The vice-president of Canada’s English language acting union isn’t happy seeing a Rogers ad featuring U.S. star John Krasinski letting loose to Taylor Swift in a boat on Lake Simcoe.
“Every time I see that commercial, it makes my skin crawl,” said Keith Martin Gordey, who is also the president of the Union of British Columbia Performers. “The agency that made that, Publicis … has locked us out.”
For more than two years, a labour dispute between The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and a group of Canadian ad agencies has effectively prevented union actors from appearing in spots for many of the country’s largest brands.
Actor Jason Bryden says he moved to Toronto in 2012, because union commercial work had dried up in Vancouver.
“I just thought we should try Toronto and see if it’s better there. And it was, until this lockout.”
He says he went from auditioning six times a week to once every six months.
“I know that would be a lot different if I left my union, if I was a non-union performer,” he said.
Bryden and some Canadian actors say the related loss of work has contributed to them having to sell their homes. That’s one of the reasons the ad, featuring a Hollywood star from an agency that isn’t using Canadian union talent, has drawn criticism. Meanwhile, the group representing ad agencies in the dispute says agreeing to the deal the union wants would spell the end of union commercial work in Canada.
What’s the dispute about?
From the 1960s to 2022, ACTRA had a deal called the National Commercial Agreement (NCA) with two groups, the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA), representing Canadian brands, and the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA), representing the creative agencies that produce ads on behalf of brands.
The ACA has signed on to a series of extensions, allowing advertisers a path to work with agencies using union talent. Meanwhile, the ICA and ACTRA have been unable to agree on an updated version of the deal, with talks breaking down in April 2022.
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For over two years, a labour dispute has kept thousands of unionized commercial actors in Canada from working under a longstanding agreement with major advertisers.
ACTRA filed a bad faith bargaining claim with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) against the ICA and ICA agencies. The union contends the NCA is a collective agreement, while the ICA says it’s a contract that has expired, meaning they can use non-union actors. The OLRB hearings are scheduled through December..
Mediated discussions between the two parties broke down in the fall of 2023, with the ICA stating on its website that the mediator determined the parties were too far apart to continue with the process.
Actors selling homes, changing careers
With union acting gigs drying up, Bryden says he had to sell his house in December and move to a different neighbourhood with his kids.
He’s also considering a career change at age 52 and is thinking about going back to school to get a Masters in psychology to become a counsellor or a psychotherapist.
“I’m just on the verge of maybe pulling the trigger on that, going back and getting into some student debt and reprogramming so I can bring my children to the finish line of the whelping.”
He says he doesn’t think his plan will change, even if the union dispute is resolved.
“When you acquire things like a mortgage and children, you have to be making some good cake these days, especially in the cities where showbiz exists, like Vancouver and Toronto.”
Actor Paloma Nuñez remembers how she felt when she first saw the Rogers ad featuring Krasinski.
“I was infuriated,” she said.
Canadian actors hoped for solidarity
Nuñez referenced last year’s actors strike in the U.S., and said she’d like to see stars from south of the border insist Canadian companies go back to using union talent as a precondition to coming here to work with them.
“All I’m asking and hoping is that they would show solidarity to us and say ‘This isn’t acceptable, and if you want us, you need to go back to union,’ ” she said.
Hamilton actor Kate Ziegler says Canadian commercial actors impacted by this dispute haven’t been afforded the same solidarity shown to actors hit by the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes in the U.S. last year.
“I think there is a place for stars, people with a lot of notoriety to make a statement, take a stand, do a thing to support the journeyman actors,” said Ziegler, who was once the voice of Rogers in ads.
She says she’s also preparing to sell her home. “I’ll stay in the union, I’ll stay and fight, but I can’t hold this on my own anymore.”
In an email, a spokesperson for SAG-AFTRA expressed support for Canadian union actors. “We wholeheartedly support our colleagues at ACTRA in their fight for fair protections for their members.”
Multiple emails to Krasinksi’s publicist did not receive a response before publication.
A representative for Rogers did not reply to an email seeking comment and requesting an interview.
CBC News also reached out to Publicis, but did not hear back.
Dispute before labour board
The ICA says that if it were to agree to the deal the union wants, advertisers would simply work with agencies using non-union talent instead.
They shared their September 2023 proposal for a new agreement. ACTRA has responded, saying it’s disappointed with proposed concessions.
The ICA also contests ACTRA’s description of the dispute as a lockout, saying that ACTRA has instructed its members not to work for signatory agencies, but that agencies have never prevented ACTRA members from auditioning for productions.
Gordey, the ACTRA vice-president, says that’s just not true.
“It’s before the Ontario Labour Board right now,” he said, suggesting the OLRB would have to rule on whether or not the NCA is a collective agreement.
Nonetheless, he said, “it’s an agreement that’s been in place for over 60 years.”
ICA president Scott Knox declined an interview, citing the ongoing process at the OLRB. He also shared the ICA’s September statement on the matter.
ACTRA, the Canadian union representing commercial actors, is protesting the Institute of Canadian Agencies for what they call union-busting strategies. CBC News spoke to actors and protesters about why they want brands that use those agencies, like Wendy’s and Canadian Tire, to listen.
