The Stage

Welsh language TV actors face pay cut

Published Tuesday 2 June 2009 at 14:50 by Matthew Hemley

Actors working in Welsh language television productions have vowed to fight proposals for new minimum terms that they claim would dramatically cut their pay.

The proposals concern Equity’s agreement with TAC, the trade body that represents independent production companies in Wales.

TAC is demanding changes to the existing agreement because it claims it cannot afford to keep paying actors under the current terms, which relate to productions made for Welsh broadcaster S4C and which have been in place since the early nineties.

The trade body argues that the rates it pays does not compare favourably with other agreements Equity has, such as the BBC.

A meeting between S4C, TAC and Equity is scheduled to take place next week, but members of Equity’s Welsh National Committee have urged the union to “resist all attempts by TAC to impose an inferior contract on members”.

Addressing Equity’s Annual Representative Conference this month, chair of the committee, Terry Victor, said: “TAC is currently seeking to downgrade the value of actors, which is an insult to the dignity of professional performers. If the value of any actor in Equity, whatever language they speak, is reduced, we will all be poorer.”

Excluding repeat fees, Equity’s current agreement with TAC provides a basic weekly pay of £538, with an additional £148 supplement paid per episode of 30-minutes or over worked on.

Therefore, if over six weeks engaged on a series an actor works on five programmes, the actor receives six weeks of pay and five programme supplements.

Under its new proposals, however, TAC is suggesting scrapping the supplement and introducing a new flat rate of £630 a week.

Gwion Owain, chief executive of TAC, said the £630 matched rates discussed by Equity when it had been considering a pan-industry agreement, which was aimed at providing actors working in television with one single contract.

He said the pan-industry agreement - plans for which have now been dropped - had highlighted how TAC’s contract did not compare well with others.

“Politically it is extremely difficult for me to go back to my members and say, five months ago Equity was prepared to conclude this agreement with all network UK broadcasters, and now they are refusing to agree this for S4C and TAC members,” he added.

Owain said he was confident that TAC’s proposals would not result in any “loss of income” for actors and warned that independent producers in Wales would employ performers on non-union contracts if an agreement is not be reached by June 15.

However, Chris Ryde, Equity organiser for Wales and the South West, said TAC’s proposals had put the union in a “very difficult position”.

“We have been playing around with the figures and the fact is we are not able at the moment to deal with those figures in a way that would do anything other than cause a large pay cut to Welsh-speaking actors,” he said.

He admitted that negotiations were unlikely to be concluded imminently, claiming the process was bound to be “a long, drawn out” one.