Actors' Equity Association (commonly called AEA or Equity) has jurisdiction over stage.
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) is the union exercising jurisdiction over live television, some videotape, sound recordings, and radio.
Screen Actors Guild (SAG) covers all film and some videotape production.
Along with other performers' unions, these three groups form the Associated Actors and Artistes of America (the Four A's), which is chartered by the AFL-CIO. The Four A's, in turn, has issued charters to its components so that each may administer the jurisdiction that has been awarded to it. While each union is autonomous in respect to its individual jurisdiction, it is, theoretically at least, ultimately responsible to its parent body, the Four A's. In reality, this responsibility means very little, for individual unions exercise their separate jurisdictions with practically no help or guidance from the parent body.
Why were the Unions Formed?
Equity, the oldest of the three big actors' unions, was formed by 112 actors on May 26,1913 in New York City. At that time, and for many years after, motion pictures were considered by the old time stage actors to be a temporary and un-artistic phenomenon not worth organizing. Television, of course, did not exist. Since the legitimate theatre was the core of the actor's life, naturally it was first to organize, and the conditions that led to Equity's establishment were similar to those that actors in films and television either feared or suffered later on, and which eventually led to the formation of SAG and AFTRA.
Since the late 1800s, employers in the theatre had been encroaching upon the rights of the actors to such an extent that exploitation had become a permanent condition of employment, and the plight of the actor was becoming increasingly onerous and difficult. There was no standard contract, no minimum wage, no fixed conditions, and no predictable number of rehearsals. Examination of an actual (and typical) contract (dated May, 1913) between a well-known actress and a producer yields the following information: For $20 a week, the actress played in any theatre the producer designated; she furnished all gloves, shoes, tights, stockings, lace, feathers, and any modern costume that she owned; she rehearsed for 13 weeks without any salary whatsoever, and worked seven days a week, giving as many performances as the manager required; she received no salary if the company could not obtain suitable bookings; if the star was unable to perform, the company also went without salary.
In those days, it was common practice to fire actors on opening night (perhaps after four months' rehearsal at no salary); to abscond with the box office receipts; and to leave a cast not only without salary after having worked the week, but stranded anywhere in the country without fare home to New York. In short, the producer set the requirements, and few actors were able to stand against them.
There had been occasional but unsuccessful attempts by individual actors and actor-managers to combat these impositions. One of these was the organization of the Actors' Society of America about 1896, but that association never became sufficiently strong to establish itself as a protector of the actors. By the winter of 1912, it had become so feeble that a meeting was called to decide whether or not it was worth continuing, or whether a new association, dedicated solely to the economic problems of the actor, would better serve the purpose. At that first meeting, a "Plan and Scope Committee" was formed to work out the arrangements for a new association. By May, 1913, the constitution and bylaws for Actors' Equity Association had been drafted.
But it was not that simple. Powerful theatre owners and producers--some of them well-known actors themselves--fought the fledgling union bitterly. George M. Cohan committed $100,000 of his personal fortune to try to destroy it. For six years, Equity tried to negotiate a contract that all managers would recognize. The producers would not negotiate--would not recognize Equity as the actors' bargaining agent. Equity applied to the American Federation of Labor for affiliation, but couldn't be accepted, since a charter was already outstanding to an organization called the White Rats, composed mainly of vaudeville performers. Hurried negotiations among labor representatives resulted in the White Rats relinquishing their charter, after which the Associated Actors and Artistes of America (The Four A's) was immediately formed in 1919 and chartered by the AFL. The Four A's, in turn, recognized Equity as the union representing actors in theatre, and the other group (consisting of former White Rats) as the union representing vaudeville performers. Thus armed with AFL affiliation, Equity went on strike to be recognized.
The strike began on August 7, 1919, and lasted 30 days, until September 6. It spread to eight cities, closed 37 plays, prevented opening of 16 others, and cost everybody concerned about three million dollars. Supported by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the American Federation of Musicians, Equity found in September that its membership had increased from 2,700 to about 14,000 and its treasury, which had held $13,500 when the strike began, had increased to $120,000, despite the expenditure of more than $5,000 a day. When it was over, the managers had signed a contract for five years that included practically all of Equity's demands.
In 30 days, Equity had been transformed from a nonproductive association of discontented actors into a labor union of recognized authority and influence. But that was not the end of strife. There were to be other battles later, on this and other fields; but the main skirmish had been won. The trend toward union organization by America's actors was clearly underway.
Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
The Screen Actors Guild was formed in 1933. At that time, actors were lucky to be paid $15 for a long day's work or $66 for a six-day week. Unregulated hours and working conditions were even worse than the pay. In March of 1933, producers decreed a 50 percent pay cut for all actors under studio contracts. With no organization or collective bargaining power, the actors took the cut.
As a result of that action by producers, a small group of Hollywood actors got together to talk about forming a self-governed guild of motion picture actors in order to give performers a stronger voice. Articles of Incorporation were filed in Sacramento in June, 1933. A four-year struggle for union recognition and a contract with producers followed.
In 1937, the early members of the Screen Actors Guild voted to strike, if necessary to achieve union recognition. With over 95 percent of the major stars of that time ready to walk off the job, the producers backed down, and on May 9, 1937, SAG signed its first contract governing wages and working conditions for actors in feature films.
Since then, through collective bargaining with producers, SAG has created a new and better working environment for performers by establishing regular working hours, meal periods, a five-day week and pay for working overtime, Sunday, and holidays. Successive contracts have brought increased wages for all performers, pension and health plans paid by the producer, residual payments for reuse of motion pictures and television programs, regulation of talent agents and their commissions, and safety standards on the set.
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
In the mid-1930s, America was in economic depression, but radio was booming. In 1936, radio was the fourth largest industry in America. In 1937, it collected over $140 million in advertising revenue. True, stars were earning large weekly salaries. For those who were not stars, however, conditions were quite different. Performers might be paid anything from $5 to $50 per performance, including hours or days of rehearsal. In addition, they might be expected to play multiple characters on one show for the single fee, and if a pilot show didn't make it onto the air, they wouldn't be paid at all. And, if they didn't like the terms, hundreds of others were eager to take their places.
Performers already had discovered the benefits of unionism. The American Federation of Musicians and Actors' Equity were already on the scene and film actors were organizing into the Screen Actors Guild when, in 1935, a group of 21 Los Angeles radio performers got together to see what they could do. But the "21 Club," as they called it, never got off the ground. Six months into its existence, several radio stations got wind of the enterprise, and threatened--on station letterhead--to blacklist any performer involved. The club dissolved.
The second attempt at organization was more successful. Some radio actors learned that the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was planning to organize radio performers as part of the Telegraphers Union. The radio performers then held a hasty meeting in Hollywood and the result was the Radio Artists Guild (RAG).
At the same time, Actors' Equity, which had jurisdiction over radio performers, was also exploring some sort of organization in New York. The two groups got together in New York on July 17,1937 with representatives of Screen Actors Guild, Equity, and the newly-formed (1936) American Guild of Musical Artists (which has jurisdiction over opera, ballet, and concert performers) to form a new national union, the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA). As with the other unions, recognition of the union by employers did not come easily. It was not until July 12, 1938 that AFRA signed the first collectively bargained agreement on a national scale with NBC and CBS. This Basic Network Sustaining Agreement established a wage increase of 125 percent and a union shop agreement for radio talent.
In the mid and late 1940s, television began to capture the public's imagination and dollars. Radio shows and personalities began the move over to television. But television performers were not organized. AFRA and SAG were fighting for jurisdiction. So, on April 16, 1950, the Associated Actors and Artistes created a new organization, Television Authority (TVA), with jurisdiction over television actors. TVA negotiated the first network television contract in December 1950. On September 17, 1952, TVA and AFRA merged to create a new union with a "T": AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
AFTRA and SAG have been talking about merging for more than 30 years. In 1974, the two unions negotiated jointly for the first time, for a contract covering prime time dramatic programming. They continue to negotiate several contracts together, maintain joint offices in several cities around the country-and still talk about merger.
