Dear Members Working in Commercials,
I am pleased to share with you that we have reached an agreement with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) that establishes strong COVID-19 safety protocols for work on commercial productions. Although there is no way to guarantee a virus-free set, the protocols we negotiated significantly reduce the risk that someone will contract COVID-19 at work.
This safety agreement is the result of months of work by your elected leadership, the DGA National Commercial Negotiations Committee and DGA staff. Our negotiations were guided by the deeply scientific approach to minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission on sets that was spearheaded earlier this year by our National Board’s Return to Work Committee in consultation with leading epidemiologists. Together with our sister unions, they developed a comprehensive set of proposed safety protocols for production entitled The Safe Way Forward, which in turn led to a Return to Work Agreement with the Studios for film and television production, and which informed our safety negotiations with the AICP.
We took a similar allied approach in our negotiations with the AICP. This agreement was jointly negotiated with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Locals 399 and 817 (SAG-AFTRA’s commercial contract is not with the AICP) and will apply to all those present on commercial production sets, whether they are represented by our unions or not. This is a significant achievement and was part of making sure the commercial sets you work on are as safe as possible.
The new safety measures, which must be implemented by production companies no later than December 15, 2020, include:
- Pre-employment and regular periodic testing for COVID-19;
- Strict safety protocols for all cast and crew, regardless of their status as union members or non-members;
- A zone-based system to minimize risk of transmission; and
- Designated COVID-19 Compliance Managers.
The agreement also includes COVID-19 sick leave and quarantine pay.
I encourage you all to read a summary of the agreement, which can be found here.
This agreement would not have happened without the commitment of so many, including our National Commercial Negotiations Committee (listed below), who spent many hours refining our goals, the IATSE and Teamsters who negotiated side-by-side with us and collectively brought the full weight of labor together toward a single purpose, and our dedicated DGA staff.
While most DGA commercial signatories are immediately bound to the safety agreement, some are not. We will be working to sign up any company that is not already bound to it. You can see a list of those companies that have signed the Commercial Covid-19 Safety Agreement here, but note that it may take time for a company to be added to that list. If you do not see a company you are planning to work for there, please contact the DGA (numbers below) to confirm whether the Company has, in fact, signed the safety agreement.
The DGA National Negotiations Committee also tentatively reached agreement on a one-year extension of the DGA National Commercial Agreement (NCA), which was scheduled to expire on November 30, 2020. The extension will be reviewed by the National Board next week. You may continue to work on commercial projects in the meantime and are fully covered under the terms of the NCA when you do so.
If you have any questions about how this agreement applies to you or your employment, please contact Juanita Butler (Los Angeles) at jbutler@dga.org (310) 752-5989 or John Hollahan (New York) at jhollahan@dga.org (212) 258-0827.
Neil Dudich
Eastern Executive Director
National Commercial Negotiations Committee
- Greg Bartlett
- Lee Blaine
- Sorrel Brae
- Lily Garcia
- Elle Ginter
- Grady Hall
- Rob Jackson
- John Lowe
- Greg McCollum
- Paul Norman
- Henriette Ohno
- Matt Smith
- Bob Wagner
Alternates
- Alan Berger
- Fred Childress
- Tate Nova
- Eric Topp
