The orkers w g n u o y guide to y t i u Eq
L The committees
c o n te n ts
In t r o d u c t io n Malcolm Sinclair
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Equity - the story so far... what can Equity do for you? Eligibility and Types of equity Membership your questions answered
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The committees, Council, Your branch arc, AGM, campaigns
ADAM PETTIGREW Young Members’ Committee Chair 2013-2015
NICOLA HAWKINS Young Members’ Councillor 2014-2016
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Equity’s Young Members’ Committee is elected every two years and works to protect, promote and extend the rights of all members under 30. The committee and the Young Members’ Councillor work together to make sure that issues affecting younger members are heard right at the top of
the union – we’re your voice where it matters. We made this handbook for all young workers in our industry to explain what the union is for, how it works, and why it’s important that everyone is a member. If you’re not already part of Equity – join, because as young workers we really are stronger together.
If you’ve got questions about the union, the YMC – anything – then find us on twitter @EquityYMC or at facebook.com/ EquityYoungMembersCommittee
Equity is not a top down organisation. Initiatives don't have to be handed down from the 'top brass' to obedient activists to carry out. The initiatives are developed by the activists themselves, which the union with all its expertise carries forward. Here's an example. The Young Members’ Committee have produced this handbook, devised and organised and written by themselves, to guide and advise members like themselves to make the most of being part of the Equity family. To state the bleedin' obvious, young members are the future of the union, and anything that encourages participation and commitment is hugely to be welcomed. I commend the following pages to you. Malcolm Sinclair, PRESIDENT.
THE YMC ARE: Shaun Blaney (Vice-Chair), Jessica Bastick-Vines, Matthew Crowther, Ed Currie, Kezia Davis, Nico Lennon, Nicholas Keegan & Bonnie Parsons.
www.equity.org.uk
www.equity.org.uk
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Eq ui ty - A Sh or t H is to r y In 1929 there was a mass meeting of actors held at the Duke of York’s Theatre on Upper St Martin’s Lane. They formed a trade union1 to improve terms and conditions in their industry and by 1932 Equity had 3000 members. In the 1930s the first West End Agreement was negotiated, and work began on establishing a contract for touring performers. In the 1940s Equity affiliated to the TUC2 and by 1947 there were 8,300 members.
In 1967 Equity merged with the Variety Artists’ Federation, and grew to 22,000 members by 1975. Although the 1990 Employment Act meant the end of the closed shop3, Equity membership continued to grow. We now have a student membership scheme and together with our full members we represent a performance community of over 40,000 people with members all over the world.
Join us EQUITY TODAY Equity is run by its members, for its members. Through local branches, committees and Council members can discuss and take action on any issues they may have.4 Action can come in the form of negotiations with government, campaigns or sometimes a strike. Equity has created a network of branches and workplace deputies to look after its members, all of whom are
1‘What’s a trade union? Trade unions organise and represent people at work. They campaign for laws and policies that will benefit working people, and protect pay and conditions.’ 2 ‘What’s the TUC? The Trades Union Congress. It brings the UK’s unions together to draw up common
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But what can Equity do for you? Being a member shows you are committed to your profession and want to support the industry and your fellow performers. But there’s loads more benefits of membership, so what’s in it for you?
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Equity negotiates the When you join you minimum pay and working reserve your Equity conditions for its members name, which means with key industry employers nobody else can join the union with the same You can access a free professional name as you. tax and welfare helpline because as we all know, We run a Special tax is taxing Attention List on our website, so you’ll always You can get advice on know who owes members contracts you’re signing.7 money or who we’ve taken If you think it looks a bit to court dodgy, Equity can give you advice. We never tell you not You get legal advice and to take a job, but will make support, even to sure you know what you’re the point where we’ll go to going in to court on your behalf at an Employment Tribunal You get Public if needed6 Liability Insurance Got an injury cover up to related to the value of your work as £10 million, a performer? so you’ve got You can speak the cover you to BAPAM, need to perform the British safely
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volunteers. Local branch meetings allow you to meet others who work in your industry, where you can talk and network with people. This network means that wherever you are in the UK you’re supported, and you can raise any issues with confidence that your union is behind you.
policies, lobbies Government, campaigns on social & economic issues – loads. Find out more: www.tuc.org.uk 3 The closed shop meant you had to join the union to get work as an actor in certain areas of the industry. 4 More on committees, Council and branches later! 5 Deputies are what Equity calls workplace reps.
www.equity.org.uk
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Equity helped me!
A cast will elect a deputy at the start of a job to act as a link between the workers and the union. We work with them to arrange visits to see casts, and to help solve any problems. 6 Find out about employment/tribunals here: www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/employment
www.equity.org.uk
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Association of Performing Arts Medicine for specialist advice
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Worked in Recorded Media? Check out the British Equity Collecting Society – an organisation set up by your union to collect non-contractual royalties for work you’ve done.8
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Your Equity card gets you discounts at a whole range of places, nationwide. See our website for more information
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Looking for work? You can access our Job Information Service, where we post details of paid work we know about for our members across all of the sectors of the industry For a full list of benefits, see our website: http://www.equity.org.uk/ about-us/join-us/benefits/
7 Even if it is not an Equity contract. 8 Get registered with BECS here: www.equitycollecting.org.uk/
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E lig ib il it y a n d T y p e s o f M e m b e r s h ip Equity is open to almost everyone who works in the entertainment industry – whether that’s on stage or behind the scenes. Actors, singers, models, stunt artists, presenters, variety artists and circus performers all stand united with directors, choreographers, designers, fight directors, comedians and stage management to form your union.
ADAM BURNS, Equity Stage Management Councillor Equity is like another part of my family. Equity protects me, Equity cares for me and when I don’t need Equity so much it’s like a favourite Aunt, there to get involved if it all falls apart. As a member of Equity I feel part of a strong movement that cares for and fights for me and all Stage Managers.
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CLAIRE WYATT, Equity South East Councillor I’m a member because I believe there’s strength in numbers. We’ll only fight arts cuts, improve working conditions and rates of pay, improve women’s representation and whole host of other important issues that affect our careers if we work together. You make the Union, you make the difference.
such as paying legal fees for members, contributing to hardship funds or for other organisations Equity supports such as BAPAM and the Actors’ Centre. So your money goes straight back into your professional community – you never know when you will need that support yourself.
I’m an Eq ui ty st ud en t m em be r
THE COMMITTEES: WHAT ARE THEY AND WHAT ARE THEY FOR?
I’m a full Equity member
DANIEL YORK
STUDENT MEMBERSHIP FULL MEMBERSHIP Membership is open to people aged 10 and over and you can join as a full member if you’re working professionally. Membership operates on a sliding scale according to income, meaning that those who earn more pay more, but everyone gets the same level of service and has the same entitlement to our help. If you can demonstrate that you’ve earned £500 or more in the industry or if you’ve graduated from an accredited course then we’d love you to join us.
www.equity.org.uk
There are several specialist committees (elected groups of members like you) that form Equity’s structure. The purpose of these is to gain a broad prospective from people actually working in these
Is a cheaper option for those studying their craft on a vocational course (not GCSE or A Level), who want to reserve their Equity name. You don’t get quite the same benefits as full members, but you’ve got access to loads of events, training, advice and support to make sure you’re as informed as possible when you start working professionally. Some of your membership fee helps to pay for the general costs of running the union like staff costs, but most of it goes into a big pot used to help members in different ways
www.equity.org.uk
As actors we are prey to all the perils of poor pay and conditions, discrimination and exploitation that come with an overcrowded market. Our only form of protection is a strong trade union that fights for its members and a trade union is only as strong as its members. The more members Equity has and the more active those members are the more we all stand to benefit. Unity is strength.
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LYNSEY BEAUCHAMP When I left drama school it was very difficult to get into Equity and finally getting my first job was a sign of proper professional status; things have changed now, but I still consider membership to be the benchmark of professionalism.
areas and to feed this information through the relevant channels to decide the priorities of the union. We have three main industrial committeesthe Stage Committee, the Screen and New Media Committee and the Variety, Circus & Entertainers Committee. There are also lots of committees covering a range of specialist skills and different people we represent such as Stunt, Young Members and Equality committees to name but a few.9 There’s also a committee dedicated to organising the Annual Representative Conference (Standing Orders Committee) and a committee that deal with member appeals. Sounds complicated? It’s not as complicated as it sounds. If you look at
9 Find out more about Equity’s committees here: www.equity.org.uk/committees
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diagram below you can see it’s just a lot of people from all different areas making sure the correct and real time information is feeding to the Council or the industrial committees to make sure the best decisions can be made. Plus, because the members run the union it means that our structures are really democratic, and made up of people like you working hard to make their union as strong as it can be, and their industry as healthy as possible.
represent – so for example if you want to be on the Young Members Committee then you have to be a young member yourself.
COUNCIL Council is responsible for making most of the policy that happens within Equity. There are 31 Councillors who, like the committees, are voted for by the members through elections every two years. Like the committees, there are places on the council reserved for people who are in specific sectors of the industry such as stage managers, singers, variety artists etc. There are also reserved equalities seats (Women, Black and Minority Ethic Members, LGBT members and Deaf
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COMMITTEES: HOW TO GET INVOLVED The committees are elected every two years. You can nominate yourself for election or be nominated by someone else, and you’ll need to get another member to ‘second’ your nomination – so agree that you should stand. The members then vote and the candidates with the most votes are elected onto the relevant committee. You must be part of the demographic you’re standing to
www.equity.org.uk
Q&A Session
Bran guest r meetincgh s speake
www.equity.org.uk
CHRIS COXON I am a member of Equity because I believe that the more actors and entertainers join the union, the less we will be subject to exploitation and the better pay and conditions will be. A strong union is the only way to achieve this.
& Disabled Members also seats that represent members in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – which is important as it means equality issues and the concerns of members all over the UK are represented on Council.
YOUR BRANCH Equity branches are a community of members in your local area. Meetings take place once a month and are a great place to talk to your fellow members about local and national issues. There are 24 General branches and 17 Variety branches across the UK, and you can find your nearest on the Equity website: http:// www.equity.org.uk/branches/ Your branch meeting is a great opportunity to meet fellow professionals from across the creative industries to share your experiences
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and seek help or advice about your working life. Branches are run by Equity members like you so there’s no need to feel apprehensive about getting involved – everyone is always very welcoming! Lots of branches often have a guest speaker at their meeting such as prominent directors, casting directors or actors, or representatives from Spotlight or Casting Call Pro. This is followed by a Q&A session (which usually carries on into the pub afterwards!) As well as being a forum for union matters, branches also organise readings of new plays and outings to watch productions with other members. It can also be a great place to let people know about your own work.
MICHELLE CORNELIUS It’s the union to help and protect us. If you’re not convinced, find out what you can do to change the situation. Have your say, it’s your right as a member. It’s your union.
10 What’s a motion? A motion is formal proposal made by a branch, committee or AGM. Motions are
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We also have an address from the President, the General Secretary, the Honorary Treasurer and some relevant guest speakers. Although Equity staff attend ARC, they don’t put motions forward or get to vote on them because it’s all about the members getting together to make decisions.
AGM
ARC ...Is the Equity Annual Representative Conference. It happens once a year and two elected representatives from every committee and branch attend along with the 31 members of Equity council. It's held over two days and is a chance for representatives to vote on motions10 put forward by council, committees and branches to decide what policy will be set out for the union over the following year.
voted on democratically with every member being able to vote for, against or abstain from voting.
www.equity.org.uk
Another way to attend ARC as a representative is to go to your AGM. The Annual General Meetings (AGM) are regional events where members can submit motions, debate and elect a representative to go to ARC. These also happen once a year- usually shortly before ARC and are a chance for you to get together with members in your area, beyond your local branch.
CAMPAIGNS A Campaign is a way of getting your voice heard by others, and is the main way the union can actively and publicly advocate for change. Your voice on your own is very small, but with 40,000 other members agreeing with you, you can make a big noise. Equity has a proud history of campaigning on issues that matter to our community both locally and nationally – sometimes we even join together with
www.equity.org.uk
SHAUN BLANEY Joining Equity meant I had a voice within the industry I have chosen to spend my life working in. I can use my vote to affect decisions which matter to me and have the help, guidance and support I need to negotiate a sometimes difficult professional workplace.
our sister unions around the world for international campaign work! We’re currently campaigning on arts cuts, equal representation of women, fair pay for dancers – loads of things. Take a look at our website for details: www.equity.org.uk/campaigns You can get involved in Equity’s current campaigns by taking part at your local branch or following the news on Equity Website and social media. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
Want to set up your own campaign? Great. We’ve produced a guide to campaigning which you can find on our website: www.equity.org.uk/campaigns/ plan-your-campaign/ and you can always get in touch with your branch or staff in Equity’s office for help.
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Equity. Guild House. Upper St Martin’s Lane. London WC2H 9EG Tel: 020 7379 6000 www.equity.org.uk