Film production workers file for unionization

Last week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their second new applications report for December 2024. In it was an application for union certification.

Local 362 of the General Teamsters filed the application on 5 December 2024 on behalf of workers employed by AB Abducted At The Football Game Productions ULC.

The employer is a film production company.

I haven’t been able to find much information on them. I do know that they incorporated in British Columbia this past summer and the two contacts listed in the application—Heather Roscorla and Jason Wan Lim—have been involved in Alberta’s film production scene for years.

This application is specifically for 10 workers employed by production company, including transportation coordinators, captians, co-captains, drivers, caterers, and catering staff.

The ALRB has scheduled a hearing for this application for later today, during which time, the employer will have a chance to argue why they think these workers shouldn’t unionize with Local 362.

If the application is approved, the labour board will hold a certification vote, and the workers will have a chance to choose whether to join the Teamsters.

When they submit a certification application, unions must show a minimum of 40% support among the workers they’re trying to organize, so there’s usually a pretty good chance the workplace will unionize.

In this case, that’s just 4 workers, and they’d need just two more to vote with them to get a majority.

If these workers do join, one of their first orders of business will be to form a bargaining committee to begin negotiating their first collective agreement with the employer.

Because the ALRB doesn’t archive their new application reports, I’ve included a copy of this week’s report below for your convenience.

Update (8 January 2025): The ALRB issued a certificate for these workers today, officially making this location an unionized workplace.