SPOTLIGHT: ORGANIZING EXPANDS FILM WORKER POWER ACROSS BC
Motion picture production attracts talented and hardworking people for many reasons — the creativity, the adventure, the comradery, the challenge — but anyone who has spent time working the long hours to get a production finished knows that there's room for improvement on health and safety and ensuring the well-being of workers is put first. The film industry is one that needs more organizing.
Interest among the membership in organizing has grown over the last several years, thanks to the intentional efforts of the Union’s Organizing Department. Lead Organizer Sano, Organizer Conor Moore, and Organizing Coordinator Brooke Thompson have been connecting with film workers across BC to share their expertise on how workers can support each other to improve working conditions through collective action.
“Anyone can be an organizer,” says Sano. “I think it's just about showing leadership, and people generally choose to show their leadership in whatever situations they feel comfortable, or possibly even uncomfortable, in.”
Empowering workers with strategies for how to successfully organize is paying off in big ways. Organizing efforts paved the way for 891 to sign two historic term agreements in Kelowna and a production agreement on Vancouver Island — increasing the pool of unionized domestic productions, and helping members and more motion picture workers across the province gain benefits and Union protections.
"What I am proudest of is that we were able to help these workers do what any workers can inherently do – come together and build worker power. The wins belong to the workers," says Conor.
From left to right: 891 Lead Organizer Sano, Organizing Coordinator Brooke Thompson, and Organizer Conor Moore.
It all started by giving workers and members a chance for their voices to be heard through a focused first step of internal organizing.
“A couple years ago we started trying to figure out what an Organizing program would look like, and we really needed to understand where the membership was at,” says Sano. “We did a lot of interviews with the Chairs, with the Executive, with the President, with everyone we could; to figure out what people were thinking in terms of engagement in the Union, which I would call internal organizing.”
IATSE 891 had not had an Organizing program or department for quite a few years before relaunching organizing efforts recently. The Organizing team recognized an opportunity to educate and reinspire people about the possibilities that can come from collective action. They worked to bring members together through informal meetings and social events, facilitating spaces online and in person for members to connect and find common ground. It allowed Organizers to hear from every department about what’s needed to build more engagement and enhance solution-oriented conversations.
Internal organizing laid the groundwork for successful external organizing campaigns, building the solidarity needed for workers to join together and flip non-union productions into unionized workplaces in Kelowna and Victoria. All this opened the door for the first ever multi-year agreements between the Union and domestic production companies, expanding the Union’s presence in BC.
"The previous iterations of organizing we tried didn't go well, because we didn't internally organize first,” says IATSE 891 Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Billings. “Now, we've got internal organizing going on and external organizing is successful. I fully believe that our successes externally have been in part because of the hard, internal organizing being done.”
ANYONE CAN BE AN ORGANIZER
Brooke, a former film technician in the Props Department who is now the 891 Organizing Coordinator, had been working on non-union productions in Kelowna for years before meeting the 891 Organizing team. With enough experience on set to know that workers needed better protections, she quickly wanted to get involved in organizing.
Kelowna was strategically picked for being a place with a robust Movie of the Week (MOW) production scene that has historically been non-union and does not have the competition with the rival union ACFC. By establishing 891 contracts in the region, 891 could help develop Kelowna as a desirable location for larger productions and grow the local industry.
“I started attending every meeting I could to get involved and help support this cause,” says Brooke.
Through workshops, meals together, and informal gatherings at coffeeshops, Organizers helped bring workers together to discuss their needs, hopes and collective concerns, while also sharing knowledge on their rights and the legal steps for organizing.
“The most rewarding element was seeing people come together, because a lot of the crew in the region who were doing these MOWs felt disempowered,” says Brooke. “They were trying to negotiate for better rates, better standards for their crews, and were not getting very far in most cases. So, when we started talking about organizing on these productions, the crew felt empowered because first they felt heard.”
“Seeing the crew come together and wanting to work as a collective unit, I think has left a really lasting impression on the crews in the region and has been what has led to the successes in the Okanagan, but also on the Island as well.”
In January 2024, film workers in the Okanagan ratified a groundbreaking collective agreement between IATSE 891 and Champlain Media West (CMW), with 93% of votes cast in favour. This would be the first multi-year agreement 891 signed with an individual production company outside the BC Council of Film Unions. In June 2024, a second term agreement was signed in the region between the Union and production company Kelowna Film Partners (KFP).
891 Business Representative Crystal Braunwarth, lead negotiator for the new term agreements, noted that two years of organizing work set the stage for making these gains, which represent a big step in advancing unionized domestic motion picture opportunities. Once 55% of workers sign union representations cards, it gives the Union negotiating power, as it meets the threshold for automatic certification under the BC Labour Relations Code.
“Now that all of this incredible organizing has happened, it opens the door for the Business Representative to go in and negotiate an agreement that will last one year, five years, however long you negotiate the term for. With one company, we have a two-year term agreement and with another, a three-year term agreement,” says Crystal.
“These agreements provide stability for the workers, knowing that they're contract is stable with pay raises year over year. Without the organizing groundwork, those conversations, those critical negotiations cannot happen the same way. Organizing is such a critical piece of work to any labour organization and I for one am deeply grateful for the exemplary talent in our Organizing Department.”
In July, the Union held its first ever initiation ceremony for new members in Kelowna, a historic expansion of the Union’s presence into the Interior.
Organizer Conor Moore, pictured back row, right, at the IATSE 891 Initiations Ceremony in Kelowna said, “First and foremost, the wins belong to the workers who did the actual incredibly hard and brave work of standing together, talking to their coworkers, signing cards, facing down producers breaking the law with unfair labour practices, and ultimately coming together to successfully organize.”
Brooke is proud to be one of the workers helping the Union build a bigger presence across BC, and she’s seen the impact it’s having on her Kelowna film community. The first term agreement had an immediate and direct impact on workers, establishing floor wages; turn-around provisions; payment of Health and Welfare, RRSP, and Vacation pay fringes; and worker access to Union representation.
“It's been pretty incredible because we've had two term agreements in place now. My community out there, they're gaining 891 days. They're coming into membership, and this has made all the difference for a lot of the crew out there who didn't have access to health benefits and the protection of the Union when producers would try and take advantage of them. Now they have access to the Stewards’ office and they have the Union advocating for them. So it's been an incredible game changer in the area.”
On Vancouver Island, meanwhile, Sano has been on the ground developing relationships with workers employed on non-union productions, many of them 891 members.
Many members, especially during periods of larger production slowdowns, turn to non-union work when that is what is available to them. Flipping a show into a unionized production means members earn health bank hours and other benefits while also helping other workers access the Union’s protections and benefits that lead to safer sets.
In May 2024, IATSE 891 filed a Section 18 at the BC Labour Relations Board to unionize the feature film FATE, in which 70% of the crew were 891 members and permittees. Soon after, union-kin at ICG 669 also filed a Section 18 for the production FATE, showing that film workers were committed to working together across departments, roles and hierarchies, to improve working conditions and make collective gains.
After Organizers put in a tremendous amount of work supporting the workers to get to the certification process, Crystal began negotiations with Fate Productions Inc.. Following a challenging 13-hour mediation session with the employers, on June 7, 2024, the Union successfully negotiated a voluntary recognition agreement via mediation at the BC Labour Board.
“I want to express my deep appreciation and congratulations to all the crew directly and indirectly involved with supporting the certification process, and for standing up for your rights as motion picture workers,” said Crystal. “It is this kind of solidarity that serves to bring workers their deserved benefits, fair and safe working conditions, and representation by bringing these productions under our contract. Our collective efforts to bring productions like FATE under contract serve to strengthen our domestic sector and the whole of our Union.”
BASICS OF ORGANIZING COURSE EMPOWERS MEMBERS
After major wins for workers in Kelowna and Victoria, plans are now underway for expanding organizing efforts to non-union productions across the Lower Mainland. The Organizing Department is already starting to ensure members are trained and equipped with the skills necessary.
This fall, Organizers led a film-specific organizing course to teach members the skills to organize non-union shows they work on. The full-day course took place Sunday, Sept. 22 at the Union’s training centre at 1622 Boundary Road. Through role-playing exercises facilitated by the Organizing team and members with experience in organizing, participants learnt about internal organizing strategies to engage coworkers and improve democratic engagement within the Union, as well as external organizing tips to drive collective action on non-union productions.
“The facilitators, Sano, Conor Moore and Brooke Thompson, who make up our great Organizing Department for IATSE 891, put on a very good and informative presentation for us,” says Pauline L. Tremblay, 891 Hair Department Chair.
“The Basics of Organizing class was an invaluable one packed with lots of information regarding our Union and how internal and external organizing relates to me personally and to us all as members of IATSE Local 891.”
In addition to hearing from the Organizers, participants learned ways to engage fellow members from Grace Delahanty, 891 Costume Department Chair, who shared how she works to increase engagement in her department.
“The Basics of Organizing Course was outstanding. I went to work the next day raving about it to my coworkers,” said 891 member and course participant Tanysha. “I even recommended to the Shop Steward that they should attend the next one which they agreed to. The course helped me with my confidence and going up to members to chat about Union participation and the importance of being stronger together…
“Hearing Jenn, Michael, and Brooke’s harrowing stories about being on non-union productions with awful employers made me angry but in the end I became inspired when they achieved their goal for 891 certification. These are lessons of how no matter how great or even consequential the risks are, the reward is so much more greater.”
Enthusiastic sentiments like these were echoed by many other members who participated. The Organizing Department plans to offer more sessions of the Basics of Organizing for Film Workers in 2025 and are working on putting together an Advanced Organizing course.
The 891 Organizing Department exists to give workers in the industry more knowledge and power on how to organize to achieve collective gains. Those gains can include better benefits, higher pay, safer sets and expanded union protection against bullying, harassment and discrimination.
“Organizing isn't about taking away opportunities from the members,” says Brooke. “It's about having these non-union shows that are already going to be filming and putting them onto 891 contract, which provides opportunities both for the members and for non-members to have access to the Union and their hours for the health banks….”
Organizing is about helping not only the membership make advances in working conditions, it's about increasing the collective strength of motion picture workers as a whole and standing up for the fact that workers across the industry deserve fair treatment. Bringing more members together to expand union protections across BC is a huge leap forward for film workers in the province.
“I would define organizing as people getting together with a common goal and to address those common goals from a political lens,” says Sano. “If a labour union is not organizing and expanding its membership, they are actually shrinking, because the industry itself is growing. If a union is to keep up with leverage against the employers with gains, then my opinion is that any union has to be organizing.”
Written by Claudia Goodine, Copywriter for IATSE 891
Want to learn more about organizing? Listen to the Union's Apple Box Talks podcast episode with the 891 Organizing team on Ourwork.ca or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also email the Organizing team at organizing891@iatse.com.
