Newly re-elected General Secretary Paul W Fleming has emphasised that Equity is “industrial action ready” in his speech to the performing arts and entertainment trade union’s annual conference in Derry today.
He was speaking about Equity’s current negotiations with Pact, the trade body representing the majority of the UK’s film and TV production companies, and referenced US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to impose tariffs of 100% on films not made in America.
“Trump’s threat of tariffs on film was met with hysteria from producers, and sent Netflix’s share price tumbling. It revealed the fragility of our own industry – how it is more dependent on cash from the US than strategy from the UK.
“We’re not changing our approach or our demands. The message is simple: we have put in the most ambitious claims for our TV and film agreements in a generation. Our union is industrial action ready. On dignity at work, on royalties, on artificial intelligence, on casting, and on pay: Pact and the streamers need to deliver. Our members will not wait for a global stability which will not come, or a government strategy which doesn’t exist to save them. Our claims stand, tariff or no tariff, inflation high or low: Pact and the streamers need to meet their ambition, they don’t have a choice.”
Speaking about the theatre sector, Paul said:
“The line is the same for subsidised producers. It cannot be right that whilst our independent theatre agreement has beaten inflation for a decade, that subsidised pay has fallen behind. Why is a choreographer with project funding paid more in real terms now than ten years ago, but the same is not true of the major subsidised houses in every nation and region? All have suffered cuts, but the biggest players have looked in the wrong place for savings. Over the course of this year we will set out a claim which will see pay restored to 2018 levels – a record high in subsidised theatre. The message to the bosses is clear: we’re not waiting anymore.”
Elsewhere Paul, whose re-election was announced on 2 May, having won 81% of the vote, said it was “an overwhelming honour to be re-elected as your General Secretary”. Reflecting on his time in office since his first election in 2020, he said:
“How far we have come. Inflation beating deals on the West End and in small scale theatre. Record levels of theatre director membership. The TV commerical producers forced back to the table for the first time in a generation. A date set at the High Court for our landmark case against Spotlight. Campaigns to save Bethnal Green Working Mens’ Club and the Oldham Coliseum both on a winning march forward. Industrial action across opera, with the final throes of the Welsh National Opera dispute suggesting the union has overturned or won concessions on every initial proposal.”
Paul’s second five-year term will run until 2030.
Equity’s annual conference 2025 is currently taking place in Derry this year, running from Saturday 10 - Monday 12 May. It is Equity’s flagship democratic event, bringing together representatives from across the union to decide Equity’s agenda and rules. This year, motions to be discussed include protecting creative works from artificial intelligence misuse, defending soaps/continuing drama, and campaigning for more arts funding.
We’re not changing our approach or our demands. Our union is industrial action ready.
Paul W Fleming
Equity is the performing arts and entertainment trade union. We’re made up of 50,000 performers and creative practitioners. We are actors, comedians, dancers, designers, directors, puppeteers, singers, stage managers, variety performers and voice artists. For more than a hundred years we've been pushing for better pay, terms, and conditions.
