Hard News: Anatomy of a Shambles
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Alright, let's dial it down a notch then ;)
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However, my memory of what she said ... was that there was never a boycott/blacklist, it was a directive not to sign. When Sainsbury hauled her up on that, she corrected what she said. So I for one think that the terms "boycott" and "blacklist" have been a kneejerk reaction quite uncalled for.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.... As I said right at the start of this whole thing, it doesn't matter what the union wants to call it, it is in effect a boycott. How is "don't sign" different from "don't work"? Obviously NZAE aren't saying "act on The Hobbit all you like, just make sure you don't have a contract". "Boycott" seems like the correct term to describe the situation to me.
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About Australian union involvement: There seems to be an assumption in NZ that union officials are essentially committed to the broader aims of social justice. In Australia that certainly isn't the case. For example, Joe_de_Bruyn, National Secretary of Australia's largest union, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), and a Vice-President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), is a social conservative who has long used his entrenched position to oppose gay rights, abortion reform, and affirmative action for women.
Once described by Gough Whitlam as "a Dutchman who hates dykes", De Bruyn actively seeks to advance a social agenda within the Australian Labor Party that seems radically opposed to the interests of the majority of the 230,000 "shoppies" that his union represents.
I don't know anything about Simon Whipp's background or wider social vision. What's evident though is that Australian unions are able to pursue self-serving agendas that in no way represent their wider membership. It seems remarkable that our local media have so far shown little interest in providing any background about how a foreign union, with a strong affiliation to a foreign political party, has managed to gain such a disruptive and unrepresentative foothold in NZ.
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If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.... As I said right at the start of this whole thing, it doesn't matter what the union wants to call it, it is in effect a boycott.
US unionists I've talked to call it a strike action, so we can rename it to that if we'd prefer.
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Quite frankly, Fran can piss off the China.
Did Fran forget to rinse off the soap after doing the dishes?
...I'm sorry, that was a pointless, stupid dad joke...
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FYI from that MEAA annual report:
What do we stand for?
The Alliance works according to a set of principles we believe are important. As the industrial landscape changes and our very existence comes under threat, these become more important. Things like collective action, safeguarding Australian identity and democracy, equal opportunity and fair working conditions for all.#justsaying
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@Russell oops, I think I misread this as Russell, it should be SteveH: I guess I see a difference between saying "thanks for the offer, we are really interested, but can we talk first?" and "thanks for the offer, but we won't be working for you".
I've never boycotted anyone, but remember helping represent Equity over some of the early films which routinely would involve (mostly) US actors being brought in, when some guidelines were sought. I suppose that halted proceedings for the producers and may have made them uncomfortable.
Talking things through (behind closed doors, away from the public gaze, for the previous two years, as Robyn Malcolm said Equity had been trying to do) seems pretty innocuous and sane to me, so I share her "sick" feeling that this has got out of hand.
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Talking things through (behind closed doors, away from the public gaze, for the previous two years, as Robyn Malcolm said Equity had been trying to do) seems pretty innocuous and sane to me.
It all rather depends on whether someone can prove whether this kind of thing is true or not:
http://publicaddress.net/system/topic,2769,hard-news-anatomy-of-a-shambles.sm?p=186776#post186776
I've heard other very similar stories from other productions from a number of people. Yet to see any hard evidence though. If it does turn out to be true though... look out.
(PS I feel bad for calling Fran O an asshole back there. Don't agree with her often, if ever, but even so...)
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@Jacqui it is more like saying "thanks for the offer, we are really interested, but can you talk to the New Zealand actors union first, whoever they are?" thus granting AE leverage to call meetings and attain a greater mandate than they had before to negotiate on behalf of all NZ actors.
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@Nick - If Actor's Equity directs its members, then the "we" is the collective voice. No-one who isn't a member will necessarily know anything about it.
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@Jacqui - The international affiliates of AE posted this notice on their very public website member alert message boards. PJ likely responded to the notice and not any actual stalled contract negotiation. The public notice in itself implies PJ has mistreated workers in someway and this implication required an immediate response.
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Chad Taylor reports on the expansion of film tax subsidies
oil + gas
The EPMU launched a new short film titled "Black Gold" , showcasing the 30% pay increase achieved by EPMU members in Taranaki covered by the Kan Tan 4 collective agreement.
The agreement was negotiated by the Trans-Tasman Oil & Gas Alliance, which comprises the EPMU, Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ), Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Workers Union (AWU), and which was established to work towards pay parity for all oil and gas workers in New Zealand and Australia.
The agreement was made possible by the level of co-operation between Australian and New Zealand unions.
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What happened was the MEAA sent a number of notices to PJ specifically requesting a collective bargaining agreement (with the MEAA, not Actor's Equity, mind) and telling him there was a boycott on his film (17 August was the first one I can find). PJ sent letters back saying: bugger off, it's illegal. They insisted it was legal, citing the opinion of Simpson Grierson, which effectively agreed that it was illegal, unless the actors were employees. The actors themselves don't seem to want to be employees as far as anyone can tell. I don't know whether the MEAA/AE represented those actors who were in the process of being cast, it doesn't say anywhere.
So then the MEAA issued the official boycott towards the end of September, PJ responded publicly somewhat angrily about the same time. It's hard to tell who went public with the boycott/strike action first.
Then JWL went on TV and said 'we've never asked for a collective contract, we know that's illegal', and 'this isn't a boycott', no one ever said it was a boycott, Simon Whipp's not saying it's a boycott.
And then everyone started to get very angry indeed.
I think that pretty much sums it up.
oil + gas
@ Blake - can someone move the NZ oil/gas supplies to another country?
That's the difference why that worked and this was never going to.
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the MEAA sent a number of notices to PJ specifically requesting a collective bargaining agreement and telling him there was a boycott on his film
If the word "boycott" was used, I of course, stand corrected.
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Sorry, Jacqui I paraphrased 'boycott' there, I was focusing more on the 'collective agreement' part. They don't use the precise term boycott. They say:
'[the FIA] urges each of its affiliates to adopt instructions to their members that no member of any FIA affiliate will agree to act in the theatrical film The Hobbit'.
I just paraphrased that as boycott/strike as most people I think probably would.
The letter also goes on to say:
FIA therefore encourages you to meet immediately with representatives of the Media Entertainment and
Arts Alliance in order to reach an agreement covering all performers engaged on this production.So that's not just the Equity Members, that's every actor whether they are a member and agree with the action or not. Not that the Equity members had voted on it at this stage either. Or even been told about it as far as I can tell. People have said that the AE voted on it before it was called, but like a lot of things in this, I'm not taking anything at face value until I see it.
Certainly none of the other industry guilds were informed.
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I think that pretty much sums it up.
yup .... and if you told me a month ago that this story would have a scene where a 1000+ geek driven flash mob will form to politely storm a Wellington actors union meeting .... I would have exclaimed "You're shitting me!"
Please allow me to congratulate them fine peeps
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And it's that instruction "that no member of any FIA affiliate will agree to act in the theatrical film The Hobbit'." that -- whether you want to call it boycott, black list or ban -- paralysed the film. NO international actor could work on the film in those circumstances without being blacklisted by their own unions and would never work on a studio film again.
There's talk things have got "out of hand" over the last 5 weeks or so, but they were instantly out of hand the moment that force-10 measure was put in place. All that's happened over the last month or so is that people have realised the seriousness of the situation. Peter Jackson said on day one of this that it would seriously jeopardise the film being shot here. His position hasn't changed.
Equity's has: at that first meeting in Auckland with actors I'm told they announced talk of film leaving was "just a bluff".
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Also from that report(which is here for those playing along at home):
Freelancers
A landmark decision by the Australian Consumer and Competition Council has this year granted the Alliance a waiver from the Trade Practices Act, empowering the union to negotiate a collective agreement of behalf of freelance journalists with four major media companies – Fairfax, News Ltd, Pacific Magazines and ACP. We have sought talks by writing to the companies.
To support these talks the Alliance is initiating a survey and review of our freelance membership to provide the sort of comprehensive mapping information that will be necessary to underpin the campaign.
The Alliance has been assisting the development of freelance networks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to help build these communities.In my experience with Aussie companies coming to NZ, they often arrive with the idea we're just another territory looking to become a state, and that what works there legally will work here as well. Not excusing them, y'understand, just looking for answers...
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To support these talks the Alliance is initiating a survey and review of our freelance membership to provide the sort of comprehensive mapping information that will be necessary to underpin the campaign.
Would have been nice for the MEAA to afford the NZ industry that basic level of respect.
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I guess I see a difference between saying "thanks for the offer, we are really interested, but can we talk first?" and "thanks for the offer, but we won't be working for you".
Perhaps, but the SAG notice sounded a lot more like the latter than the former:
The makers of feature film The Hobbit – to be shot in New Zealand next year – have refused to engage performers on union-negotiated agreements.
Members of Canadian Actors Equity, US Actors Equity, the Screen Actors Guild, UK Actors Equity, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (Australia) and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists are advised not to accept work on this non-union production.
There's nothing in there about discussions occurring or needing to occur.
Talking things through (behind closed doors, away from the public gaze, for the previous two years, as Robyn Malcolm said Equity had been trying to do) seems pretty innocuous and sane to me, so I share her "sick" feeling that this has got out of hand.
It got out of hand when the above notice was issued. Robyn only has the MEAA to blame for the escalation. But my understanding is that NZAE originally asked to negotiate with The Hobbit producers for a "standard collective agreement". That's not "we want to talk to you about terms and conditions for The Hobbit", that's "we want you to negotiate an illegal contract that will be used for future productions as well as your own". NZAE initially refused to accept that they were trying to talk to the wrong people about something that wasn't possible anyway. MEAA took the producers refusal to negotiate something they couldn't negotiate as a refusal to negotiate at all and issued the notice.
What I find most frustrating is that NZAE were talking to right people (Spada) 2 years ago. If they had accepted Spada's position that a collective agreement wasn't legal they might have been able to move forward years ago. Instead they decided to target The Hobbit.
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Members of Canadian Actors Equity, US Actors Equity, the Screen Actors Guild, UK Actors Equity, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (Australia) and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists are advised not to accept work on this non-union production.
Thank you, SteveH. When will someone nail them down on this "there was no boycott", "all we wanted was a conversation, how can that derail a film?" bullsh*t?
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People have said that the AE voted on it before it was called, but like a lot of things in this, I'm not taking anything at face value until I see it.
Very wise.
Jonathan - you were told something, which may or may not be so. There have been lots of "tellings" from all different sides. That people go off half-cocked is something I for one would like to avoid, if at all possible, and the problem with quoting someone who is reporting something they may or may not have heard correctly, or even understood - not that I'm necessarily saying that about your source, you understand - is quite dangerous. For instance, it wouldn't be allowed in a court of law, if you get my drift.
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So in the end, it's a question of timing, isn't it? We don't really know what came first, chicken or egg. Did those notices come out after some approaches were rebuffed? Or not? We don't know.
By the time I'd responded to previous postings, a couple had been added....but, (takes deep breath) - oh what the hell, I was just going to surmise something, which is what I'm exhorting folk not to do. No, I just hope when the dust clears and calm descends on us, and fear flies out the window, we might get some gains out of this.
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Sure, Jacqui, take your point on "I heard ...".
Here, though is a published note from actor Greg Ellis, who attended both the Auckland and Wellington actors meetings.
Some things to come out of tonights Equity meeting
6. Threats of the Hobbit bring taken offshore were largely dismissed as scare-mongering and a tactic
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Jacqui, fair call, and just to be clear, all my quotes are from the MEAA's own fact sheet and letters:
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1009/Member_Alert_NonUnion_Production_TheHobbit.pdf
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