Monday, April 21, 2014

Equity's Health and Insurance Plan

Interesting timing. I had just finished doing up a list of extraordinary risk riders for my current show a couple of weeks ago, when a friend forwarded the following link from The Stage to me:

www.thestage.co.uk/news/2014/02/performer-injured-falling-set-fears-future

Long story short: actor, in the business 20 years; never joined Equity (UK); injured on the job; no disability (income replacement) coverage; off work for at least a year; young family to help support; and worrying about being branded a "troublemaker" for seeking insurance assistance from the engager.

Contrast that with how CAEA's coverage for members works:

- no tenure requirement for coverage
- automatic coverage while on contract, from day one
- disability coverage for up to 104 weeks

I'm not certain what the insurance situation is with our sister organisation in the UK, but I'm betting it's better than "none". It's a shame the artist never saw the value of becoming an Equity member, and I wish him the best in his recovery.

Take the time to review your CAEA insurance coverage. A lot has changed in the past year. So, if the last time you read that brochure on the callboard was when you joined, it's time for a refresher! You can find all the details here

Learn about your insurance coverage. We hope you never have a critical need for it; but if you should, it's there.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Talk to Council! We're listening.

Council is your board, and for us to do our work well, we need to hear from you. We've recently upgraded the website to make that even easier.

Take a moment, and stop by EQUITYONLINE. (Go ahead: click it!) On the front page, top right, are a few new links. Talk to Council will take you to a page where all the Councillors are listed. Clicking on the photo of any of them will open a new email window, so you can drop your Councillor a note. The Council Committees link will take you to a page with mandate and contact info for each of Council's several regional and issues committees. The final link, Request for Council Action (login required), will open up a form you can use to suggest an agenda topic for Council to tackle. And, of course, if clicking and typing is not your thing, a letter or phone call to Equity Council, via our national office, will connect you up as well.

We'd also like you to know what we are up to…

A couple of days before each meeting, Council's agenda will be posted online. Within a few days after each meeting, a summary of all motions passed will be posted. Following adoption at the subsequent meeting, full minutes will be added. You can find these under the Council Reports heading of the members-only section of the website (login required), along with a full year's worth of monitoring reports on all aspects of Equity's operations. Copies of any of these documents, as well as recent archived copies, can also be requested by contacting the office.

And while we're on the topic of Council meetings, did you know you are allowed to attend them? You can - both in-person and teleconferences. A list of upcoming meeting dates can be found here. If you would like to attend, please let us know at least a few days in advance, by contacting the Council President at president@caea.com.