Guild Reflections and Legal Debates

It’s December again and the flurry of Christmas parties are in full swing. I am supposed to be in Malaysia, shooting a battle sequence, in a container port at night, for three weeks, to finish a film I have been shooting. It appears the CEO of the Port woke up one morning and thought: film crew, guns, nights, car crashes, explosions, containers being smashed into each other; good idea?... maybe not, so five days before we started shooting he said NO. So, I’m home for Christmas, I think.

It’s warm, a summer that I missed last year because I was overseas in winter. New Zealand is a wonderful place to live. The rest of the world is exciting, there are a lot of adventures to be experienced, but home is a very special place indeed.

It has been a tremendous year for the Techo’s Guild. We had 30 years history to celebrate. What an achievement. We have completed the revision of the Blue Book, changed our name to The Screen Industry Guild, continued the work on ScreenSafe for the Health and Safety of the Screen Industry for the third and final year, upgraded our administrative systems to better face the future and started a dialogue with the new Government about the employment laws. We have continued to provide our normal service of assessing overseas crews coming into New Zealand to ensure New Zealand screen industry members are offered the opportunity of work on international productions above others, and to help members work through problems they are having with work situations.

And we celebrated this year – The Guild’s 30th Anniversary – a new name, a new look, a new book.

I missed the parties, but I heard they were awesome. It was especially so because of you, our members. You are the heart of this Guild, the heart that has been beating for 30 years, and I hope for the next 30 years to come.

There is a group of people to thank. Karla Rodger’s, our Executive Officer; Jane Scott, our Accounts Officer; Sioux Macdonald, our Vice President; Brendon Durey, our Treasurer; Nick Treacy, our Auckland Chair and former Treasurer; Kelly Lucas, our Event Organiser and the wonderful members who spoke at the evenings – Chris Mckenzie, Ken Saville and Waka Attewell. They were the heart of the event and you were the energy that made it such a success.

From the euphoria of the Anniversary we were suddenly plunged into the unknown with regards to what is going to happen with the ‘repeal’ of the ‘Hobbit Law’. As an integral part of the industry, we raced out there and made our positions known directly to the Minister in charge of Workplace Relations. The bitterness of 2010 seemed about to come back to haunt us. To begin with we spoke to the Minister, but the screen industry needs to work this out together with the other Guilds and Unions, as well as the Government, because we are all so interconnected. We rely on all the disciplines involved in movie making to make this industry work. So, we started a dialogue. A dialogue with the Government, a dialogue with the other Guilds and unions. We all have our own voice and point of view but we need to show that we can work together, so the Government can best support us.

The issues that seem to be at the forefront of the debate are the right to collective bargaining and the right to be a contractor or an employee. The issue for large international producing companies, is the uncertainty of whether a worker can change their employment status part way through a job, which would discourage producers from wanting to gamble their money on something that is not clear from the outset. This is what the ‘Hobbit Law’ achieved in creating back in 2010. Along with this there appears to be opposite sides of the argument and I believe legally that a contractor can’t collectively bargain. As technicians, we work happily by adhering for the most part to the conditions laid out in the Blue Book. Other sectors of the industry don’t have this ability, so here is a chance to work through these issues and resolve them in a way that protects the unique aspects of our New Zealand industry but also protects the members in it. Our collaborative approach on Health and Safety (ScreenSafe) and Terms and Conditions (Blue Book) has worked and has meant that people have had a say in their lives.

I have worked in a number of different film cultures and our approach to our industry is refreshing and inspiring. We need to remember that when we talk through these issues. The most important thing to remember is we own our industry, it is the people who make it special, so let’s work out the best way forward as an industry together.