The Canadian Media Guild is urging Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn to conduct a review of the province’s Film and Television Industry, as the ministry is now doing with other sectors of the workforce. The goal is to get rid of certain exemptions to the Employment Standards Act. The contested exceptions mean reality/factual TV workers have no limits on daily hours of work, nor do they have minimum turnaround times between shifts. 

The CMG’s Fairness in Factual TV campaign has launched this petition in an effort to call attention to the urgent need for a review:  https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/we-demand-a-review-of-ontarios-film-and-television-industry.  The review was recommended by the Changing Workplaces Review and promised by the ministry earlier this year.

While much of the entertainment sector is unionized through voluntary agreements, people in reality and factual TV are mostly left unrepresented and outside the protection of labour rules that apply to many other workers.  Nearly 500 have signed on with the Canadian Media Guild in a campaign to improve their conditions.

If you, a friend or a colleague are affected by the haphazard rules in the reality and factual TV sector, please sign the petition and send it to your contacts. It takes less than a minute !

Lise Lareau
Coordinator
Fairness in Factual TV Campaign
Canadian Media Guild