Dear Fellow UBCP/ACTRA Members,
Your Executive Board and Management Team met for their 2nd extraordinary board meeting in a week last Thursday. We discussed a number of things, all pretty much related to the challenges Members are facing with the halt of production.
We have decided to suspend the collection of basic annual dues and to push the deadline to a future date when the industry is up and running again. Approximately half of you have already paid your basic annual dues, so in order to be fair to all, we will refund all basic annual dues to everyone who has paid. I know that many of us, as a way to support our union, would rather the union kept our dues. And we appreciate the sentiment. But these are challenging times and this temporary suspension of dues is something the union can do to help the members in the short term.
In addition, the board may be considering a remission or partial remission of basic annual dues, but it is too soon to know how this might be applied. So, depending on how the Covid 19 situation develops, at some point in the future, we will be collecting basic annual dues to some degree.
Those of us who have the capacity might want to consider making a donation to the AFC. While your union, IATSE and Netflix have made donations to the AFC that should allow it to function for some time, I imagine with the uncertain future there may come a time when the AFCs resources will be strained.
We will be refunding dues by cheque as soon as we are able. Please be sure that your mailing address is up to date with UBCP/ACTRA. You can update your information here or email membership@ubcpactra.ca It may take some time to process all the cheques.
We don’t know how long the industry will be shut down. Please know that we are committed to supporting you through this situation.
Stay safe and healthy!
In Solidarity,
Keith Martin Gordey