EQUIFLASH [ADDITIONAL STATEMENT REGARDING CANADIAN STAGE'S CANCELLATION OF HELEN LAWRENCE AT FESTIVAL TRANSAMERIQUES AND RECENT "TIMELINE" RELEASE]

[CAEA e-drive]

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ADDITIONAL STATEMENT REGARDING CANADIAN STAGE'S CANCELLATION OF HELEN LAWRENCE AT FESTIVAL TRANSAMERIQUES AND RECENT "TIMELINE" RELEASE
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The timeline published April 24 by Canadian Stage regarding the production Helen Lawrence is largely accurate, and Equity freely acknowledges the intense efforts of all involved to make this production and the tour work. We note, however, that the presence of an Equity staff person at the meeting on April 4 was omitted in error.

Also unmentioned was a last ditch offer, made by Canadian Stage on April 7, to pay a fraction of the amount contractually owing, provided Equity, itself, kicked in an equal amount. The offer was rejected immediately as an impermissible use of Association funds.

It is a very regrettable situation that Equity had to twice convey member rejection of the Canadian Stage concession requests. We were most dismayed at Canadian Stage's subsequent suggestion, also made on April 7, that we should have tried to talk our members into accepting them. Equity's board has mandated a very specific review process for concession requests, designed to protect its members under contract, and the process was followed in all regards.

At no time was the matter under review whether Canadian Stage would be permitted to reopen the show in Montreal; it was always focussed on the terms under which that might be done. The decision to cancel the Montreal dates was taken by Canadian Stage, when mutually agreeable terms could not be arranged.

Equity places a high value on member privacy, particularly in matters of labour dispute, and we regret that, despite our best efforts, we were not able to spare them the media spotlight courted by the theatre.

We are committed to ensuring that our negotiated agreements evolve to reflect the ever-changing nature of Canadian theatre, and the substantial changes made to the Canadian Theatre Agreement over the years are a testament to that. We have a good working relationship with the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) and welcome, as always, discussion for future change.

RELATED LINKS:

Timeline from Canadian Stage: http://bit.ly/1mLIfSm
Previous Equity Statement: http://bit.ly/1ifqLvE

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www.caea.com


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