Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?

[LizzG]

And LizzG, that's great that your education system is like that - most schools that have a good stage management program do work under AEA rules - to the best of their ability.  But the reality it, it's always some sort of bastardization of it - I always ask, under what contract did you work under?  Did you rehearse 8 hours a day?  Did you tech the full amount of time?  Often, it just means (and I have no idea where you went to school) we took breaks under AEA rules. 

But, you, without your AEA card, versus someone who has 5 ... 10 ... 15 years experience with the union, who is a production manager or general manager going to chose?  (All other things being equal.)

Be familiar with the union rules is one thing --- knowing them is another --- being able to jump through them, bend them, flip off them and spin them around to get what you need out of them is something else entirely.  Remember, a SM who makes a mistake in scheduling or misreading the rules can cost a theater company hundreds or thousands of dollars.  It's not just reading the book, it's knowing what's an important rule and what's not important.  To say what you learned in school and off a couple of workshops is to belittle what one gets from years of experienced.  It would be like someone saying, I am ready to stage manage anything because I did two shows in my basement - maybe you are, but you don't have a proven track record, and you don't have the experience to back it up.  It would be a huge gamble.

Yes, you have to get the start some place, probably not as the SM, most likely as a PA, then an ASM, and the move up to SM - but rarely are is your first card position the SM on a show.  And, it would be different levels.  Probably not on Broadway or a major regional theater . . . but luckily theater has all sorts of tiers for all sorts of people.

I am just saying that a GM or Production Manager for a living wage theatre job would be taking a pretty big risk putting a non-union SM into a union slot without some mitigating circumstances. And I wonder how much push back they would get from the union (and can get from the union) for hiring non-union.

Union, not-union, whatever - there are so many jobs for everyone out there . . . LizzG, I just want people to be careful when they downplay the experience of years of experience brings to the table (in the union or not) - it's hard - too many people think that that stage management is the job they did right out of college, but in reality, as we all move down the job path, we learn how much more is involved in this position - and how more complex it is.

Oh, yes, I completely agree that it takes years and years of experience to do this job, and to do it right.  And a non union SM who is hired to be a first time AEA SM would have a hard task in front of them!  I meant my comment in relation to hiring non union ASMs into a union job (referencing the original comment).  An ASM getting their card for the first time would surely read up on the rules, and would also have their SM to guide them.

I didn't mean to belittle the experience necessary to do this job, either.  I'm not just an out of college Stage Manager, as my post might have suggested...

[MatthewShiner]

I didn't mean to belittle the experience necessary to do this job, either.  I'm not just an out of college Stage Manager, as my post might have suggested...

g

Wasn't inferring that, just riffing and playing out an argument.  (Also, for the record being a good stage manager has nothing to do with union membership - - - but if you have to be stage managing in an union setting . . . why not go with the experience with the union.)

[VSM]

Excellent question. I would assume that since pension payments are made on most every contract, if a non-member qualified for pension, they would be able to draw it. But even as I write this, I doubt my logic. As always, call your Rep.

[loebtmc]

this is hearsay, but if memory serves, I was told someone can draw health but not pension (and time was when health was also a "donation"). but, well, I cd very well be wrong -