A group of actors and stage managers employed by a non-union touring production of the musical “Waitress” seek union representation, encouraged by a growing focus on working conditions in the theater world and by the labor movement’s recent successes in other sectors.
Actors’ Equity Association, a union representing 51,000 performers and stage managers, said it had collected signatures from more than 30 percent of workers needed to hold elections, and it had filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday. , which organizes such elections.
The number of people affected is small — according to Equity, 22 actors and stage managers are employed by the tour — but the move is significant as it marks the first time Equity has attempted a non-union tour in a failed attempt two decades ago to unite a touring production of “The Music Man”. (The union also sought a boycott of that production.)
Union officials said the “Waitress” tour was an obvious place for an organizing campaign because of an unusually clear comparison: There are currently two touring companies of that musical, one being represented by the union and one not. The workers in the non-union tour get about a third of what the workers in the unionized company earn, and have fewer safety protections, Equity said. (The minimum wage for union actors is $2,244 per week.)
“We thought it was not right and not fair, so we approached them to see if they were interested in us representing them,” said Stefanie Frey, the union director for organization and mobilization. Frey said the productions were so similar that some of the non-union artists have been asked to teach artists about union production, and some have switched from non-union production to union production. “It’s an obvious group of people who are being exploited,” she said.
Jennifer Ardizzone-West, the chief operating officer at NETworks Presentations, the company that produces the non-union “Waitress” tour, immediately declined to comment, saying, “Until we see the actual submission, it’s premature for me to to comment.”
Tours are an important and lucrative part of the Broadway economy. During the 2018-19 theater season — the last full season before the pandemic — organized touring shows grossed $1.6 billion and were attended by 18.5 million people, according to the Broadway League. Similar stats aren’t readily available for non-union tours, but Frey said, “The non-union tour world has grown over the past 15 years.”
Equity is hiring two additional organizers as it looks to expand its efforts, according to a union spokesperson, David Levy, who noted recent successful efforts to organize some employees at REI, Starbucks and Amazon. The National Labor Relations Board said last week that the number of petitions for union elections has risen dramatically.
Frey said the long pandemic closure of theaters had also contributed to a new interest in organizing in the theater industry. “Employees feel a little bit more of their power and want to fight for what they deserve in a different way,” she said.
