Renewed Reciprocal Agreement signed with ACTRA

Equity Council is pleased to announce an update to the longstanding Reciprocal Agreement with the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA). A joint committee of ACTRA and Equity Councillors met to sign the updated document on December 8, exactly forty-three years to the day after the original agreement went into effect.

The new version generally simplifies the language and tidies up some loose ends. More significantly, it also removes the reciprocal joining requirement, so that members of one association working in the jurisdiction of the other now have access to the full range of member or permit options that would ordinarily apply to whichever engagement they may be involved in.

Going forward, ACTRA members will be eligible for permit engagement under our joining programme when doing initial contracts in theatre. This change will offer ACTRA performers, new to the professional stage, the opportunity to build experience in live performance and familiarity with Equity engagements before committing to membership. The specific terms of engagement will depend on what is available for the contract in question, and not on ACTRA membership.

Note that some engagement policies, such as the Artists' Collective, do not require joining for non-members to participate. Equity has historically excluded these engagements from the Reciprocal Agreement joining requirement anyway, so the change only serves to formalise what has long been the case.

ACTRA members can get more information on their engagement options for a given contract by contacting either Equity office.

ACTRA and Equity have enjoyed a long and collaborative relationship, and this renewed commitment to reciprocal recognition and assistance is designed to serve our memberships well into the future. Both national Councils have also committed to ongoing discussions aimed at greater opportunities for connection and collaboration, including the upcoming review of our Strategic Alliance, which generally covers all matters of joint advocacy.

Dancers at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens join Equity

Welcome! Bienvenue!

New joining process - what's the incentive to join?

With the new year, Equity is implementing a new joining process for artists working in theatre. You can find much more detail on that here, here, and in the most recent Council Link. The new approach moves away from encouraging immediate joining, to encouraging informed joining once an artist's career has developed some momentum.

So, you may ask, what will be the incentive to join Equity, if non-members can have (at least temporary) access to scale fees and other contract protections?

The Old: To begin with, I should probably point out that something akin to the new scenario has existed for a while already – it was called Probationary or Provisional Membership. It was not used extensively, partly because of the registration fees involved, and partly because many new joins weren't even made aware of the option. The new approach takes that model and both improves and refines it considerably.

In the past, the "incentive" to join Equity was usually pretty simple: if you wanted that Equity contract being offered to you, then you essentially had to join. That was the basis on which we got around 85% of new members. This approach was great at racking up new joins and initiation fees, but it also brought in a lot of new members:

• whose first impression of Equity is that they were forced to join
• whose brand-new careers meant they still had a very uncertain career path ahead of them
• who felt constrained by Equity membership responsibilities at a point when they most needed to explore all options open to them
• who might never work again, or only rarely
• who were really doing a one-off tangent on a related career
• who had no idea what obligations they were assuming as a member
• etc.

The New: Recent changes largely prohibit immediate joining in theatre simply by virtue of signing a contract. Non-members now have access to theatre contracts on a permit basis, but there will be no actual membership, and consequently only time-limited access to basic benefits. Following the contract, the artist is exactly as much a non-member as they were before, so do not get to vote on things, have priority at auditions, etc. Nada.

Of course, we still want to encourage membership, but permittees must now apply to join. Also, that process will be shifted to the Equity office, not conducted in an engager's or agent's office. We will have the chance to say to potential joins "are you sure you are ready for this?" and provide them with the info they need to make an informed decision. 

In order to make certain that non-members do not abuse the new system, there is a cap on the number of permits allowed, following which we will revert to the previous, gotta-join "incentive".
There will continue to be some circumstances where permits are not applicable. These include situations where a pre-existing career or reciprocal agreements would require joining, or for long running productions, where working without a full suite of protections is not something that Equity is willing to contemplate.

Going forward, the "incentive" to join will be a real incentive: that non-members want access to what they are missing, and have a career that would benefit from the services and support we can provide.

Joining Process Update

We've been talking about this for a while now, but work on a new joining structure for Equity is now complete. At the final in-person meeting of the 2009-12 Council, the necessary bylaw changes were implemented and the amendment details will be circulated to the membership within the next two months. The changes are consistent with the interim material reported earlier and currently confined to the theatre jurisdiction. 

In a nutshell, we will be moving from a system that prioritises immediate joining, to one that prioritises informed joining.

Going forward, the default approach for non-members working in theatre in their first contracts will be to do initial contracts on a permit basis. This will offer the chance to build work experience, career momentum, and familiarity with Equity agreements, while preserving the opportunity to work flexibly in the earliest stages of a career. Non-members will still be able to join if they wish, but only upon application, and will not automatically gain membership simply by virtue of having signed a contract. Where apprenticeships exist, how apprentice credits are accumulated for work will not change.  

These changes replace the existing provisional, probationary, and child probationary memberships. Although borrowing many of the same terms as these legacy options, and building on the same impetus that drove their creation in the first place (informed joining, flexibility), the permit approach is different in that no membership status (including benefits and protections) is conferred until a joining decision is made.

Of course, this opportunity to work on a permit basis is not open-ended, and will be limited to prevent repeated engagements as a non-member. In order to ensure no financial advantage for permit engagement, the usual source deductions will be made, and will serve as contributions against the eventual joining fee. This has the corollary benefit of progressively lowering the barrier to joining over the span of several permit engagements. Permittees, as non-members, will not have access to the same suite of benefits that members do. Protections will be limited to those specifically germane to an individual engagement contract, and will terminate with the end of the contract.

Equity will retain the right to compel joining in some circumstances: where an "early stages" exemption would not be applicable (even if the non-member is new to CAEA); where reciprocal agreements require it; and for long running productions, where working without a full suite of protections would not be something that Equity is willing to contemplate.

Access to membership for young performers will also change. Previously, regardless of work experience and work history, performers under the age of 16 years could not join. Equity now understands that this age barrier, while well-intentioned, is no longer defensible from several perspectives, including non-discrimination. Again, application must be made to Equity in order to join. Obviously, we are still not interested in encouraging premature joining; it benefits no one. We plan to ensure particularly well-informed and carefully-made decisions for young performers

Joining requirements for stage managers working in theatre remain similar to those previously in effect, with a minimum number of experience credits required before an application to join may be submitted. However, some structural changes have been made to bring the mechanics of the two joining streams into sync, to simplify administration, and to avoid having to explain two very similar, but confusingly different processes. Apprenticeship for both performers and stage managers will be retained to support those currently working toward membership in that way, and any apprenticeships credits that have been accumulated will be counted towards membership under the new requirements.

It has taken a long time to work out all the details on this, and Council will be monitoring the situation to ensure the intended results. 

Staff will be revising joining information documents over the next few months, to bring them up to date. In the interim, if you or others have questions about the new arrangements, the best resource is the staff at either Equity office. We are confident that this new approach will lead to a stronger membership, and a stronger Equity for the future.

Joining Process - Part 2

Last year, I wrote about our discussions on the topic of the joining process. That discussion has advanced considerably, and I'd like to bring you up to date. If you want to read the original post, you can find it here.

As mentioned, we'd like to achieve a few things with a new joining plan. First, we'd like to ensure that the process works well for prospective members. Right now, through longstanding practice, if you accept an Equity contract, you join. That's pretty much it. We do have provisional and probationary memberships, but they are voluntary options and not often used. While we think it's great to welcome new members at any time, many join at a point in their career when they really need to be maintaining flexibility in their options, and when they are not at a stage that they can make the kind of commitment to the collective benefit of the membership that joining entails.

The second is that we would like to put the process of joining much more firmly in the hands of Equity; right now, most decisions to join are made in discussion with an engager. We typically find out we have a new member when we suddenly receive a contract with a name that we don't recognise. We haven't had the chance to say "Is this the right choice for you?" or "Have you considered this other option?" or even "Hi! Welcome aboard!" Depending on when we receive the first contract, new joins may get a welcome package before they begin work, while they are working, or even well after the contract has ended. That's far too late for the Association you have just agreed to join to be getting in touch for the first time and telling you what joining Equity involves.

So, what have we come up with?

We are exploring a dual stream approach, involving both apprenticeship and a form of permit membership very similar to our current probationary/provisional options. I'll use these terms in what follows, although they may yet change, as may some of the other details, by the time the new programme is implemented. Also, please note that this material relates only to performers in theatre at this point. Council will examine how it might apply throughout the membership, but as our largest member contingent, this was the best place to start the review.

Although apprenticeship is not well-used among performers, most of our scale agreements allow a percentage of non-professionals to be engaged on shows, and many of them will eventually go on to join. So, having some kind of entry programme geared toward gaining experience in the business is important. Apprenticeship will continue to fill that need on much the same terms as it does today.

For those offered their first Equity contracts, the plan under discussion would no longer make full membership immediately available, and only probationary membership will be offered. This will permit engagers to fulfil their professional quota requirements, and allow the artist to receive the full engagement benefits and protections, including representation by Equity, for the duration of the contract. Following the contract, performers would revert to the equivalent of apprenticeship status, and retain all the engagement flexibility that category offers.

There will be some, however, who do wish to join right away, and the new plan will accommodate that. Any actor engaged as a probationary member will have the option to take out full membership within two months of the start of their contract. The cost for joining will be the same as if they had joined as a regular member immediately.

One benefit of this deferred joining approach is that we will no longer expect engagers to serve as de facto front line staff in our membership office; we anticipate this will be a welcome change! Joining will instead be something arranged directly between the new member and Equity staff. Questions such as those noted earlier can be asked and carefully considered by the prospective member before a choice is made. Full membership will no longer be compulsory for engagement (although not indefinitely so) and the moment of joining will therefore be much more in control of the artist.

We've put the plan together in a summary document that staff is now examining. They will consider any anticipated administrative issues, review the fee structure, and propose suggestions they feel will make the change smoother to implement, and stronger in the long run. We will hear back from staff in June, and should have a final version to share with you not too long after that.

The Joining Process

We've been at it for a while now, but Council review of our current joining process is beginning to coalesce into a plan for change.

One of the great challenges in administering our membership is that Equity doesn't really control how new members join. With the exception of the stage management discipline, apprenticeship is either not offered, or widely bypassed. How widely? Approximately 85% of new joins do so directly, with no apprenticeship credits at all. An additional 10% complete at least part of a 3-credit apprenticeship, but still join before completing it. Only about 5% of new members join having completed an apprenticeship, and most of those are in stage management, where completing an apprenticeship is mandatory.

So, how is it that those new members come to join? Well – assuming you are one of the 85% – pretty much the same way you did. An engager offers an Equity contract to a non-member, and voilà! – instant Equity member. In short, engagers create almost all of our new members.

Neither Equity (nor the engager) nor the new member really know, at the point of joining, whether that first contract will ever blossom into any kind of sustaining and sustainable professional career. Let's be frank – a great many don't. Without question, we should be offering people the highest degree of benefit and protection under contract that we can, but should we compel them to become full members when their career has barely gotten off the ground? That is the question Council has been wrestling with.

There are some obvious plusses and minuses to the current system. 

From a new member perspective, it's a quick route to full membership. However, it costs $750 for that first contract, which is not a small chunk of change. It also locks the new member into an obligation to work under future Equity contracts at a point in their career where they don't have much of a professional engagement history (if any) with which to attract subsequent contracts.

From an Equity perspective, it brings in a steady stream of initiation fees, but it also means that we are constantly adding to our membership and benefit obligations.

Council is currently considering a new system (for members working in theatre) that would not offer instant membership to new joins, and perhaps work in a manner similar to our current probationary membership option. It would offer almost all the benefits of regular membership on those first contracts, but wouldn't lock a new member into a long-term obligation to Equity at such an early stage in their career, when a mix of pro, semi-pro and non-pro opportunity is important for gaining experience and honing skills.

At this point, Council has made no firm decisions, and we are still looking at the administrative and financial impacts a new approach would have, but we wanted to keep you up to speed.


Comments welcome, as always.