The Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 (SIWA) came into legal force and effect at the end of December 2022.
What does that mean for producers?
Producers must ensure all NEW individual contracts have the following mandatory terms. Existing contracts had until December 2023 to reflect these changes.
The SIWA sets out the following:
- Employment status of screen production workers (the Bill will only cover certain contractors in the screen industry, and will not affect employees in the screen industry)
- Rules for individual contracts
- Collective bargaining framework
- Dispute resolution system.
While preparations for collective bargaining will take some time, from the commencement of the Act at the end of December 2022, six new rules now apply to all individual contracts.
The six new rules for individual contracts:
MANDATORY TERMS
All contracts must contain the following:
WHO IS COVERED?
The SIWA covers contractors whose work contributes to the creation of screen productions. The Bill does not cover support services, volunteer work, and work done for a company that doesn't primarily do screen production work. The Bill will cover certain screen productions in Aotearoa New Zealand, including films, television series, and computer-generated games.
WHO IS INVOLVED?
- Worker Organisations, that represent workers in the screen industry (e.g. a Guild or Union such as DEGANZ, EQUITY, NZWG).
- Engager organisations, that represent engagers (eg Spada)
- Producers and Production Companies are not specifically mentioned as they are considered the Engagers in the bill.
Key screen industry workers currently included in the Bill are arranged under Occupational Groups. The Bill allows collective contracts to be negotiated for the following occupations:
THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROCESS
The collective bargaining process takes place on two levels: the occupational level and the enterprise level. The process will be lengthy and expensive, and it will take time for Spada to prepare.
When the collective bargaining process begins Spada's role would be to negotiate with the other worker organisations to set minimum terms for contractors' work (ie pay, breaks, public holidays, hours of work, availability for work, termination - and other terms which may be specific to the worker organisation).
There are three types of contracts covered by the Bill:
Spada will be engaging professional services where required, and the work on the SIWB will also involve a group of Spada Members who are representative of the broader screen sector and can inform the negotiations required during the collective bargaining process.
The general rules for governing the collective bargaining process are:
Both types of collective contracts need to include the following mandatory terms:
Once they are in place, collective contracts will effectively set new minimum terms for work in the industry. For example, the pay rates in an Occupational Contract will become the new minimum pay rate for work done by that occupation of workers. Producers/Production Companies and workers can negotiate above the minimum terms set by collective contracts, and reflect this in individual contracts.
TERMINOLOGY
USEFUL LINKS AND RESOURCES
TIMELINE OF THE SCREEN INDUSTRY WORKERS BILL
2010
Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill AKA The Hobbit Law
This legislation was passed overnight in 2010 by the National Government of the day. The reasons and rationale became clear over the next decade, unfortunately at the time it was a law that divided an industry.
You can read an explanation by Helen Kelly, President of the NZ Council of Trade Unions in 2011.
2018
Film Industry Working Group (FIWG) - Formed in January 2018
The Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway formed the Film Industry Working Group (FIWG) consisting of screen industry representatives (including Spada), alongside the Council of Trade Unions and BusinessNZ.
The working group was formed to make recommendations on changes to the regulatory framework for film industry workers that will restore the rights of film production workers to bargain collectively while continuing to work as contractors.
You can understand the background of the history of the FIWG.
2018
FIWG Recommendations - Delivered in October 2018
By October 2018, the FIWG had unanimously agreed on a set of recommendations that were presented to the Minister and government. These recommendations would then form the basis of drafting the new legislation to be called the Screen Industry Workers Bill. Between October 2018 and December 2019, a smaller subgroup of the original FIWG was called back into MBIE conversation and consultation to assist with the technicalities of drafting SIWB Legislation.
The smaller FIWG consisted of Alice Shearman - Executive Director NZWG, Richard Fletcher - Co-President Spada, Melissa Ansell-Bridges - Executive Director Actors Equity and Sioux MacDonald - Vice President SIGANZ.
You can read the full recommendations by the FIWG.
2019
In May 2019, the Government responded to the FIWG. The Government agreed to endorse the FIWG’s recommendations to create a new regulatory framework for contractors doing screen production work (subject to limiting the scope of workers covered by their proposed model) and commenced consultation with parties in the screen industry on draft legislation giving effect to the recommendations. You can read the following full response from the Government.
This resulted in another year of consultation around the drafting of the legislation between the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the smaller FIWG cohort.
2020
Screen Industry Workers Bill - Introduced to Parliament
In February 2020 the Screen Industry Workers Bill completed drafting and was introduced to Parliament. This started the process of readings and investigation through the Education and Workforce Select Committee:
5 March 2020 - First Reading of the draft legislation in Parliament
25 May 2020 - Written Submissions to the Education and Workforce Select Committee
Jun-Jul 2020 - Oral submissions presented to the Education and Workforce Select Committee
6 Aug 2020 - Select Committee Deliver their report to Parliament
2022
March 2022 Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Hon Michael Wood indicated that the Bill would proceed to Second Reading in the second half of 2022. The second reading was completed in September. The third and final reading of the SIWB occurred around October.
The Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 (SIWA 2022) came into effect in December 2022.