ACTRA Members say YES to Modernized Membership Rules

ACTRA Members say YES to Modernized Membership Rules

Apprentice members will now need three credits to become Full Members

Full ACTRA members across Canada have voted overwhelmingly (82.1% in favour) to modernize and renew ACTRA’s membership rules by allowing Apprentice Members to become Full Members with three credits.

This new entry requirement, together with By-law amendments recently approved by your National Council, will encourage young performers, people working in digital media, and those just entering our industry, to join our union sooner. Welcoming these professionals into our tent will make us stronger, increase our bargaining power, and grow work opportunities for professional performers by reducing non-union production.

The new membership rules will come into effect on Wednesday, December 15, 2010.

BECOMING AN APPRENTICE MEMBER:

Under the new rules, performers can become Apprentice Members in the following ways:

1. By landing a professional engagement as a performer. A non-member can become an Apprentice when working under an ACTRA collective agreement in a “residual” role after paying a permit fee (a sum charged to non-members in lieu of union dues).

2. By graduating with a post-secondary acting degree. Graduation from a post-secondary school, college, or university with an undergraduate or graduate degree in acting as a major may be used to earn a first credit, provided it is applied for within 60 days of graduation. ACTRA Branches will decide which post-secondary institutions count for the credit, the criteria being: accreditation as a post-secondary institution by the appropriate provincial body; being publicly-owned or strictly non-profit; and providing at least 1000 hours of instruction in acting in a post-secondary level.

3. By working 200 days or 1600 hours. This is applicable to card-carrying ACTRA Additional Background Performers who have been in good standing for four years.

The initiation fee to become an Apprentice Member is $75 (this will also serve as the AM’s first year annual fee).

Apprentice members don’t pay union dues other than this annual fee, so they also continue to pay for permits when they get additional engagements (the cost varies depending on the ACTRA Agreement under which the work is performed).

BECOMING A FULL MEMBER:

An Apprentice Member can become a Full member in the following ways:

1. By earning a total of three professional credits and taking a prescribed ACTRA Branch membership course (where offered).

2. Through a reciprocal agreement with a sister union. For example, if you are already a full member of Canadian Actors’ Equity, the Screen Actors’ Guild or AFTRA, you can apply to your ACTRA Branch to become a Full Member of ACTRA.

The Full Member initiation fee will be set at $1600 (the total cost of your qualifying permit fees and any applicable course fees will be subtracted; you will just pay any difference). Capping the fee at $1600, the average rate members have been paying, makes it more equitable and ensures that everyone who joins ACTRA pays the same amount no matter what contract they join under.