20 September 2018
At its meeting in September 2018, the Equity Council made the following decisions:
· To elect Ian Barritt and Julia Carson Sims to the posts of Vice President.
· To thank Ian McKellen who is stepping down as a Trustee of Equity, and to hold a ballot of the whole Council to appoint Malcolm Sinclair to the vacant Trustee position.
· To elect Nick Fletcher as Council’s observer to the Screen & New Media Committee
· To elect Linda Broughton as Council’s observer to the Stage Committee
· To elect Maureen Hibbert as Council’s observer to the Women’s Committee
· To elect Nicholas Keegan as Council’s observer to the LGBT+ Committee
· To nominate Ian Barritt, Di Christian, Bryn Evans, David John and Mary Lane as trustees of the Equity Charitable Trust
· To nominate Kelly Burke as trustee of IPAT
· To elect Adam Burns, Di Christian, David John and Stephen McGuire to the Standing Orders Committee
· To elect Xander Black, Jo Cameron Brown, Di Christian, Mary Lane, Maggie McCarthy, Rhubarb The Clown and Sally Treble to the Disciplinary Subcommittee
· To elect Xander Black, Adam Burns, Graham Hamilton, Stephen McGuire and Rhubarb The Clown to the Financial Stability Working Party
· To elect Graham Hamilton and Rhubarb The Clown to the Rule 28 Working Party
· To increase expenses for members attending Equity meetings in an official capacity. The lunch rate rises from £7.50 to a maximum of £8.50 and the evening meal rate rises from £14 to a maximum of £18. Receipts will now be required without exception. Car mileage rises to 45p (from 26p) and bicycle mileage to 20p (from 12p).
· To renew the members’ public liability, accident and backstage covers from 2019 for a five year period at a fixed rate of £2.72 per member for PLI and £6.83 per member for the combined accident and backstage covers. This represents a 5% increase on the last fixed rate which was negotiated in 2013.
· To allocate a budget for an event to mark the 1st anniversary of the union’s Agenda for Change and Safe Spaces campaigns in 2019.
· To make grants from the Unknown Funds to branches and committees for specific projects
· To appoint Popularis Ltd as the assurer to provide Equity’s Membership Audit Certificate for 2018.
· To appoint David Smith as the union’s Data Protection Officer.
· To co-opt Caron Jane Lyon to the Stage Management Committee to fill a vacancy.
The Council also discussed:
· Negotiations with the BBC, PACT and Netflix
· Games and audio books
· Negotiations for directors in the West End
· Brexit and the impact on Equity members of the government failing to secure a deal in their interest
· The Disclosure & Barring Service
· The Storytellers’ Network
· The union’s updated budget for 2018
· The timetables for Council meetings, Committee elections and the Annual Representative Conference in 2019
The Council also welcomed a new record number of members in benefit, with the union’s total membership (excluding students) now standing at 44,708.
You can contact the Council via their page on the website.
