As we prepare to celebrate the holidays and as 2018 winds to a close, I’d like to take a few moments of your time to insert a bit of gratitude into your day. This is a brief list of 2018 DGC BC accomplishments that you as Members can take pride in.

This year at the DGC BC:

✓ We relaunched our Respectful Workplace Committee and held our first ever Membership Meeting focused entirely on issues of Bullying, Harassment and building Respectful Workplaces. The meeting went really well and this Committee, led by Catherine Kretz, continues to look for ways to bring these issues into focus.

✓ We launched our PM course which rounds out our training calendar to include offerings for every position the DGC BC represents, along with a whole host of seminars on topics of significant relevance to our Members.

✓ Our highly engaged 2018 Directors Caucus have held multiple meetings around how best to promote and market BC Directors to US Productions that shoot here. Watch for exciting developments on this initiative in the early months of the new year!

✓ Our Locations Department has worked tirelessly to prepare for the Committee that arose out of Bargaining, which will focus on garnering better recognition for the position of Location Manager.

✓ The DGC BC began the SoNotCool button campaign aimed at providing a measured response to those milder but still inappropriate behaviours that may not merit reporting to studio HR departments. For example, if a person uses a term like “honey” to address you or someone else, simply speaking up to say it’s “so not cool” can defuse the situation and remind people of what is and isn’t acceptable in today’s workplace. SoNotCool went on to be embraced and rolled out nationally for greater reach. Visit sonotcool.ca for more info, where you can also find content relating to Respectful Workplaces for use during on-set safety talks.

✓ In partnership with the other film unions we launched Calltime: Mental Health, a website with resources for those of us that work in the film industry, assisting our workers and employers with issues of mental health and addiction. Visit www.calltimementalhealth.com for more information.

✓ We enthusiastically participated in Reel Thanksgiving 2018, which raised a record-setting $223,063.20 in ten days for the Vancouver Food Bank!

✓ We honoured notable DGC BC female mentor and trailblazer Rachel Talalay at the 3 rd annual Women In Entertainment Gala in March of this year.

✓ The Executive Board ensured that our Labour Department step up the practice of making set visits to productions on a regular basis. Assistant Business Agent/Field Rep Alexis Hinde began making visits in June of this year. So far Alexis has connected with just over 21% of our Members in their workplaces and had the opportunity to both hear their concerns and share issues of interest. That’s 275 Members spread over 35 productions with even more visits planned for 2019!

✓ We successfully negotiated the 2018-2021 Collective Agreement, where we made gains in wages (especially for lower categories of up to 23%), negotiated two tiers for SVOD, improved buy-out conditions for Directors and achieved a Healthy Workplace Bulletin and an agreement on Mental Health and Substance Abuse issues.

Thank you so much to the many, many Members who have reached out this year and/or visited the office for Membership Meetings, Courses, Receptions and other events. It’s incredibly gratifying to hear when our efforts as an organization are landing in meaningful ways and having a positive impact on our Members.

Our best wishes to each of you and your loved ones for a bright and relaxing holiday and we can’t wait to see what 2019 will bring!

Deepest Gratitude - Kendrie & the DGC BC Staff