West End producers accused of paying no more than union minimums

Producers are paying West End performers and stage managers at or just above union minimums – with Equity members taking home on average “little above” £700 a week gross, the union has claimed.

This is the finding of a pay audit that has been carried out by the union’s West End deputies over the summer, which received more than 400 responses. The audit comes as the union prepares to submit claims for both subsidised and commercial agreements in the West End, alongside claims for revisions to agreements with the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, for directors, designers and choreographers.

According to the union, the results of its pay audit in the West End can "evidence something crucial about rates of pay in the West End that most members have always known" – producers are engaging workers "at or just above union minimums".

This means that average West End members are taking home little above £700 a week gross.

"We can finally lay to rest the myth that our members are working for thousands and thousands of pounds a week, except for in diminishingly rare instances," the union said in its quarterly magazine.

It added that, if producers do not pay much above the union-negotiated minimum, "it’s even more imperative for the new claim to ensure that the floor is high enough to guarantee liveable rates of pay in one of the most expensive cities in the world, not to mention one that reflects ticket prices over the last year", it said.

It said the average weekly pay was not enough to cover members for out-of-work periods.

Equity also highlighted how stage managers and swings had been stepping in to save shows in the past year but had not "received the financial compensation or recognition they deserve for taking on the additional, often safety-critical responsibilities the production has demanded of them".

The union also argued that the reopening of theatres following the pandemic had seen a return to work that was "not better – it was the same or it was worse, with excessive working hours being cited as a major factor in this".

Equity said it would be pushing for five-day rehearsal weeks, with a maximum of 35 hours in its ITC Ethical Manager agreement, and for similar reductions in working time across all of the industry-standard agreements for performers and stage managers.