs take home untold millions every year in salaries while the average ACTRA commercial actor makes well under 10k a year. Professional actors' work is important and needed-- if it wasn't the agencies wouldn't be bringing in scabs-- and yet they are forced into conditions where they literally cannot live. They cannot afford to put a roof over their heads and food on the table in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

PLEASE share this and let union actors know you stand with them. Boycott these companies who hire union-busting agencies. Write to them and let them know why. This fight has been long and demoralising, and folks are exhausted and sad, and given all the attention that has rightly been on the striking WGA and SAG-AFTRA members (with whom ACTRA has been rallying together in solidarity), their Canadian sibling union needs your solidarity and support too.

[antfishvo]

Two unions representing actors and media professionals held a rally on Saturday outside the Toronto headquarters of Amazon and Apple, to highlight the plight of their members in long-running labour disputes. The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is seeking higher pay, protections and benefits for its members amid fractious talks to renew the National Commercial Agreement with the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA). Members of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have been striking for better pay and protection from the use of artificial intelligence (AI), among other things. ACTRA president Eleanor Noble said her union has been locked out of its commercial jurisdiction by Canadian advertisers for "an unconscionable 501 days," while SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for 58 days.  "We are in our lockout and you are in your strike because of corporate greed. Corporate greed, making billions of dollars off the backs of performers," Noble said. "We have said it time and time again — enough is enough."

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

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