The Stage

Publicly funded companies “must pay performers minimum wage”

Published Tuesday 26 May 2009 at 15:40 by Alistair Smith

Equity Annual Representative Conference: All theatre and broadcast companies receiving public funding should be obliged to pay at least the national minimum wage, according to a motion passed unanimously at Equity’s Annual Representative Conference.

The union is to campaign at government level, as well as with Arts Council England and the Screen Commissions, for funding agreements to contain a “legally binding clause” insisting that anyone working on a funded project receive “no less than the industry-standard terms” or, where no such standard terms exist, the minimum wage.

Speaking at the ARC, Tracey Briggs from the Central England general branch called on Equity to “campaign to make funding bodies aware of the abuse of performers and creative talent”.

She added: “We need something more than lip-service being paid by the government, arts councils and screen commissions. We need something concrete brought into funding agreements so that performers and creative talent are no longer expected to work for free.”

Equity will also, in tandem, launch a ‘respect’ campaign to counter the perception that “actors are unskilled, desperate and at the bottom of the creative food chain” and in a bid to publicise the general poor treatment of actors. This will include publicising both examples of low-pay and sub-standard working conditions.