Frustration Growing Among Actor's Equity Members Over Union's COVID-19 Plan or Lack Thereof

While many professional theatres have been shuttered for the past year, with the growing vaccination process, many performers are hoping to return to the stage as quickly and as safely as possible. Even though Broadway isn’t reopening anytime soon, many regional theatres have plans in place to resume performances as early as this summer.

However, a potential roadblock to restarting the theatre business could be on the horizon given the updates to the Actor’s Equity Association’s COVID-19 Procedures and Protocols. So much that a petition is now being circulated by members which outlines their frustrations and concerns with union leadership.

This week, members of AEA have been sharing a petition that questions the union’s updated policies that would allow their members to return to work. Some members feel that the policies are non-practical for regional theatres to afford, having been shut down for a year, and therefore could result in more theatres leaving the union resulting in fewer jobs for union actors.

Another concern is that these policies were announced with no member input and no notice that they were being updated.

In the petition, addressed to AEA President Kate Shindle and Executive Director Mary McColl, the union members state the following:

Dear Kate Shindle and Mary McColl,

As members of Actor’s Equity, we are growing increasingly concerned that while many aspects of our lives are moving forward towards a new sense of normalcy, our Union is not.

Based on the impracticality and numerous impossibilities found in the recently updated March 3, 2021 Covid-19 Procedures and Protocols, many Equity members, and many theaters have grown deeply frustrated and increasingly concerned about the lack of practical details in how to return to work. Council members had not seen or discussed the specifics of these protocols before they were made public. Both Council and membership were not even made aware that they had been posted to the website, which is yet another example of the increasingly problematic “lack of communication” issue from Equity.

With the upcoming AEA convention quickly approaching, there has been a tremendous amount of work by members and elected delegates to craft resolutions addressing important systemic issues of diversity and inclusion. Additionally, possible solutions for improving communication and transparency within Equity are being proposed, but little to no discussion or work has been done to detail practical and specific protocols for actually getting back to work in the current pandemic climate or anytime in the near future. What is the point in making improvements to the workplace before we know how we can actually return to work? The updated AEA protocols from March 3, 2021 come about 9 months after our Sister Union’s collaborative efforts resulted in a 22-page “White Paper” that detailed protocols for safely returning to work, and succeeded in getting their members back to work. Equity’s protocols from just over a week ago seem to be based on science from 6 months ago. Understandably, the vaccine rollout and the science are moving quickly and changing on a daily basis, and we as a union need to be staying on top of that, not months behind it.

We are hopeful that the issue of realistic and detailed protocols to return to work can be prioritized so that funds can return to our union. Only then would we be able to increase staff positions again, focus on effectively implementing the approved resolutions from the upcoming convention, and communication might hopefully begin to improve. It is from this place of understanding that we earnestly ask:

When are we going to talk about the details of getting back to work?

We are requesting an immediate Town Hall/Q & A setting to ask the two of you questions on this subject. With the elimination of our voices in membership meetings, combined with the poor communication from Council and Staff well beyond this year, membership is very limited in its options to seek essential information these days.

Will new protocols look the same for every contract and every theater?

Will Equity follow the core principles established by Dr. Michaels and prioritize “collaboration” in establishing detailed protocols?

When will Equity welcome the input of members?

Will the guidelines established by other unions that have members back to work be used a guiding resource when relevant?

Specifically, how will the increasing rollout of the vaccine change and effect protocols?

As a union, we are behind. As members, we are willing to help in every way possible. We deserve better communication on this and all matters. You control the agenda at Council meetings, we ask that you prioritize this, and under the guidance of Dr. Michaels, start developing, debating and detailing how to actually get us back to work on every contract and at every Equity theater across the country.

We will never be in solidarity until you start listening,

Members of Actor’s Equity

The petition has been signed by 719 members at the time of the publication of this article.

The members’ frustrations are certainly warranted. I’ve spoken with multiple theatre leaders who have expressed to me their doubts that they will be able to work with the union demands and their anger on the non-flexibility the union is showing.

“We’ve done everything our state requires and have even gone beyond that, but the union demands aren’t practical,” one Equity theatre head told me. “We absolutely want to keep everyone safe but what they’re requiring simply isn’t affordable to a theatre that’s had their doors closed since last year.”

I’ve also spoken with actors who are considering leaving the union in order to potentially return to work faster.

“I’m going to go where there is work. I’m going to go where I can resume my livelihood. If the union is preventing that from happening, I’m no longer a union member,” one actor told me.

In my opinion, I can see where the union is coming from and I can certainly understand what the members are saying. No one wants to return to an unsafe workplace and the union should absolutely do what they can to protect their members. But communication between the two parties must exist. Members are still paying dues, with no paychecks, so the service level of the union needs to be elevated higher than usual.

I am disappointed that doesn’t seem to have been the case and I hope that union leadership takes this petition seriously. Lives depend on it.