Broadway Actors to Receive 3% Yearly Pay Increases and Expanded Health Benefits Under Tentative Equity Contract

Actors’ Equity Association and the Broadway League have reached a tentative deal on a new Broadway Production Contract, potentially avoiding a strike after weeks of tense negotiations.

The proposed three-year agreement introduces several long-sought changes to wages, scheduling, and workplace safety. Members have until October 30 to vote on ratification.

If ratified, the agreement would raise Broadway’s weekly minimum actor salary from $2,638 to $2,717, followed by 3% annual increases over the next three years. Swings, performers who cover multiple roles, would see a 6% pay boost on top of their base salary.

Producer contributions to the Equity Health Fund would increase from $150 to $175 per week per employee, with an additional $25 added each year. The contract also ensures that any actor may request physical therapy, even in productions where it is not currently provided.

The proposed contract directly addresses concerns over demanding performance schedules. The new terms would limit actors and stage managers to 12 consecutive workdays, down from 16. Producers could schedule longer runs up to four times a year, but affected workers would then receive a paid performance off or a paid personal day, the first in Equity’s history.

Stage managers would also gain new authority to request additional staffing for technically complex productions, a change the union has sought for more than a decade.

Under the proposed agreement, actors and stage managers could call out of work without penalty for “good and sufficient cause,” including illness, injury, or family emergencies.

In an effort to reduce paper use, the proposal includes an option for producers to list cast changes in playbills via QR codes instead of printed inserts, maintaining a digital archive of cast updates for 30 days. Physical inserts would remain for shows requiring sealed-phone environments.

Negotiations were led by Equity’s Production Contract Committee, including Jacqueline Jarrold, Anne McPherson, and Kristen Beth Williams, who called the new deal “a strong agreement without major concessions.”

Equity shared that the Broadway League’s rejected proposals included three consecutive two-show days without rest, fully digital Playbills, reduced pay for juvenile actors, the elimination of swing announcements, and decreased compensation for cast album recordings.

Actors and stage managers who have worked on Broadway or in sit-down productions since September 30, 2019, are eligible to vote. Ballots are due by 5 PM on October 30. If approved, the contract will take effect 120 days later, with pay increases applied retroactively to September 28, when the previous contract expired. If a majority of union members vote against the agreement, the union will reopen negotiations with the Broadway League.

As BroadwayWorld reported earlier today, the Broadway musicians’ union, AFM Local 802, has also reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League following its own negotiations. Details of that contract have not yet been released.