This is by way of a shout-out to all interested members of Equity (unfortunately, if you're not a member of Equity, you probably won't be able to log in to see the report sadly) regarding the recommendations that have been passed by Equity as the result of a working party held to discuss the issue of lo/no pay within the industry. I sat on this working party with the attitude that it was vitally important for the Union to be grappling with these issues (which it has been neglecting for too long), and am proud to say that the Equity Council actually stood by all the recommendations made in the working party's report. These are still really only guidelines (and a bit of a drop in the ocean, in many ways) but I still think it's important to recognise that the Union has begun to at least move towards tackling some of the questions that exercise us so regularly on these forums. Hopefully, we may even see improvements emerging in the fringe/lo pay sectors of the industry if certain developments follow through in the long run.
Equity itself will probably have posted you an email (as it posted me one, even though I sat on the party!), so I suspect my post is a bit otiose, but I always think these things may be of more interest with a personal recommendation. I am also assuming that if the deliberations are freely downloadable, there's no confidentiality surrounding the issue anymore. The basic recommendations are carried in the Council Report for 21st February at https://www.equity.org.uk/documents/council-report-21-february-2012/, and that document contains a further link to the actual report drawn up by the working party, which contains some more detail on some of the interesting ideas that were discussed, and some intriguing appendixes, including some details on HMRC and its relationship to film schools.
There is also an interesting set of developments happening within Equity at the moment regarding the development of a (working!) 'online branch' in connection with a redevelopment of the entire union structure that might significantly alter relationships with the union (for the better, let's hope) for the computer literate amongst us. As yet, it's very early days for this, but I hope to be able to bring some suggestions to bear on these developments as well. If anyone would like to PM me with suggestions for what they might like to see developing from a potentially revamped Equity web presence, let me know, and I will try to pass on recommendations to the tech providers.
To provide context for Dan's link, this is an article that Spotlight are running based on opinions given by Stephen Spence, Equity's Assistant General Secretary, who sat in and advised during the meetings of the Lo/No Pay Working Party. Although some may find his defintions add up to the fact that there is only *so* much Equity can currently do in the area of lo/no pay, I think it is an excellent summation of the position that the Union holds towards the legality of lo/no pay work, and, generally, of the consensus reached during the working party. Well worth reading if you are confused by the legal issues surrounding the question of whether or not you are entitled to pay for your work in various situations.
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