We found this press release pass on our desktop this morning. Pretty amazing stuff. John St. should hire them as their Agency, evidently ACTRA has no problem getting a message out.
TORONTO, Feb. 21 /CNW/ – The decision by the Toronto advertising agency John St. to no longer abide by the National Commercial Agreement (NCA) is a blow to all professional actors and especially child performers. The NCA sets industry standard terms and conditions for performers who work in Canadian commercial production.
“It is appalling that, in the extremely profitable $19 billion Canadian advertising industry, the John St. agency feels it no longer has to provide performers with the industry standard wages, benefits and working conditions set out by the NCA. It is especially alarming that children who work in this
industry will no longer have the protections provided by the commercial agreement,” said Dan Mackenzie, Director of Communications at ACTRA Toronto.
John St. recently withdrew from the NCA, which is negotiated between the Institute of Communication Agencies, the Association of Canadian Advertisers
(ICA/ACA) and ACTRA. The withdrawal of John St. means the agency will no longer be using professional performers in their advertising and are not
obligated to provide children with the basic protections that are a cornerstone of the NCA. Without the mutually agreed safeguards of the NCA, the
well-being of child performers is left to the goodwill of advertising agencies.
Mackenzie added, “Children doing commercial work participate in a stressful industry and are vulnerable to unreasonable work requests from
adults in trusted positions of authority. It is not acceptable to leave their conditions of work to the whims of any ad agency. John St. should re-sign the
NCA immediately in order to demonstrate their commitment to abiding by industry standards that have been mutually agreed for decades.”
ACTRA Toronto is the largest organization within ACTRA, representing over 11,000 of Canada’s 21,000 professional performers working in the
English-language recorded media in Canada. As an advocate for Canadian culture since 1943, ACTRA is a member-driven organization that continues to secure the rights and respect for the work of professional performers.
For further information: Susan Ponting, ACTRA National Public Relations Officer, direct: (416) 644-1519, cell: (416) 897-7028, email:
sponting@actra.ca