No Pressure, Mate

New Zealand holds the dubious honour of being one of the highest ranked countries in the OECD in terms of incidence of bullying and associated bullying culture. Aidan Evans argues it’s something worth thinking about.

When the PSA rep for the National Film Unit in 1948 went in to bargain for a pay scale that reflected the extra hours the filmmakers worked and the dangers they encountered – they were graded on a fairly low-paid clerical scale along with other civil servants – the Prime Minister’s office countered that as filmmakers they were doing work they enjoyed and that should be reward enough. (Now there’s an idea: not being paid for work because you enjoy doing it…)

Sixty years on, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have worked hard to ensure appropriate legislation is in place with sound safety regulations in force, and fair pay for the long hours often worked by skilled workers in the film industry. Right?

Thought not.

The Techos’ Guild seems to be forever putting out fires on yet another production, either local or from overseas, where payment to crew is delayed or never arrives, or long – dangerously long – working hours are being demanded, or there are safety issues. (Notice how often they go together?)

In the last issue of NZTECHO, President Alun Bollinger referred to a TVC shoot that went on for 24+ hours. He asked the not-rhetorical question: Why should life and limb be compromised for the sake of some moving pictures and sound?

Your life and limb, that is. May I suggest an answer: Because it’s really about making money, and the workers (aka crew) are expendable.

These situations are recurring too often to be accidental.

There’s a considerable amount of goodwill and flexibility within the culture of the NZ screen industry, but the shadow side takes over when this is pushed too far and crew are expected to compromise their working conditions and safety. There’s always a baseline of insecurity – who knows when the next job will be? – and future employment is often dependent on good word-of-mouth reports between employers. So there’s a power imbalance already and crew are vulnerable.

There’s a popular conception that New Zealanders are laid-back (who on a shoot, where minutes equal dollars, can afford to be laid-back?) Yet everyone knows that crew work long, hard hours (“That’s just the way this industry works, mate, get used to it.”) and that we’re all good mates really (“Everyone else is going to do the extra time so don’t be the one to let us all down, mate.”)

No pressure then, mate.

There’s a name for this culture: It’s called Workplace Bullying. It’s the shadow culture, and New Zealand is known to have one of the highest rates in

Most of us think of bullies as being big, aggressive and usually the Western world. There’s only one way to stop it, and that is to say no, right up-front when it starts, preferably as a unified group. It’s surprising how often taking a stand works, and really quickly too.male. Think again. Bullying is about gaining power and control over others to get what the bully wants. Of course, bullying can include aggression and violence, along with threats and intimidation. It can also include changing your working conditions without warning, gossip, spreading rumors, withholding information, giving misleading information, subtle harassment, charm, humiliation, scapegoating – if it’s behavior aimed at getting control for their own purposes and against your best interests, it's called bullying.

None of us like to see ourselves as being part of a bullying culture, let alone admit to being a target of a bully. Not all bullies are men: half are women. Surprised? That’s another fact that has been confirmed by a series of studies across many of the OECD countries in the last 25 years. And targets are chosen not because they have some innate weakness, but because they are vulnerable for any one of many reasons: needing to pay a mortgage, pay the rent, feed the kids, need a reference, need credit for the CV, etc., etc. These people hang in there, accepting the behavior because they feel they do not have a choice.

If it’s a stretch to think of New Zealand as being a country with a bullying culture that runs right from the top down, just think of what happened as a result of the industrial action on The Hobbit: changes to our employment law were rushed through under urgency, not to save the movie from being made offshore –** Peter Jackson** had already let Gerry Brownlee know that was not an issue, and in any case, the dispute with Actors Equity had been settled – but because this government has a commitment to giving employers maximum control over workers aka crew.

As Albol said, crew need to speak up early to set clear expectations to keep themselves and everyone safe. The good news is that when you do, chances are high that you get what you want – being paid for doing work you enjoy and keeping yourself and your mates safe.