For nearly a year, Canadian ad agencies have waged an anti-labour union busting campaign against our partners at ACTRA – locking out performers, hiring replacement workers and flat-out refusing to renew the industry’s collective agreement.

 Share ACTRA’s message on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This sweeping anti-union move is an assault on the very right to collective bargaining itself, and it’s aimed at performers who we know and who we work with each and every day. The actions of the advertising agencies, represented by the Institute of Canadian Agencies (the ICA), are putting performer safety at risk on set, undermining any notion of fair or equitable wages and threatening both health coverage and retirement benefit plans.

After a long provocation, and numerous futile attempts to urge the ICA to adopt a reasonable negotiating position, our friends at ACTRA are taking forceful new action in calling for a boycott of brands that continue to employee these agencies, and the DGC supports our ACTRA partners in calling out these companies by name.

I believe every DGC Member deserves to know which brands are helping ad agencies erode the basic rights of our fellow ACTRA actors so you can make informed consumer decisions yourself. These multi-billion dollar corporations are allowing strikebreaking replacement workers to be used to promote their brands: Canadian Tire, M&M Food Market, McDonald’s, Rogers, Walmart and H&R Block.

An erosion of collective agreements in one sector of the Canadian film, television and media industry is an erosion to all, and I’d like you to consider sharing DGC and ACTRA’s message about this action on your socials. Only if we stick together and speak with one voice can we push back on this attack against performers and anti-union actions in the production sector.

In solidarity,

Warren P. Sonoda

DGC National President