December 9, 2010
LOS ANGELES – Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced that the DGA National Board voted unanimously to approve and recommend for ratification a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.
Highlights of the new agreement include:
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Increase in Employer contributions to Health Plan:
- Employers will contribute an additional 1.5% of compensation to the Health Plan, for a total of 10%. This is a 17.6% increase in Employer contributions to the Health Plan, the largest increase in Employer contribution rates since the Plan was founded. Together with the 5.5% contributed to the Pension Plan, Employers will now be contributing 15.5% of total compensation to the Health and Pension Plans.
- For the first time, Employers will make contributions to the Health Plan on Vacation Pay and Completion of Assignment Pay. This is a substantial new benefit that will also allow more DGA members to qualify for healthcare.
- The cap on Health Plan contributions for Unit Production Managers employed on theatrical motion pictures will increase from $250,000 to $350,000.
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Increase in wages and residuals bases:
- The standard rate increase for minimum salaries and residuals bases will be 2% in each year of the contract.
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Basic Cable:
- A new, higher compensation tier will be established to more appropriately compensate DGA Directors working on high-budget basic cable dramatic programming.
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Unit Production Managers, Assistant Directors, Associate Directors and Stage Managers:
- Mandatory Safety Training: As proposed by the DGA, the existing Directors Guild-Producer Training Plan Safety Passport Training Course will now become mandatory for UPMs, Assistant Directors, Associate Directors and Stage Managers eligible to work in Southern California.
- Residuals Sharing: Associate Directors on multi-camera prime time dramatic series will receive a proportionate share of residuals. This marks the first time that Employees performing the job previously known as Technical Coordinators will receive a share of residuals.
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Travel:
- The DGA agreed to the same modifications in its travel provisions that SAG and AFTRA agreed to in their contract negotiations.
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Term:
- The term of the agreement is three years, July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2014.
The new agreement also includes provisions addressing diversity; creative rights; and issues arising from changing production patterns including development services, long hours for Assistant Directors and the employment of Unit Production Managers.
“I’m truly pleased with this new contract,” said Gil Cates, Chair of the DGA’s Negotiations Committee. “We went in there knowing full well that increasing employer contributions to our Health Plan would be our top priority. By the time we finished, we not only achieved a significant increase in contributions on our regular compensation, we also achieved contributions on Completion of Assignment Pay and Vacation Pay for the first time ever. This is a tremendous new source of funding for the Health Plan and a wonderful, important gain for our members.”
Cates added, “Between the Health Plan gains and the establishment of a new tier in Basic Cable, this was an excellent result for both our directors and our members who work as part of the directorial team. The Committee worked very hard and I am proud of what they accomplished.”
Negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which began on Tuesday, November 16, concluded on Tuesday, December 7. Talks were led by Cates and DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth.
“This substantial new agreement accomplishes our most important objectives and I’m grateful for the leadership and wisdom of Negotiations Chair Gil Cates and National Executive Director Jay Roth,” said Hackford. “We had an incredibly involved Negotiations Committee, and I would like to thank them and the DGA staff for their dedication and hard work – it truly paid off.”
Details of the new agreement were presented to the Guild's National Board for approval at a special board meeting on Wednesday, December 8. A ballot and ratification materials will next be sent to the DGA membership. The DGA’s current contracts expire on June 30, 2011.