#NotALabRat: Actors' Equity Members Talk To Holiday Crowds About Need For New Lab Agreement

Actors' Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 Actors and Stage Managers, capped off a week of activity on its campaign for a new Lab Agreement with the Broadway League by asking audiences to join Equity's fight for a stronger Agreement.

The Lab Agreement with the Broadway League is a contract used for the development of new productions, often musicals. Weekly salaries on the agreement have been frozen for 11 years.

For the second week, Equity members greeted ticket buyers outside the Broadway TKTS location and asked them to join the #NotALabRat campaign. Audience members who supported the campaign were given an Equity #NotALabRat button to wear into their shows.

The action capped off a full week of volunteer activities from Equity members - including members volunteering to phone bank and call their fellow members about the campaign and members signing commitment cards to support a better lab agreement. More than 1,000 Equity members - most of them actively working in Broadway shows - have signed commitment cards in less than two weeks.

"Equity members are standing in solidarity to support this campaign," said Brandon Lorenz, National Director of Communications at Actors' Equity. "The time has come for the creative contributions of Equity members who are developing new work to be properly valued and recognized and share in the success of a show when it becomes a hit and recoups, just like the rest of the creative team."

The public #NotALabRat campaign began last month on social media, as Equity members began sharing videos and messages announcing that no one should still earn the same weekly salary that they did 11 years ago. Click here to learn more in the campaign's introductory video.