Unions are collections of individuals banded together for collective bargaining with other either unionized or non-union groups. Actors and Stage Managers have their unions, stage hands have theirs, directors and choreographers their own unions, and so on. Unions in the United States fall for the most part under the umbrella of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organization). Actor's Equity is a member of the 4 'A's.' The Associated Artist's and Artisan's of America. Currently there are around 67 union agreements around the United States.
Unions exist to insure the minimum standards of employment for their members. Please note that minimum standards are italicized. It is important to understand that you can ask for more than the minimum standards. You may not get more but there is no harm in asking. Also, bear in mind that union representation comes with some very nice perks as well. Health care, retirement benefits, workman's compensation etc. generally come with union membership so it has its benefits. Contracts are made with unions and organizations that either work with or employ union members. Each union establishes a set of rules under which the membership must both comply and producers and management must insure prior to anyone working on a contract. Below are some of the more common unions associated with live theatre.
Common Unions Involved in Theatrical Productions
There are numerous other unions involved with the theatre. Each union contracts with each hiring or management entity and each hiring or management entity agrees to abide by the regulations of the union agreement. If you go to the Actor’s Equity Main Page (www.actorsequity.org) follow the Document Library link to the Agreements page (note: The union has moved the content to a members only location. You may need to contact the union or talk with a member of the union to see the various rulebooks) you will find thirty-nine different Agreements with various producing organizations across the country. The two typical University contracts with Actor’s Equity Association are the Guest Artist Rulebook and the University Resident Theatre Association Rulebook (URTA).
Even managers and producers have their unions and organizations. Note ATPAM listed above. There are unions and organizations that represent press agents, publicists, writers, producers, production managers, etc. For stage managers it is important to have an understanding of the rules of each individual agreement they are working under. Even theatres that don’t involve unions have standards and practices under which they operate or at the very least certain assumptions and practices. Since it is customary that the stage manager on a show enforces the standards and practices of the producing institution the stage manager should ask for an outline of as many established practices as are known. This will save them some time and perhaps some embarrassment when trying to enforce those practices.
A note for university and community productions: Unions were formed in some part as a protection from abuse by producing and management entities. The young stage manager will often find their self at odds in enforcing agreed upon standards and practices with the producing organization. It is important that the stage manager have some sort of ombudsman or advisor when the accepted standards of the rehearsal hall and performance stage are not being observed. Merely handing them a rulebook with no authoritative support places the stage manager in a lose/lose scenario.
When we are talking about union agreements here we are talking about United States union agreements.
Vocabulary
Actors' Equity Association lists four main union offices across the United States. They are usually printed right on the front of each agreement so that you can easily reach them in case of emergency. The four union cities are:
The National Office, 165 West 46th Street. New York, NY 10036. 212-869-8530 (phone) 212-719-9815 (fax)
Hollywood Office, 5636 tujunga Ave., North Hollywood, CA. 91601. 323-978-8080 (phone) 323-978-8081 (fax)