The Stage

Fringe minimum wage proposals voted down by Equity council

Published Thursday 9 July 2009 at 13:08 by Alistair Smith

Two proposals put before Equity’s ruling council that critics claimed would have destroyed the UK’s fringe theatres have been overwhelmingly defeated.

The motions, which had been put forward by Equity councillor Clive Hurst, had asked for clarification from the union on how profit-share and low-paying fringe theatres fit into National Minimum Wage guidelines and had also called on the union to lobby government to make it illegal for work-finding services such as Casting Call Pro to advertise work that does not comply with the NMW.

Leaders from the fringe sector, as well as agents, had claimed that, if passed, the proposals would have seriously damaged and perhaps destroyed fringe theatre in the UK.

Equity’s ruling council met this week to discuss the motions and both were “overwhelmingly” defeated, according to the union’s assistant general secretary for communications and membership support Martin Brown.

For more on this story, see next week’s print edition of The Stage.