Author Topic: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?  (Read 14456 times)

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JMullane

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Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« on: Jun 30, 2011, 01:57 pm »
I was recently in a situation where I was hired as a non-union Production Assistant for a show that was going to be staffed by one Equity SM and one PA. However, Equity then ruled that the show needed to have an Equity ASM as well. The theatre asked me if I would like to be the ASM.

Previously I assumed that accepting an equity contract as ASM meant that I would be required to join the union (and would thus prevent me from working as a PA at many theatres in the future), but apparently this is not the case.

After sifting through some rumors, I called Equity and they told me that you may sign an Equity contract and include a letter stating your intent NOT to become a member, and you may do this as many times as you like.

Am I the only one who assumed membership was required? Maybe this situation just doesn't come up very often because theatres see union membership as a sign of experience. I personally have never worked with anyone who was on an Equity Contract who was not a member before.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of arrangement? I just always thought it couldn't be done and was very surprised to learn otherwise!

BayAreaSM

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #1 on: Jun 30, 2011, 02:09 pm »
I recently did a staged reading under a LORT B contract. The ratio required was 11 AEA contracts for 1 non-AEA contract. The cast was 10 and I made 11, but one of the actors was non-Eq and did not want to join. Since the reading required some stage directions to be read, and the director did not want the cast to do it, the Company Manager came on as the Stage Directions, under the non-AEA contract. In order to do that, the non-Eq actor was put on an AEA contract, to get us up to 11 AEA contracts. The actor was paid the appropriate actor wage, had working dues withheld, etc - though she will not benefit from the health weeks, since she's not a member.

I had a similar situation where I did another staged reading that was recorded for broadcast - which made the performance fall under AEA & AFTRA. I signed an AFTRA contract, was paid the AFTRA wage for the recording, though I did not join the union.

So perhaps it is common, in certain situations.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #2 on: Jun 30, 2011, 06:40 pm »
read up on Taft-Hartley.

Also, what state are you in?  If you are in a right-to-work state, there are VERY different rules - so I assume that there are different rules for every state.

 
« Last Edit: Jul 01, 2011, 03:48 am by MatthewShiner »
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

babens

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #3 on: Jun 30, 2011, 08:49 pm »
I have to say the deferring membership "as many times as you want" is new to me, but of course if it's coming from the reps then I guess that's that.

I do know that under some contracts (TYA for instance, which I have been working under a lot the last few years, specifically with Theatreworks), the actors are able to decline joining if it is their first job with the company, but they need to join for any future jobs with the company.  However, when they do decline, as BayAreaSM also experienced under the LORT contract, working dues were withheld and they did not get any benefits such as pension and health.  If they did decide to go that route, for whatever reason, they did have the option of choosing to file their membership application (and I think up to two weeks after the end of the contract) and I believe they would then get the credit for health and pension for all the weeks worked.

Ultimately I'm glad to hear that you went to the business reps with the question, as obviously they will pretty much have the final say in such decisions, and of course that is what Equity is paying them to be there for.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #4 on: Jul 01, 2011, 03:53 am »
It's a very sticky topic.

If you live in a right to work state, you may be have a law on the books that states

§ 101.052. Denial of Employment Based on Labor Union Membership Prohibited

A person may not be denied employment based on membership or nonmembership in a labor union. (Enacted 1993.)

This is for Texas.

If you are hired, then you have some paperwork to file, and pension and health care are still paid by your employer (so the producer doesn't "save" anything by hiring you), but you DON'T get the benefits.

But, you need to know the law in your your state (or district). 

(I know, I know . . . what does this mean for being AEA or not being-AEA?)
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Tempest

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #5 on: Jul 05, 2011, 12:53 pm »
I actually work under these right-to-work state contracts a lot (Georgia).  The theatre I work with does Equity for all performances but their Christmas show, but most other companies in my area, that don't already have resident SMs, are not AEA.  So I've declined to join Equity so far, just to keep the local job options open.

Here's my experience:
When I go in to sign my contract, I sign the official Equity paperwork, and include the notice that I am declining to join Equity.  The producer pays the usual health/pension benifits to Equity; I make at least Equity SM minimum.  I've never had working dues withdrawn, though I have, on the one occasion I made 20 weeks at this theatre, had health insurance for a year.  I'm expected to follow and uphold all Equity rules, work with the Deputy, file reports, etc.

Basicaly, I agree to behave like the Equity SM I would be, if I had chosen to take my card on any given show, and they agree to treat me like one.  But I don't actually have the force of the AEA to back me up if I'm being abused.  I'm pretty good at standing up for myself, if I need to, and the risk is worth it to keep my emplyment options open for the time being.

Going Equity is in the five year plan.  And at this point, I'm about as familiar with the rule books as can be without actually being Equity, so that will be a pretty smooth transition!
Jessica: "Of course I have a metric size 4 dinglehopper in my kit!  Who do you think I am?"

EFMcMullen

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #6 on: Jul 05, 2011, 07:35 pm »
I have heard of people signing contracts and not joining, but I thought all money was pulled/put in as if the Actor/Stage Manager was a member: i.e. minimums, working dues, pension & health so that the theater was not getting off cheap, neither was the employee.   However,  I'm surprised to hear that you were able to get a year's worth of health insurance.  Isn't that a benefit of being a member? Am I missing something here?

MatthewShiner

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #7 on: Jul 05, 2011, 08:23 pm »
The theater needs to pay all their payments, the working dues I thought were different - I don't think they can require a non-union member to pay a % of their salary to the union. 

The insurance seems odd to me as well, I thought it was a benefit of membership.  I thought you incurred weeks, but it didn't kick in until you joined.
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Maribeth

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #8 on: Jul 08, 2011, 06:26 pm »
Interestingly, this topic came up at work today. Now, this is all second-hand information, but what I was told was that within the last two years, there was a Supreme Court ruling that no person can be required to join a union in order to obtain employment. (I seem to recall something of the sort, but am having trouble looking it up). Therefore, an SM (or actor), can accept a job under a union contract, and send a letter to AEA declining to join.

The people I was talking to described it just as tempestgypsy did.  I am surprised that health insurance is an option as a non-AEA member, but the people I was talking to today (management-level folks) assured me that it was.

From what they were saying, it's becoming more popular with theatres who do something like a large seasonal show, where they might hire a bunch of actors who wouldn't necessarily want to join AEA. 

MatthewShiner

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #9 on: Jul 08, 2011, 10:41 pm »
But this is very interesting.

I would never want to interview an non-AEA stage manager for union show because they wouldn't have the experience with the union rules that we have to follows.

So, although it wouldn't require it, chances are the employer wouldn't see a lot of non-AEA stage managers for interviews.

I wonder how one enforces this law.

I am picturing if you are being hired for an entry level position at a grocery store and there is a demand being placed on you to join the union, there would be no assumption you were already in the union - so you make a choice to be in or not . . . .

I find this all a bit interesting.

I would still want to be part of the union for the protections it offers.



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LizzG

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #10 on: Jul 08, 2011, 10:52 pm »
"I would never want to interview an non-AEA stage manager for union show because they wouldn't have the experience with the union rules that we have to follows."

I wouldn't say that is necessarily true.  Just to take one example, I am not an AEA SM.  However, in college we worked completely under AEA rules (and even had 6 professional AEA actors act in our shows and teach acting classes).  I have also worked many a NYC showcase show under AEA rules, and I would consider myself pretty familiar.

Plus, SMs have to get their start in the union somehow.  Any good SM who gets hired for an AEA show will familiarize themselves with the rules I'm sure....

MatthewShiner

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #11 on: Jul 08, 2011, 11:19 pm »
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.




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loebtmc

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #12 on: Jul 09, 2011, 02:32 am »
To reinforce Matthew's comments - there are, of course, exceptions to the rule, and there are some terrific and experienced non-union SMs out there in smaller communities, but in general experience tells. I have trained/worked with many recent grads in their early careers, and there is a huge difference between what is taught in college and what happens in the real world, even w the best of schools. Especially when you go from a fancy modern bells-and-whistles campus to an older venue, or one of many small professional or mixed pro/nonpro theaters, working mid- to small-range contracts where there is much more grey, and working with people of all ages and backgrounds. How do you bend and negotiate and deal, where can you find grey areas and what is black and white. That takes time and practice, and observation of others as well.

VSM

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #13 on: Jul 09, 2011, 08:25 pm »
It is possible to use the AEA contract and not join. Should you acquire 12 or 20 weeks of health contributions and therefore qualify for either 6mos or one year of insurance, you receive that benefit. You do not have to be a member to qualify for insurance; you just have to meet the qualifications.
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EFMcMullen

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Re: Union Membership not required under AEA Contract?
« Reply #14 on: Jul 09, 2011, 08:37 pm »
Do you also qualify to receive the pension?