Actors' Equity Association (AEA) and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC) have begun to "jointly explore ways" to cooperate in union matters.
Equity has said the "unprecedented" effort appears to have already resulted in Big League Theatricals canceling its non-Equity tour of "Aida." But Dan Sher, Big League's executive producer, claims the cancellation resulted only from Equity's raising demands on an "Aida" pact bargainers already had agreed to.
Equity's key issue of concern is the proliferation of non-Equity road tours; the SSDC is pushing to convince producers and theatres in both New York and other cities to sign its contracts.
Barbara Hauptman, the SSDC's executive director, told Back Stage on Monday that her union's decision to not take part in the "Aida" tour wasn't due to a negative relationship with Big League or Sher. The SSDC has allowed its directors and choreographers to work on Big League tours for nearly a decade.
"We really never had a collective bargaining agreement with Dan," Hauptman explained. "We did contracts show by show. We didn't have a no-strike, no-lockout clause. So when Equity started its very public campaign against non-Equity tour producers and targeted Big League, we felt—even though we had a good working relationship with Big League—it was very important to stand in solidarity with Equity."
Hauptman noted that the SSDC does have collective-bargaining pacts with the other major tour producers: Troika, NETworks, and Phoenix.
"But it's important for the unions to be in solidarity," Hauptman insisted. "Really for that reason, I think that at this time in the industry, solidarity is very important. We want to be a part of it. Our board felt very strongly that we should stand with Equity."
Equity has been confronting the nonunion-tour problem over the last couple of years, really reigniting its battle last fall. Late in September, the AFL-CIO announced that it would join Equity in its boycott of "Miss Saigon," a Big League non-Equity tour. The 13-million-member AFL-CIO referred in its announcement to statistics cited by Equity President Patrick Quinn showing that, while union actors worked 44,000 weeks on tour five years ago, that figure fell to 21,000 weeks last year, reflecting the growth in non-Equity tours.
By November, Equity had announced a $1.6 million commitment to fighting the nonunion road shows. The funds would also prepare the membership for the 2004 Production Contract talks. The Production pact, the union's most lucrative, covers Broadway shows and national tours. By December, Equity's national council had mandated membership meetings with Broadway and touring casts and stage managers, a part of its Production-pact-talks preparation.
Hauptman noted that Equity's Production pact—which covers Broadway, national, and international tours—is with the League of American Theatres and Producers. The SSDC has a similar contract with the league that expires in August, two months after Equity's. Hauptman said the SSDC has no plans to sit in on the Equity and league talks, but she said the two unions still have "issues in common" in dealing with the league.
The SSDC's contracts with the three other touring producers end in 2006. "So in 2006, we'll have to take a very hard look at those contracts," Hauptman said. "Our hope is that in the next two years we will see some changes in all this, and it will be satisfactory to Equity and their road tours. But if it is not, our board has to make a decision in ways to renegotiate or not. We're on very good terms with NETworks, Troika, and Phoenix, and they are aware of what we're doing in regards to Big League."
Solidarity Following Tragedy
Hauptman said she felt the effort for solidarity really began with the entertainment unions following the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy in New York.
"Ever since 9/11, when the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG) started meeting on a monthly basis, the unions began to feel stronger together than they do apart," she observed.
That coalition, which announced its formal unifying effort as COBUG in January 2003, showed its strength in February and March when the Broadway musicians went on strike for four days. COBUG formally supported the musicians, with the strongest backing coming from Equity and IATSE.
"We were part of COBUG," Hauptman said of the SSDC, "and we increasingly made statements in public and on our website urging the parties to get together. We do have a no-strike, no-lockout clause with the league, so we couldn't join in the strike per se." Still, she added, some members took part in the musicians' picket lines.
By Jan. 20 of this year, Pamela Berlin, president of SSDC, Hauptman, and members of the SSDC executive board were attending the Equity national council meeting in New York at which Berlin announced that SSDC unanimously had passed a resolution stating it "would stand behind Actors' Equity that there should be no non-Equity tours."
She further announced that SSDC would not execute any contracts with Big League for its non-Equity tours of "Aida" and "42nd Street" unless the producer signed contracts with Equity.
Equity and Big League Theatricals were not able to reach an agreement for "Aida," according to an Equity press release. Presumably because of SSDC's position, the tour was subsequently cancelled, the release said.
Sher Responds
But Big League's Sher told Back Stage at press time Tuesday, "That's false: In fact, it's unbelievably false. Big League approached Equity to tour 'Aida' in the fall, and in fact had made a condition of our touring 'Aida' that it be Equity. We negotiated in extremely good faith, and on Big League's side thought we had an agreement pending council approval—which Flora made very clear."
Flora is Flora Stamatiades, Equity's national director of organizing and special projects, who negotiated the "Aida" pact with Sher.
But evidently, following the Equity council's consideration of the pact, there was "a change," Sher said. "Shortly after New Year's, Equity told us another amount of money and conditions they wanted us to pay. It was more than we had agreed to. We sadly had to leave. We couldn't afford any more money. We couldn't make a deal with Equity, and we canceled the tour in early January. Because we couldn't make a deal, 60 jobs, including musicians, won't be happening this year, not to mention 35 cities that could experience 'Aida.' "
Equity has offered to meet with Big League Theatricals to discuss the "42nd Street" tour, but Sher indicated that the Broadway show had a two-year Equity tour to larger cities, and that the Big League tour to smaller cities would not be Equity.
"This is a very important show of support for Actors' Equity by SSDC," said Alan Eisenberg, executive director of AEA, of the directors and choreographers' effort. "We, in turn, will assist SSDC on a number of fronts where our united strength will help SSDC achieve its goals."
Equity is currently attempting to arrange a meeting between SSDC and Chicago's Drury Lane Theater/Oakbrook Terrace, which does not have directors and choreographers under SSDC contracts and is on the SSDC strike list.
The Equity council passed its own resolution instructing AEA members (who have always been restricted from nonunion employment as actors and stage managers) that they can no longer accept employment in any production capacity —such as directors, choreographers, production supervisors—in Big League Theatrical's productions.
The council also resolved that its members must not accept employment in any capacity in non-Equity shows produced by Troika and NETworks.
"SSDC's resolution is a strong show of solidarity and justifies our decision that our members must reject employment as directors and choreographers or production department jobs," said Equity President Quinn. "Our members cannot take these positions without serious consequences. This show of unified strength and support for each other will make the difference as we reverse the erosion of our respective jurisdictions."