Vancouver: The messy labor dispute between performers union ubcp and the producers of Police Academy: The Series has been handed over to binding arbitration following a meeting with a Labour Relations Board mediator July 21.

By invoking a rarely used section of the labor code, mediator Brian Foley essentially foiled the union's right to strike, which was granted July 15 and could have resulted in pickets going up July 18. However, with the mediation process, the union held off a work stoppage and is now hemmed into a system that won't allow members to strike.

"A work stoppage at this time would seriously damage the positive reputation which b.c.'s film industry has achieved in recent years and every means must be considered to avoid such a result," stated Foley in his July 22 decision.

Union president Peter Partridge says the decision comes as a bitter blow and he's enlisting the help of the b.c. Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress to lobby for ubcp's cause.

Through a two-week mail-in referendum in July, the 1,600 ubcp members eligible to vote on the issues voted 96% in favor of strike action against Police Academy. Both the ACTRA Performers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild have pledged support for the ubcp's position.

"We're really disappointed. This plays right into the hands of the producers," says Partridge. "Clearly, the government has been convinced that Warner Bros.'s money is more important than actors' rights. It's disgusting."

Producers' lawyer Allan Krasnick, who did not return calls, hailed the decision in a July 23 article in The Vancouver Sun and suggested that the actors on Police Academy are among the highest paid in the city and that conditions will improve under the proposed contract.

"I think it is a victory for reality over a lack of imagination," he is quoted as saying. "A strike would be devastating for the industry."

The contract negotiations ­ described as difficult and protracted since they began in March between the performers and producers of Academy Production Services Limited Partnership ­ are mired in the issues of residual prepayments (called "use fees") and rates paid for call periods to, for example, wardrobe and rehearsals.

Producers have offered a buyout of residuals that is about 30% lower than traditionally paid. The rationale? Syndicated shows have lower budgets than network shows.

To date, producers buy out an actor's residuals to the tune of 105% of the actor's day rate. Police Academy is offering 75% for free tv rights and will pay more if the syndicated show g'es to cable.

Under the proposed buyout, an actor's day rate (with prepayment) would decrease from $931 to $795, a $136 drop providing no further royalties are paid because the show hasn't sold to cable.

Critics of the union position say that actors will get the same rate, just paid in a different way.

Other reductions in rates include the four-hour minimum call for wardrobe and rehearsals. Producers want to pay that at 50%.

With Warner Bros. as a studio backer and syndication deals in the u.s. and Canada, Police Academy is well financed to maintain current agreements, claims Partridge.

"It is unfortunate to see the Labour Board and the government cave in to scare tactics," says Partridge. "These [producers] pay u.s. actors two to three times as much [as local actors], yet when Canadian actors resist massive cuts to their agreements, the whole industry is suddenly in jeopardy. It's bizarre."

Earlier, when the dispute had just been made public, no one, including the unions, expected the issue to devolve into a full-fledged strike. And with almost half of the first season's 26 episodes already shot, the Police Academy conflict could be considered moot. But at the core of the dispute, says Partridge, are the beginning skirmishes in a bigger war.

Partridge says Police Academy is actually a test case for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which will renegotiate an Independent Production Agreement with the rest of the actra locals in Canada this fall. So while b.c. performers, he says, are in danger of becoming "ghettoized" as the lowest paid players in North America, other Canadian actors could soon see their rates reduced if the ubcp ­ which has autonomous bargaining powers ­ loses.

Film Commissioner Pete Mitchell calls the labor dispute disappointing.

"This is a stumbling block," he says, "but it d'esn't mean imminent [labor] instability. What would really be a problem is if there is a strike." There has never been a strike in the b.c. film industry.

This is not the first time a strike has been threatened. Teamsters 155, for example, has threatened job action at The X-Files and productions overseen by Pacific Motion Pictures and Cannell.

Foley assigned the use fees dispute ­ considered the one issue that needs to be resolved by a third party ­ to arbitrator Stan Lanyon who will meet with the union and producers by Aug. 1, with a decision by the end of August. Other outstanding issues in the contract negotiations are subject to binding arbitration by Foley himself if the union and performers can't work them out on their own.