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Can the Clock of Doom Be Re-Set?

Plus Ann Colby Stocking’s complaint and the Ovations

By Paul Birchall, and Stage Raw Writers

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, representing drama critics throughout the L.A. area, has released an updated version of its statement concerning the stage union’s (Equity/AEA) plan to do away with the 99-Seat [Theater] Plan.  The original statement was released in 2015 at the start of the conflict between AEA and the Pro99 community.

The statement came within 60 days of the deadline imposed by Equity for mandatory adoption of their new rules (December 14, 2016), whose provisions (with three exceptions) include the requirement that theater companies employing union actors pay minimum wage for rehearsals and performances. (Full disclosure: I’m an LADCC member, and a signatory of the letter.)

Although the document is mostly a reprint of the talking points from the original statement, it does offer a new introduction that reiterates the urgency of the situation and the practical threat to the artistic health of the theater community. That urgency, however, may be over-stated, as there are rumblings coming from all parties that the December 14 deadline may be extended.

“If the pending changes are allowed to take effect, the immediate impact on the community of greater Los Angeles, as well as on its actors and other theater artists, would be deleterious and probably irreversible,” notes the new introduction to the statement.  “Los Angeles’ most dedicated theater actors will be deprived of their free expression and realization of their craft, under circumstances that pose no genuine threat to the interests of AEA and contrary to their overwhelmingly expressed desire to continue to do so.”

The document goes on to cite the “incalculable” cultural and economic losses, and the deleterious impacts on “all the businesses interdependent” on the hundreds of productions cancelled or diminished-in-quality, because of the new contract. “We believe the net impact on the city could be catastrophic.” 

The revised statement also recommends that “. . . the current system be maintained in place until the issues in controversy are resolved. . .” 

That remedy, even as a temporary measure, may well be underway. We’ve learned of conversations taking place between Equity and its members, in which all sides are considering an extension of the currently-employed Transitional Plan beyond the December 14 deadline, until the legal complications sort themselves out.

In the meantime, over 60 intimate L.A.-County theaters have signed a commitment to continue operating under the Transitional Plan, even after December 14 if need be, unless or until the Natinal Labor Relations Board (NLRB) or the court orders them to do otherwise.

The court has still not ruled on the union’s Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit Asner, et al V. Actors’ Equity Association (filed by union actors and some producers against AEA) which aims to reboot the process by which the former 99-Seat Plan got removed. That removal was allegedly in violation of a 1989 out-of-court settlement that was ostensibly intended to protect the 99-Seat Plan and to provide local union members with fair representation over control of that Plan. There’s some speculation that the court is waiting for the outcome of two NLRB filings against AEA, before deciding whether or not to accept or dismiss the lawsuit, and that could take months.

The most recently filed NLRB complaint concerns AEA’s position regarding members who opt for “Financial Core” status: a hiatus from union privileges, rules and restrictions, while they remain in the union. Going Financial core essentially removes union members from AEA jurisdiction. Financial Core, generally interpreted as an anti-union position, is permitted under federal law, and is considered a temporary option for union employees who find union policy too restrictive and/or punitive for their own interests.

AEA has insisted that because of reciprocity within AFL-CIO (the labor federation of which AEA is a part),  Equity members who choose to go Financial Core are also suspending themselves from AEA’s sister union within AFL-CIO, The Screen Actors’ Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). This could have a constricting financial impact (barring employment in union film and TV work) on actors who are members of both unions, but who seek a reprieve from the restrictions of AEA in order to appear on local stages.

So far SAG-AFTRA has offered no corroborating opinion on compelling its members to go Financial Core in their unions, should those members choose that option for AEA. And the latest NLRB filing by Pro99 argues that AEA has no authority to bar its members from employment under those sister unions, should those actors choose Financial Core in AEA.

Meanwhile, in other news, AEA has just announced plans to hold their long-deferred special membership meeting on November 7 at 11:00 AM at the Sportsman Lodge in Studio City.  Equity members may RSVP to Equity at (323) 978-8080.  It will be interesting to see if the Pro99 activists will be given an opportunity to make their case one last time, or if the Union will shut down any attempt to discuss the regional issues.  

The Case of the Volunteer Who Is Now Demanding Back Wages

In a somewhat related point, the case of actress Ann Colby Stocking against the Odyssey Theatre, filed earlier this year with the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), dithers along. The filing appears to be yet another attempt to shoot the 99 Seat Plan in the knee. Stocking’s only conceivable defense is that the Plan itself, for the 30 years it existed, was in violation of California labor law.

In 2013, Stocking appeared in a production of Hamlet, co-produced by Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company and the Odyssey Theatre, under the AEA- sanctioned 99-Seat Plan. Stocking acknowledged in a written agreement that she signed, under the terms of the Plan, that she was working as a volunteer, though she received expense stipends, also permitted under the Plan.

Earlier this year Stocking filed a complaint against the Odyssey Theatre (curiously, not co-producer LA Women’s Shakespeare Company), with the DIR, for over $6,000 — $2,888 for unpaid minimum and overtime wages, plus an additional $2,296 in “liquidated damages,” plus a $36/day penalty from the time of the filing that the demand remained unmet, for up to 30 days.

It appeared until recently that the case had disappeared into the ether, when the Odyssey Theatre’s Ron Sossi reported that he’d received notice from the DIR that a scheduled hearing had been cancelled. In fact, according to the DIR, the case administrator retired in the middle of the case, and it took the DIR several months to find a replacement.

On Monday, October 17, at a preliminary conference, the DIR attempted to settle the case between the opposing parties. Neither wished to do so. According to Sossi, his attorney made a request to dismiss the case on the grounds that the DIR only has jurisdiction over “employers and employees” and that under both the 99-Seat Plan and the agreement signed by Stocking, she was a volunteer, not an “employee.”

Sossi says that the DIR is now taking his argument back to its legal department, and he expects it will take another month or so for the DIR to determine whether or not it even has jurisdiction. If DIR accepts the case, it will take the department six to eight months to schedule an actual hearing.

David Mack, who is serving as Stocking’s non-attorney advocate for this case, wrote that he was willing to provide comment, but 48-hours after the initial request for comment was made, Mack was still seeking clearance from the DIR and from his “team” on what he was permitted to say. We will update this column if and when that comment comes in.

Ovations Awards Date Announced

LA STAGE Alliance has announced the date for its 27^th annual Ovation Awards, the only peer-judged theater awards ceremony for So Cal theaters, large and small. The event will take place at the Ahmanson Theatre on January 17^th, 2017.