The membership of the Directors Guild of America voted to ratify the new three-year collective bargaining agreements between the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), DGA President Jack Shea announced today. The DGA's National Board of Directors had approved the contract on June 26, 1999, after completion of the Creative Rights negotiations in late June. A summary of the creative and economic terms of the new contract, along with a voting ballot, was mailed to members on July 7, 1999. Members had until July 27 to return their ballots.
"I said after our Board recommended ratification that I thought our membership would respond positively to the new contract, and I'm pleased that I was correct," DGA President Jack Shea said. "This contract contains some outstanding gains for Guild members, which is a real credit to our Economic Negotiating Committee Chairman Dan Petrie, Sr., our Creative Rights Negotiating Co-Chairs Martha Coolidge and John Frankenheimer, and the rest of our negotiating teams. I'd like to particularly thank our National Executive Director Jay Roth, whose tireless efforts on behalf of the Guild membership were an inspiration to us all."
The Board recommended ratification of the economic terms at its January 23, 1999 meeting, and ratification of the creative terms at its June 26, 1999 meeting. Both meetings were held at the Guild’s Los Angeles headquarters.
"This contract is good for our members and good for the industry," Roth commented. "Our negotiations with the AMPTP were tough but fair, and in the end we were able to achieve some real, tangible improvements for Guild members in both the creative and economic arenas."
