Minutes
 

SMA Meeting - Roundtable discussion
Tuesday, November 11, 2003

AEA Production Contract negotiations; moderated by SMA past-chair Ira Mont, who is also Vice Chair of the negotiating team.

For the afternoon's roundtable, Ira Mont led a discussion about the production contract, with special guest Russell Lehrer, AEA Business Representative for Production Tours & Eastern Regional Stage Manager Liaison.

The current production contract expires in June of 2004; suggestions or concerns about the contract can be submitted to Equity for committee discussion in the upcoming negotiations.

There are several major issues to be discussed in the negotiations with the League:

Non-Equity Tours

There are currently non-Equity tours (not necessarily non-union) being produced by Networks, Big League Theatricals, Troika, Cameron Mackintosh, & independent producers.

Equity has organized the Road-Campaign as a way for Equity to spread the word about possible harmful effects from these non-Equity tours.

The jobs on the non-Equity tours could be jobs for Equity members. (Some of the jobs on the tours are being offered outside Equity's jurisdiction, e.g. "production supervisor" in place of PSM.)

Stage managers on the non-Equity tours are taking on more responsibility for the show/company; often, there are only two stage managers hired on the larger shows.

To help to recapture these tours back as Equity tours, possible concessions could be made, creating another option to the Production Contract (as once was provided with the Bus & Truck option).

The negotiations for the contract are with the League members, not the major producers of the non-Equity tours. One possible request to reduce the frequency of non-Equity tours for the League members is to not license the rights to its current Equity productions to a non-Equity production while the show is still in New York.

The Financial State of the Health Fund

The economy has affected the fund, as the value of its investments has been reduced by the dip in the stock market.

The lost workweeks from non-Equity tours have also affected the health fund, since not as many producers are paying into it as they once were.

Although a member needs to only work 20 weeks per year to be covered under the health plan, it actually takes 36 weeks to cover the cost of a member s health insurance. The members who are working more than 36 weeks in a year are helping to cover those members who do not work as many weeks, as recently discussed in Patrick Quinn's article about the health fund.

Other concerns and suggestions discussed:

The Number of Hours for a Stage Manager's Performance Call

As shows become larger and more complex, the stage manager's hours have increased without any specific Equity rule regulating the length of the performance or the show call for a stage manager. A rule about a continuity hour for the stage manager could be a useful addition to the contract.

Temporary SM Contract

The temporary SM contract does seem to be working, giving stage managers employment and benefits for the term employed while providing the production with another stage manager who knows the show.

Illness/Sick/Vacation Days (Rules 34 and 77)

Stage managers should receive the same percentage of contractual salary for sick days as the percentage specified for actors (as with the current rule for vacation days - 4% of contractual salary).

Comp Day (Rule 71 K, part 3)

Under the current contract, if a SM doesn't have a day off, the producer can either pay the SM 2/6th salary for the worked day or specify a comp day to be taken at another time. Often, the SM is unable to take the comp day when on tour due to travel days, load-in, show maintenance, etc. By the end of the tour, the SM has many unused comp days if the show has not sat down in a city for several weeks.

The rule could be adjusted, lowering the amount of compensation for the stage manager, but still making it feasible for the producer to pay the stage manager rather than providing a comp day. The time and a half compensation, as received by the IA on the 7th day of work, was suggested.

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The meeting was adjourned at 3:30pm.