The strike talk is over. Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians reached a tentative deal early this morning for a three-year contract with the Broadway League. The union said in a press release that the pact includes increases in wages and contributions to its health fund, but didn’t share specifics.
Yesterday, Actors’ Equity Association gave its members details about its tentative production contract agreement reached Saturday morning with the League.
The minimum salary for performers on Broadway would rise 3% annually for three years. Should the union ratify the terms, the minimum will immediately increase to about $2717 a week from the current $2638, per my calculations. Broadway Journal reviewed a summary of the changes that Equity shared with its roughly 51,000 members, who include stage managers as well as actors and dancers.
Under the Equity three-year contract that expired Sept. 28, the Broadway minimum rose 5% the first year and 4% each of the next two years. The new, smaller raise is coupled with increased employer contributions to the health fund that the League manages with Equity. The employer contribution rate — currently $150 per week per employee — will rise $25 a year for three years. The union had raised concern about the fund’s financial health.
Three Equity members who lead the production contract committee wrote to the membership: “Though this salary increase taken on its own is ‘smaller’ than what was achieved in the last cycle, in combination with the rest of our package — including the significant health fund contribution increases — this is an enormous overall financial package for Equity workers.”
It’s unclear how much the Equity agreement would further increase ballooning Broadway budgets. Other provisions, according to Equity:
*More protection for Equity members in scheduling: Producers will be limited to schedule 12 shows in a row without a day off, except four times a year, when the previous limit of 16 shows without a day off applies. When there are 10 or more consecutive shows without a day off, rehearsals will be permitted only for emergencies or a special TV appearance, such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. When an actor or stage manager works 13 or more performances with no day off, there’s to be a paid performance off or a paid personal day to be used anytime. This is the first time Equity has secured paid personal days in a Broadway production contract.
*Greater flexibility in returning to work from medical leaves, and new physical therapy protocols, to facilitate getting PT on shows that don’t already offer it.
*Equity said it successfully pushed back on granting producers more power to penalize members for missing shows, but the union agreed to expand an existing rule that currently applies only to rehearsals and involves escalating consequences for repeated absences without cause. Equity emphasized that it can still defend members, “because absences for things like sickness or injury, personal or family emergencies, or other reasonable situations are all considered ‘good and sufficient’ causes that should not subject workers to discipline under this new rule.”
*Better protection and pay for swings, who are responsible for understudying multiple ensemble tracks.
*More work for principal performers in musicals. Equity agreed to expand what principals are allowed to do in “unidentified” ways, when they aren’t playing their characters and instead appear anonymously in a number. Previously, principals have been allowed to perform this way in up to two numbers. Under the new terms, principals may be included as unidentified characters in up to four numbers, including singing offstage. “This is undoubtedly an expansion of the duties of our principals, but there are firm fences around this, and we know that many of our members who do principal work in musicals want to do this work, and many also are comfortable using their personal bargaining capital to put their own fences around when they are willing to do this work,” according to the Equity summary.
*Equity said it defeated a proposal by the League — which represents theater owners and producers — to allow a fully digital Playbill at performances. The union did agree to give producers the ability to use a QR code in a Playbill to announce cast changes, and productions will no longer be required, under certain conditions, to stuff paper in Playbills about casting. “This change, while requested by producers, is supported by many in the Broadway community more broadly (such as the Broadway Green Alliance),” according to the union summary. “It will be a step towards reduced paper use and making our industry greener.”
Jacqueline Jarrold, Anne McPherson and Kristen Beth Williams lead the Equity production contract committee and wrote the summary. In a press release on Saturday, Equity Executive Director Al Vincent Jr. said the agreement “saves the Equity-League Health Fund while also making strides in our other priorities including scheduling and physical therapy access. ” Current Equity members who’ve worked on a Broadway show or a “sit-down” production outside New York since Sept. 30, 2019 are eligible to vote on the contract.
