Important Message from the MEAA

People in this thread appear to be confused about what is meant by contracts. Before I get onto that issue. Eventainment are musical theatre and acoustic performance promoters. There are a number of overseas companies operating under the same name, in the same business (in Indonesia, for example). So, we are hardly dealing here with some amateur, community-based theatre group. The anonymous champion of the promotion company, Eventainment, asks "Whats so bad about being a contractor?" He/she goes on: "And whats this thing about contracts and amateur status? Does anyone else find this contradictory? Amateurs don't get paid, so why would they have Equity-approved contracts? Why would they get super? Bizarre." Yes, contracts are common in the industry. It is in the nature of theatre and screen that work is intermittent and short-term. Professional actors do enter into contracts. But, there are two ways to do this. First: to enter into a short-term employment contract. Now this can be done one of two ways. On the one hand it can be above board and ethical, conforming with the benchmarks set out in awards and bona fide agreements. The actor or crew member is paid the going rate for their skills and artistic work, enjoying the basic conditions of employment including superannuation. On the other hand, the company can play on the unfortunate ignorance of too many actors about their rights and undercut the industry standards. The AWA system makes this much easier for shonky companies to dud their employees. Second, the company can try and subvert the industry standards by attempting to get the actor or crew member to enter into an independent contractor arrangement. The Federal Government now allows this, undermining the common law of employment and the obligations an employer has towards actors and crew. Under these arrangements, the actor loses the conditions that employment brings. You are treated as if you are your own company, and you are responsible for supplying your own superannuation, for example. You can bet your bottom dollar that payment on such a contract is not superior to the industry rates and conditons. If anything is "bizarre" about what is suggested is happening at Eventainment, it is this. If they truly "are trying to build some sort of Arts scene in Perth" then, by undercutting the industry benchmarks, they will create a reputation for themselves among theatre professionals, where - in the long run - no self-respecting professional actor will touch them. Jim