Pay casts more for shows on Sunday - Equity

Published Wednesday 12 October 2005 at 10:20 by Nuala Calvi

Theatreland is braced for an end of year showdown as Equity gave notice to producers it wants a larger slice of the profits from West End blockbusters that open on Sunday.

Box office takings are expected to rise with an increasing number of major shows, including The Lion King and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, already staging Sunday performances and more tipped to follow suit. Now the actors’ union is demanding that the issue is specifically included in the next West End agreement signed with the Society of London Theatre.

Christine Payne, assistant general secretary, theatre and variety, told The Stage: “An agreement without Sundays is an inadequate agreement - it doesn’t deal with the reality of the industry our members are working in. Not all shows work Sundays but some do and the fact that some do means the union has a responsibility to negotiate an agreement.

“At the moment the contract doesn’t allow people to perform on Sundays. It allows rehearsals but that means if they want to work on a Sunday we’ve had to make a separate agreement.”

The union previously had a ‘side letter’ agreement on Sundays but this was terminated in April. It is now hoping to win performers a minimum of an eighth of their salaries on top of their normal fee for working on a Sunday. This would mean someone with a fee of £1,000 would get an extra £125.

Payne added: “For members working above the minimum it will mean them negotiating but we’re giving them the ammunition to do that, because we do think Sundays should be an additional payment.”

James Woods of Mark Goucher Ltd, producer of Fame and Saturday Night Fever, said Sunday openings were a growing feature of modern life, which the industry had to embrace. However, he questioned the notion that performers should be paid extra for the day.

“You have to ask yourself why - do train drivers or bus drivers get paid extra for working on Sunday? That’s your job and it doesn’t matter what day of the week your job takes place. I don’t think it’s any different to performing on a Monday.”

Alex Halpern, general manager of Michael Rose, one of the producers of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, said more Sunday openings were inevitable but the expectation of extra pay was a stumbling block.

“Sundays are something they’ve done in New York for years. But there is a financial cost - at the moment you do have to pay people a lot more.”

Technicians’ union Bectu also introduced its first Sunday agreement in April this year, guaranteeing members a minimum of eight hours at double time for full-time staff and four and a half for performance staff. Senior officer Willy Donaghy said: “It was partly because Sunday working was becoming more and more popular, and some people were selling themselves short. It’s changed as the rest of the world has changed. I think the industry is just catching up with that.”

Meanwhile, Equity wants to see performers share in the considerable sums now made by shows such as The Lion King from merchandising material. It will push also for audio-visual material to be covered in contracts, where actors appear in pre-recorded material used, for instance, to indicate flashbacks. Such techniques were used in When Harry Met Sally and The History Boys.

Payne said: “It’s absolutely right we have minimum terms and conditions to cover this, whether performers are actually in the live show or not.”

The Society of London Theatre declined to comment.