If we were not in Equity, there would be no incentive for management to even recognize us much less give us decent pay. Also, the IATSE rules make no sense for SMs and the only power a union has is if its members respect the rules and conditions. Basically, if you do the job right, it would be impossible to work within IA rules, so you would become a bad union member and the steward would make you NOT DO YOUR JOB. Also, the one time SMA investigated they did not want us due to the fact that in Brit AEA, the stage managers do all the prop work, and they saw us clearly as a threat. AGMA has no clue what we do... most of the time in an AGMA negotiation period is bringing up to speed on what we do and what we need... No, Equity is where it is at.. without their clout, there would be one PSM and a bunch of volunteers or PAs or dancers/understudies as assistants, and the minimums would be a minimal...