VANCOUVER, BC – Workers at Pacific Backlot Services have ratified their first collective agreement after forming the union in the Fall of 2023. This becomes the first collective agreement at a rental shop to be ratified for IATSE in Canada.
Operating out of Vancouver, Pacific Backlot Services is a division of MBS, the largest equipment services company in the world, with facilities in BC, Alberta, and Ontario. Pacific Backlot provides production services to film productions throughout British Columbia. This new two-year collective agreement will provide twelve months of recall rights for workers laid off due to lack of work, as well as wage increases of 9% over the term of the agreement, retroactive to January 1, 2024.
IATSE Local B778 President Conor Moore noted, “This is a great contract for the works at Pacific Backlot and a great example of what workers can achieve when they join together. We hope to build on this success and bring union representation to more rental shops in Vancouver.”
The IATSE’s recent success unionizing rental shops is not limited to Pacific Backlot Services. In the summer of 2023, workers at William F. Whites in Toronto voted overwhelmingly to form a union at their workplace. “In tandem with bargaining a successful agreement at Pacific Backlot, we are currently bargaining the first collective agreement at Whites in Toronto,” said IATSE International Vice President and Director of Canadian Affairs John Lewis. “We look forward improving the lives of even more entertainment industry rental house workers.”
Rental house workers who are interested in improving their working conditions should contact IATSE International Representative Jeremy Salter at: jsalter@iatse.net.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
International Representative Krista Hurdon at khurdon@iatse.net