Unionized employees at the Fantasia Film Festival will walk out on Thursday to increase pressure on the employer at the bargaining table. The union says it wants to reach an agreement in principle as soon as possible to prevent the strike from continuing during the festival, which is scheduled to take place in the city from July 18 to August 4.
In late June, the festival’s 60 or so union members voted for a five-day strike, to be carried out at a convenient time. Some workers are paid a flat rate that the union calculates is barely $5 an hour, less than the minimum wage.
The negotiation meeting that took place earlier this week did not bring the expected results, explains employee Giulio Evangelista. “We’ll see how it goes,” he says. The goal was to have the agreement signed before the start of the festival, obviously. The employer has been delaying negotiations since September 2023.
“The employer considers us freelancers, not employees,” Evangelista says. Technically, employees must be rehired every year to work for the festival, he adds, “but there are no guarantees.”
“The CSN is committed to defending the rights of cultural workers who have been left to fend for themselves for too long with very unequal, precarious and sometimes even illegal working conditions,” said CSN Vice-President François Enault in a press release released Wednesday evening. “It is inconceivable to think that some do not even get [le salaire minimum de] $15.75 per hour.”
“The employer’s lack of preparation for nearly a year at the negotiating table is extremely disappointing,” deplores in the same press release Justine Smith, who is part of the negotiating committee of the Syndicat des employées de l’événementiel, affiliated with the CSN.
“We have agreed on almost all the regulatory points,” says Fantasia CEO Pierre Corbeil. “What is stumbling at the moment is that we do not completely agree on the hourly rates for the various positions, but we have agreed to meet on Friday.” There is a desire on both sides to reach an agreement quickly, according to Mr. Corbeil.
He explained that the festival relied on a lot of independent contract workers before they obtained union certification, after which they should obtain employee status. “Management is confident that this element will be resolved” at Friday’s meeting, according to Mr. Corbeil.