Actors’ Equity recently negotiated four-year contracts with three employers in the Central Region, gaining increases and improving work rules for each agreement.
The negotiated contracts include Chanhassen Dinner Theater in Minnesota, Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis and Chicago’s Second City Theater, Inc.
The new contract for Chanhassen Dinner Theater will start on May 26, 2014. Among the gains in the new contract is a salary increase of 3 percent for each year of the agreement, resulting in a total increase of 12 percent across the life of the contract.
Additionally, the dance captain increment increases to 17 percent and the fight captain increment increases to 3 percent of the weekly salary rather than a flat $15. New to the contract is the requirement that understudy assignments must be made within one week of the first rehearsal.
The Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre contract begins on June 9, 2014 and is another four-year agreement. For the first time, the theatre’s revues will now be covered under the contract. Equity also achieved a 2 percent increase in years 2 - 4 of the agreement and the dance captain increment is increased to 15 percent.
A new rule now requires any salary offer must include an itemization that includes, among other things, term increment and parts pay.
The contract began on May 6, 2014 with retroactive payments to April 14, 2014. The Second City Theater, Inc. contract encompasses 3 percent salary increases in each year of the agreement for both Mainstage and e.t.c. as well as a Mid-Term Run bonus of no less than one week’s contractual salary six months after opening. A 3 percent increase in the first and third year of the agreement was also achieved for Second City’s TourCo, Theatricals and Up productions.
In each contract negotiation, Equity’s negotiating team sought and gained improvements in areas that ranged from safe and sanitary proposals to new media.
These are three examples of how #EquityWorks.
