AEA and "Right To Work"

[Cedes]

Just curious:

Now that MI, my current state, has passed "Right To Work" and signed into law, how does that affect the entertainment unions? I'm looking at mainly IATSE and AEA here.

[MatthewShiner]

Check the other right to work states - Texas is one.  It's interesting working with union and non-union actors mixed, but it happens all the time on LORT shows.  As I remember for AEA, it just meant the theater, which still had a contract with AEA - paid health care and pension for everyone, as if there were AEA - the union wants to make sure there is no financial reason for them to go seek out non-AEA members.  And, if the actor chose to become AEA within a certain time period, these funds were available to them.

I think it has a positive upside in areas where there is not a LOT of AEA work, where bouncing back between AEA and non-AEA shows is a benefit.  I think in the long term, it's bad news for unions and workers in general - and it's a sad state of affairs.

[Tempest]

I live in Georgia, a Right-to-Work state, and everything MatthewShiner said is pretty accurate. I'm not Equity, there's not enough AEA work in this town to make it a worthwhile choice. But I did a lot of work at one of the few Equity houses in town, and when it was on Equity shows, everything"acted" like I was Equity. I got weeks toward getting my card if I wanted it, the theatre had to pay into pension and health weeks, they had to pay me at least Equity minimums and all other Equity rules were in place for myself and the cast in regards to breaks, overtime, extra duties, etc.

If you're already Equity, I don't think things in the day-to day experience should change for you. If you're not Equity and you get on an "Equity" show, it will be a big education! I'm glad I got the opportunity to learn so much about how a show functions under union rules before actually having to make the decision to join or not.

[KMC]

I think right to work will have less effect on the theatrical industry than others (manufacturing, service, etc...).  There are two main points right to work laws wish to accomplish, which, for the most part, the theatrical world is already doing. 

• Closed shop.  Right to work laws typically eliminate the requirement that all employees join the/a union.  As discussed previously this already happens in most theatres around the country, so the effect is minimal.
• Desire to join the union.  This goes hand in hand with closed shop.  By eliminating the requirement to join the/a union, it puts the onus on unions to provide a tangible benefit to their members so that employees want to join.  AEA and IATSE both provide immense benefit to their employees that offer a noticable return on dues paid.  As a result, you're unlikely to see many "defect" from the AEA or IATSE ranks as a result of right to work.

AEA and IATSE are also served well by the fact that the scope of employees they represent is so narrow, and therefor the needs/wants/desires of those employees are relatively uniform.  This allows AEA and IATSE to focus 100% of its resources on issues that benefit most or all of the employees it represents.

These unions aren't the SEIU which represent nearly 2 million employees in over 100 different jobs (everything from nurses to janitors to security guards).  It's much harder to represent that broad a scope of employees and have everyone feel they are being well-represented.

[MatthewShiner]

I got weeks toward getting my card if I wanted it, the theatre had to pay into pension and health weeks, they had to pay me at least Equity minimums and all other Equity rules were in place for myself and the cast in regards to breaks, overtime, extra duties, etc.

Although it will change from theatre to theatre, I was allowed to schedule those NOT an AEA contract differently - they had a separate overtime policy and break policy (think state law versus AEA rules) - which made scheduling interesting . . . and gave me more options - just like you do with mixed union/non-unions shows in LORT anywhere . . . But that was nice the theater wanted everyone to be treated the same.

But in my case, there was an advantage of being AEA . . . because only the AEA were covered by those work rules.

[Cedes]

Thanks everyone! I was wondering if it really would change much. When I looked at the content of the law, it seemed that what it mandated is what a lot of companies already do.

[MatthewShiner]

But this is in the short term . . . taking power away from unions is a slippery slope, and in the end might end up doing more harm to workers and workers' causes in the long run.