Weekly reminder that once Shaw shuts down 100% of Canadian Actor’s Equity members will be unemployed. An excellent time come together and reimagine the Canadian Theatre Agreement.

I preface the following thread by saying I have no specific knowledge of the state of the current negotiations between Equity and PACT.

I do know we’ve been without an agreement since 2018. And it’s in PACT’s interest to drag out negotiations because it keeps us at 2018 levels.

Their advantage has always been the knowledge we’d never withdraw our labour.

But thanks to the current moment, we wouldn’t have to withdraw it. We are 100% unemployed.

We’d just have to... withhold it for a bit.

Andrew Lloyd Webber seems to think things will resume in Toronto theatre in Jan of 2021. I personally think he’s dreaming in technicolor, but suppose he’s right.

Equity members, in the absence of a completed CTA, could refuse to sign contracts, could simply not show up next January.

We will never have this kind of leverage again.

This negotiation is the first chance we’ve had to redefine minimums since the Canada Council has its subsidy doubled by the Trudeau government. Doubled. By 2021, its budget will be $360 million.

Actors in this country haven’t had a raise in 30 years. The moment is unique. We should seize it.

An amendment: current agreement ran out in 2018. A bump in minimums was negotiated for 2019-2020 (while the new CTA is worked out), at 2.25% per year.