November 22, 2011
New York – The Directors Guild of America today announced that the DGA membership ratified the new collective bargaining agreement between the DGA and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP).
“We entered into negotiations with the goal of protecting the excellent health benefits enjoyed by our members, retirees and their families, and obtaining the best possible deal for our members in light of the continued difficult economic environment confronting the advertising production industry,” said DGA President Taylor Hackford. “I am very pleased that we achieved our goals with a new commercial contract that contains substantial improvements in every category.”
Negotiations were led by Associate National Executive Director/Eastern Executive Director Russ Hollander and a negotiations committee made up of DGA members. “We negotiated with the AICP to find solutions that would ensure the health of this business and keep our members working,” said Hollander. “The new agreement achieves those goals while establishing important additional provisions addressing safety guidelines, low budget agreements and producer flexibility.”
The National Commercial Agreement addresses wage increases for all members in each year of the contract including a 15.8% increase for 2nd 2nd assistant directors in the first year of the contract; increased contributions to the DGA Health Plan including a 17.65% increase in the employer contribution rate for all members plus additional contributions for directors; and a number of additional provisions addressing limits on non-disclosure agreements, extension of canceled call provisions to cover 2nd assistant directors and the establishment of several working committees that will meet during the term of the agreement, including a safety committee to develop a single set of recommended set safety guidelines. The Agreement also addresses a number of Producer concerns pertaining to low budget and foreign commercials including increasing low-budget thresholds from $250,000 to $300,000.
The DGA’s National Board of Directors unanimously approved the contract during the National Board Meeting on October 15, 2011, and ratifications materials were sent to the membership shortly thereafter.
The new contract covers a three-year term from December 1, 2011 through November 30, 2014.