Equity in the News

From the stage actors' union taking on museum lecturers and strippers to the machinists breaking new ground in architecture, a variety of unions are answering an uptick in organizing interest by branching out from their traditional turf.

Introduced by Senator Anthony Portantino (D – Burbank), Senate Bill 1116 was cosponsored by Actors’ Equity Association and the Theatrical Producers of Southern California.

Actors’ Equity has endorsed Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock’s re-election bid, marking the first time the union’s National Council has voted to endorse a political candidate in the state. Warnock, a Democrat, is facing Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the November 8 midterm election.

The dozen observatory lecturers at the Los Angeles institution have unanimously signed union authorization cards with the Actors’ Equity Assn. A petition was presented to the city’s Employee Relations Board during a meeting Monday morning, kicking off a formal feedback period before the board makes a decision in a few months.

Two senators, one assemblymember, artist labor leaders, several social justice advocates, and activists as well as actors of every stripe gathered at Boston Court Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 8. But when the curtain rose on a rally exhorting Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign SB 1116 into law, all of them were simply theater kids.

Performing artists union Actors' Equity Association petitioned Aug. 18 for an election to represent dancers at the Star Garden following months of protests over safety conditions and other concerns. Should the dancers secure an election and vote in favor of the union, they will form the only bargaining unit of strippers in the country and just the third ever.

Strippers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood, California, have filed with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to join the Actors Equity Association, a union of performers and other show business professionals.

Stefanie Frey is with Actors Equity, the union that represents 51,000 theater stage workers and stage managers. To Frey, strippers are no different adding, "It's not just Star Gardens. This is really an industry-wide problem with some of these issues."

Strippers who would normally be inside the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar entertaining patrons were instead outside on the sidewalk picketing Friday.

The theatrical union has taken on a high-profile organizing effort at North Hollywood's Star Garden Topless Dive Bar after dancers have spent months picketing.