WATCH ABOVE: A prominent multi-media production house in Halifax is closing its doors for good. Egg Studios has been engaged in a bitter dispute for some time over a union attempt to represent some staff who do work at the production facility. Global’s Natasha Pace reports.
HALIFAX – A prominent multi-media production house in Halifax is closing its doors for good.
Egg Studios released a statement on its Facebook page overnight that announced the impending closure.
In part, the statement read: “What started as a dream more than 10 years ago — has become the worst nightmare of our lives.”
That’s because the company has been has been in a bitter fight with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees since freelance technicians were given the right to unionize.
“They’ve been kind of threatening to do this for a while, so surprised is the wrong word, but extremely disappointed,” said Gary Vermeir, Business Agent for Locals 849 and 709 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
Egg is the region’s largest producer of television commercials, employing 20 full-time staff and nearly 300 freelancers.
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“They’re saying this is all because they didn’t want to have to negotiate with our union,” said Vermeir. “They would rather go out of business then actually sit down and come up with a collective agreement for the film technicians that work for them.”
No one with Egg Studios was available for an interview today, but in the Facebook post, the company said they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting the union in court. “We always believed fairness would prevail and the courts would understand that five casual employees out of 350 local members certifying a company based on one day of work made no sense. It still makes no sense.”
The recent changes to the film tax credit have been hitting the film industry hard. Vermeir said the loss of Egg Studios is another blow to the industry.” Every film job right now is worth its weight in gold, and so, the fact that the potential jobs on Egg commercial sets are now gone, is for us, incredibly disappointing.”
Kelly Regan, Nova Scotia’s Labour Minister, said the loss of the company is unfortunate, but it’s not her government’s fault. In 2011, the NDP government imposed settlements on first contracts for newly unionized workplaces.
“Let’s be clear here, this is happening because the previous NDP government brought in first contract arbitration, which imposed a first contract on this organization,” Regan said.
The last day for business for Egg Studios will be November 6.
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