DANZ QUARTERLY Issue 16
July, August, September 2009
WHY JOIN A UNION?
NZ Equity, Your Union
By Frances Walsh
As part of a freshly minted agreement, dancers at the Sydney Dance Company are set to receive wage increases of 12 per cent over the next three years; additional therapeutic massage sessions; and in recognition that their careers can be short if sweet, those who have been with the company for five years are now in line for a retraining scheme.
These conditions have been won by dancers and their union, Equity, which is part of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
All dancers at the Sydney Dance Company belong to their union. Because dancers have stood together, Equity has been able to negotiate fees and residual payments for recording publicity and behind-the-scenes documentaries, as well as improvements to dancers’ accommodation standards and per diems for touring. When on tour, dancers must over-night in three to four star accommodation; when touring overseas dancers receive weekly per diems of $358.
As of three years ago New Zealand Equity became a fully-funded autonomous part of the Alliance. Equity is the union for all local performers, including dancers.
In the last several years in New Zealand dancers, like performers, have lost conditions. Equity routinely hears that dancers are expected to perform on unsafe surfaces with no guarantee of breaks during rehearsals, with no set weekly hours of work, and to appear nude or smoke on stage without having previously agreed to either at the time of their engagement. It is not unusual for dancers to be employed in New Zealand on or around the minimum wage of $500 a week. (At the Sydney Dance Company, dancers in their first year start on the weekly rate of $1005.) These are but some of the issues that make it difficult for dancers to perform at their optimum, and severely limit their ability to have an ongoing career.
For us, it’s about fairness and respect; Equity is committed to giving local performers a unified voice. In Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and America performers have standard contracts, which include minimum working conditions and, if applicable, residual payments. These contracts give dancers certainty about the minimum expectations they can have on any job, whether it be on a long-term contract for a dance company or on a one-off role for a musical, a television commercial or in a television or film drama. In New Zealand there are no such contracts across the dance industry.
For dancers, what might a standard contract look like? Apart from encompassing those conditions mentioned above in the Sydney Dance Company’s recent agreement, it would cover; the need to obtain your consent over appearing nude or smoking; the requirement that a company or management or producers supply you with pointe shoes, tights or jockstraps; the number of performances you can give in any week; the provision of breaks during rehearsals; penalty rates for working on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays; and the circumstances in which you are provided with transport to your place of work.
Membership of your union and working together ensures better pay and conditions for all in the industry. We know that when a majority of performers get together and start asking for the same improvements across the industry we are more likely to get better conditions for all. You do not have to accept substandard conditions simply because you are grateful to have a job. Much of what is covered in a standard contract has to do with respecting you as a professional.
To join Equity, call your union organiser Frances Walsh on 0800 334 470 or (09) 360 1980. If you are a member of a company we can also come and talk to you and your fellow dancers at time and place that’s convenient. To find out more about Equity and our standard contracts campaign go to www.actorsequity.org.nz The Sydney Dance Company agreement will shortly be posted on the Alliance website at www.alliance.org.nz.
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