The CTU says the film industry is failing its workers by paying many poverty wages. Photo / Supplied
According to many reports, the New Zealand film industry is experiencing a renaissance. A number of big budget international productions are set to start filming in New Zealand in the next few years, and it has been announced that the next two films in James Cameron's Avatar trilogy will be produced in our country.
But according to the Council of Trade Unions, these good news stories hide a less palatable truth.
The CTU says that the industry is failing its workers - that half those who worked in the film-making business in 2013 earned less than $2625 for the whole year.
It also says, based on Statistics New Zealand data, the average annual pay for three-quarters of the 12,600 jobs within the industry was $13,200.
"These jobs are insecure, badly paid, and often very short-term," said CTU president Helen Kelly when the statistics came out in April.
"Production work that was contracted out showed huge disparities in income, with half of the jobs getting $14,646 or less but a quarter getting more than $59,998."
She went on to say that amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2010 restricted film and television workers' rights to annual leave, sick leave and a minimum wage.
She said that if these rights weren't restored, the situation would continue to deteriorate.
While the CTU claims that many New Zealand film workers are being paid poverty wages, the New Zealand Film Commission disagrees.
"The statistics quoted refer to jobs, not people," says Selina Joe from the New Zealand Film Commission.
"The number of jobs in the screen industry differs from the number of people employed, as people may hold multiple jobs within the industry."
She goes on to say that many who work in the industry work part-time or casually, and that it's impossible to take the data at face value.
She points to other figures that show wages in the industry are higher than average.
"In 2012, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that the average fulltime wage for those directly employed in the film and television industry was $70,900 per annum," she says.
While the commission doesn't acknowledge an issue with pay rates in the industry, Bill Rosenberg from CTU believes that the Statistics New Zealand figures do indeed paint a bleak picture.
He says that 4900 people worked in the 12,600 jobs in 2013; an average of 2.6 jobs per person. "But even if a person had three jobs at the median earnings for film work, they would have received only $7875 for the year," he says.
"Additionally, a quarter of the jobs got $625 or less. The number of jobs for each person is an indication of the insecurity of the work.
"Even if they got three jobs on the top quartile of $13,200, $39,600 is well under the median wage and salary earnings across the board for the year.
"But the majority of workers won't get three jobs, nor at the top quartile."
He adds that Statistics New Zealand figures also include the broadcasting and distribution sectors of the industry, which are more highly paid, and says the median wages for 2013 were $30,724 for all those in the screen industry (just 73 per cent of the median income for workers across all industries).
While there have been incentives put in place to encourage production to our shores - in 2014 Cabinet ministers Steven Joyce and Chris Finlayson lifted the incentives paid to international production companies considering working in New Zealand - Rosenberg says they are double-edged swords.
"The problem for film workers is that even if there is more work, jobs are short-lived, often poorly paid, and getting more work is at the whim of the production companies."
This being said, the recent incentives put in place for production have seen a dramatic increase in permits given for film and television work in the country.
In Auckland alone, more than 300 permits were issued by Screen Auckland in 2014 - double the number for the previous year.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development has stated that these permits equate to hundreds of jobs for part-time and fulltime employees.
But Rosenberg says that the amendments to the 2010 act (which changed the status of film workers from employee to self-employed contractor) mean that these jobs can be unreliable and that those who stand up for fair working conditions can be vilified.
"Film workers are susceptible to not getting more work if they stick up for their rights; they may also be subject to other poor employment practices," he says.
"That's why unions in the industry have tried to get rules around employment to try to give workers more security and to improve their conditions."