Actor's Equity Makes 3-Year Deal with NEAT Theatres

By: Aug. 10, 2005
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Actors' Equity Association (Equity) has reached a tentative three-year agreement with 14 New England Area Theatres (NEAT); among other deals, the health contribution rate will once again top priorities for Equity.  The current agreement, which will expire on September 5, 2005, will extend, with retroactive payments, to September 8, 2005 when it will be brought before Equity's Eastern Regional Board for ratification.

As for health insurance, "the NEAT Contract had a contribution just slightly over $100 for all theatres using the agreement. In year one, the new contract requires a contribution of $112 for categories 1-5 and a contribution of $121 for the remaining four categories, with an additional increase in year two. In the third year of the agreement, the contribution rate will be $136 (categories 1-5) and $141 (categories 6 -9). Supplemental Workers Compensation will be raised to $2.00, up from $1.50," according to a press article.

The salaries will remain at $184 to $$466 for Actors and $220 - $558 for Stage Managers in the first year of the agreement to achieve the increase in health contributions.  Stage managers' salaries will increase by %2 each year thereafter culminating at rates of $192 to $485 for Actors and $228 - $580 in the third year.

A number of other changes will also be made, among them an increase of ten percent in salaries for Assistant Stage Managers in the first year with a 2% increase each following year (previously, Assistant Stage Managers were salaried the same as actors). Dance Captains will have $3 incremental increase in each category and there will be more Equity members in the chorus. Senior Business Rep Rick Berg served as chief negotiator for Equity and Rick Lombardo, the Artistic Director and Producer for New Repertory Theatre as well as the President of NEAT, served as NEAT's chief negotiator.

The NEAT contract applies to 14 theaters, including: Boston Playwrights Theatre, Boston Theatre Works, Gloucester Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New Repertory Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Stoneham Theatre, The Nora Theatre Company, The Publick Theatre, Inc., The Sugan Theatre Company, Inc., and Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre. Actors Shakespeare Project, The Village Theatre Project, and Providence, R.I.'s Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre are using the NEAT contract for the first time as newly -affiliated Equity theatres.  It will create approximately 1400 workweeks per years for the 650 Equity members who reside in the Boston area.

"Actors' Equity Association founded in 1913, represents more than 45,000 Actors and Stage Managers in the United Stages. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions."

For more information, visit www.actorsequity.org.
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