ACTRA : The Cruel and Exclusionary 'Attachment to the Workplace' Rule and ACTRA's So-Called Concern for the Disabled Performers in the Membership
The Nov. 20, 2024 edition of ACTRA Toronto Performers Magazine contains an article entitled "All In: Building an Inclusive and Accessible Production Industry".
Only 2.2% of all speaking characters were depicted with a disability in the 100 top U.S. films of 2023 ( according to a USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study that was cited in the ACTRA Toronto Performers Magazine's " All In" article ).
An average of only 21.6% of all characters with disabilities were portrayed authentically by an actor with the same disability across both television networks and streaming services in 2018 ( according to a study that was done by the Ruderman Family Foundation ).
ACTRA union members with disabilities account for approximately 23% of ACTRA’s membership ( according to the "2021 ACTRA National Member Census" that was commissioned by ACTRA National ).
The fact that discrimination for ACTRA performers with disabilities is prohibited under the Canadian Human Rights Act doesn't seem to have made much of an impression on anyone in charge at ACTRA, however.
The ACTRA Toronto Performer Magazine article neglects to mention ACTRA's cruel and exclusionary 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule.
ACTRA's 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule openly, and shamelessly, discriminates against ACTRA union members with a disability who haven't been getting work because of their disability.
Everybody, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, is the same according to ACTRA’s ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule.
The ACTRA Apprentice members with a disability have to work the same number of days as the ACTRA Apprentice members who don’t have a disability to become eligible to vote on an IPA, an NCA, a referendum, and a strike action.
The AABP ( ACTRA Additional Background Performers ) with a disability have to work the same number of days as the AABP members who don’t have a disability to become eligible to vote.
The Full ACTRA members with a disability have to work the same number of days as the Full ACTRA members who don’t have a disability to become eligible to vote.
The Full, Apprentice, and AABP members with a disability who aren’t getting hired to work on ACTRA-sanctioned productions are making the exact same amount of money. $ 0.
How would you feel if the photographer who got paid to take pictures of your ‘family celebrations’ had made arrangements to have someone else stand in and pretend to be you ?
The 'photographer' would be ACTRA.
ACTRA union makes money regardless of who ends up in the ‘family photos’.
'Someone else ' would be one of many able-bodied ACTRA unions members who ACTRA would provide to play the role of a disabled character instead of an ACTRA union member who was genuinely disabled.
How would you feel if the family stories that were being told about you were actually stories about someone else who had pretended to be you and gotten paid to play you in ACTRA-sanctioned family stories?
Would you list the credits of the ACTRA member who pretended to be you on your acting resume?
Would any of the money that someone else made pretending to be you end up in your bank account?
You don't have to look any further than ACTRA's cruel and exclusionary 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule to understand EXACTLY what if feels like NOT to belong and NOT to be represented in ACTRA’s version of your ‘family album’.
So, why aren't ACTRA National Executive Director Marie Kelly and ACTRA's local branch Executive Directors, ACTRA National President Eleanor Noble and ACTRA's local branch Presidents, ACTRA National Council and ACTRA's local branch councils collectively calling for the exemption of ACTRA union members with a disability from ACTRA's 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule?
It's extremely significant that ACTRA - a union that presumes to lecture everyone outside of ACTRA about the gaps in the limited representation of people with disabilities on our screens - would maintain a rule that denies ACTRA union members with a disability the right to vote on an IPA contract, an NCA contract, a referendum, and on a strike action on the basis of how much work they aren’t getting in the Canadian film and tv industry.
Harold ‘Hal’ Myshrall, a physically disabled ACTRA Toronto union member filed a Human Rights case against ACTRA in 2019.
Hal Myshrall’s Human Rights case against ACTRA revolved around ACTRA's cruel and exclusionary 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule.
Hal passed away in April of 2021 before his Human Rights case against ACTRA came to trial.
The 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule is still in effect in 2024. That speaks volumes about ACTRA's so-called 'concern' for ACTRA union members with a disability.
ACTRA's cruel and exclusionary 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule was voted on and passed by ACTRA National Council in 2018.
ACTRA’s ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule has been wrong from the beginning. ACTRA’s leaders made an egregious mistake against the membership that ACTRA’s leaders can’t bring themselves to admit was an egregious mistake.
It’s painfully obvious that ACTRA’s leaders don’t care any more now about disabled ACTRA union members than they did when ACTRA Toronto union Hal Myshrall was alive.
If they genuinely cared about the disabled performers in the union membership their first order of business would have been to exclude them from the cruel and exclusionary ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule.
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“Accessibility is an interesting topic in [IPA] negotiations because it’s the one topic that will affect the broader scope of the entire membership,
As someone living with a disability, accessibility affects my daily life, and the employer should be more involved with making sure accessibility is in the forefront of their budget lines so that we all feel included in this industry.
All members should care about disability and accommodations because disability is the one minority group that any member could become a part of at any point in their life or affected by it with a loved one or a co-worker.
With our aging population in Canada, and with medical conditions becoming increasingly more complex for many individuals, know that we will be fighting hard for Accessibility in these negotiations.
We’ve had decades of staying in the dark, and it’s time that we have a revolution in disability justice.”
( - ACTRA Toronto Executive Councillor and 2024 IPA bargaining team member George Alevizos / ACTRA Toronto Performers Magazine article "All In: Building an Inclusive and Accessible Production Industry" / November 20, 2024 )
v—————-( Hugh Betcha )——————--v
When is George Alevizos going to open his eyes and recognise a glaring example of Institutional Discrimination on ACTRA's part?
ACTRA’s leaders came up with the ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule.
There is absolutely nothing in Canadian Labour law that says that a union member must have worked under a union contract to vote on a union contract.
Former ACTRA Toronto President Theresa Tova declared on an ACTRA Toronto Facebook page that ACTRA’s hands were tied when it came to getting rid of the ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule because it was mandated by Labour Law.
The lengthy discussion that Tova had on the ACTRA Facebook page with a number of individuals who exposed the fact that she had no idea what she was talking about was included in the evidence that Hal Myshrall submitted to support his Human Rights case against ACTRA.
Hal Myshrall had the foresight to copy the entire discussion before the ACTRA-appointed moderator of the Facebook page removed the thread.
ACTRA’s lawyers would have received a copy of the evidence that Hal Myshrall submitted to back up his Human Rights claim against ACTRA.
All of that was happening before George Alevizos joined ACTRA.
The ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule came into effect before George Alevizos joined ACTRA Toronto as a member.
George Alevizos can’t be blamed for what went on before he joined the union, but he most certainly can be blamed for remaining silent about the cruel and exclusionary ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule after he joined ACTRA.
When is George Alevizos going to speak up about what ACTRA’s leaders have done wrong and are continuing to do wrong?
When is George Alevizos going to denounce ACTRA’s leaders for their hypocrisy?
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Institutional discrimination is the discriminatory treatment of an individual or group of individuals by institutions, through unequal consideration of members of subordinate groups.
These unfair and indirect methods of discrimination are often embedded in an institution's policies, procedures, laws, and objectives.
The discrimination can be on grounds of gender, caste, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, or socio-economic status
( - from Wikipedia article 'Institutional Discrimination' )
v—————-( Hugh Betcha )——————v
The ‘INSTITUTION’ is the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television, and Radio Artists union.
ACTRA’s ‘Attachment to the Workplace ‘ rule doesn’t take the difference between an ACTRA union member with a disability and an able-bodied ACTRA union member into consideration.
The pretence that an ACTRA member with a disability stands an EQUAL chance of getting on-screen work as an ACTRA member without a disability is UNFAIR.
The ACTRA union members with a DISABILITY qualify as members of a SUBORDINATE group.
They are a subordinate group within the union because approximately 77% of ACTRA union members are NOT disabled ( according to the "2021 ACTRA National Member Census" that was commissioned by ACTRA National ).
A union rule that declares an ACTRA member with a disability must work the same number of days as an able-bodied ACTRA member to be eligible to vote on an IPA, an NCA, a referendum, and a strike action is DISCRIMINATORY.
The average ACTRA union member with a disability would have a much more difficult time finding work in the film and tv industry than the average ACTRA member without a disability ( as evidenced by the circumstances and statistics that were provided in the ACTRA Toronto Performance Magazine “All In” article ).
The ACTRA members with a disability who aren’t working enough days ( for the very reasons that are cited in the “All In” article) are being denied their ‘voice’ ( vote ).
They have no ‘say’ whatsoever in union matters.
They’re in the union, but not really. They’re in the union on paper, but they aren’t on set earning an income.
They’re in the union, but not in the industry. The union prohibits them from taking work in the industry that isn’t sanctioned by ACTRA.
They are ‘all out’ of the industry if they aren’t getting work on ACTRA productions and they can’t accept work on non-union productions.
It’s not about what ACTRA can do for them. It’s all about what ACTRA’s leaders stand to gain from claiming that ACTRA cares deeply about the ACTRA members with a disability within the membership.
If ACTRA’s leaders cared about the ACTRA union members with a disability who haven’t been getting hired to work on ACTRA-sanctioned productions ACTRA’s leaders wouldn’t prohibit them from accepting work on non-union productions.
ACTRA members with a disability aren’t being taken care of by ACTRA and ACTRA won’t allow them to be taken care of by anyone else.
The ACTRA union members with a disability who can’t work on sets that aren’t accessible to them can’t vote on contracts that they would be working under if they should ever have the good fortune of being hired to work on an ACTRA-sanctioned production.
George Alevizo’s silence about the ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule that has been shutting ACTRA members with a disability out of the democratic process of voting on an IPA and an NCA ( two contracts that every ACTRA member would be eligible to work under ) says a great deal about George Alevizo’s so-called concern for the disabled performs that he claims to represent.
George Alevizos, an ACTRA union member with a disability who has managed to get work on ACTRA-sanctioned productions, ends up doing all of the talking for every performer with a disability in the union.
That works out well for self-promoting ACTRA Toronto Executive Councillor George Alevizos, but it certainly doesn’t work out for all of the ACTRA union members with a disability who are being denied the right to vote on an IPA, an NCA, a referendum, and a strike action because of ACTRA’s cruel and exclusionary ‘Attachment to the Workplace’ rule.
The 'need for education' and the 'need for regulation' in the Canadian film and tv industry are brought up in the ACTRA Performers Magazine “All In” article.
What about the long standing need for ACTRA's leaders to develop a conscience and finally get rid of ACTRA's cruel and exclusionary 'Attachment to the Workplace' rule?
