Scots actors break away from national union

Cairn is being launched later this month and calls itself “a new member-led collective for professionals in the performing arts in Scotland.”

The organisation is not yet a union, but hopes to become recognised by the UK Government and affiliated with the Scottish Trade Unions’ Congress in the future.

Andy Clark, a former Equity Scottish committee member and one of Cairn’s founders, said: “It's gonna be very much a grassroots organisation, which is trying to move away from what we believe is the increasing corporate governance of unions.

“We're not going to have staff on six-figure salaries. To begin with, it's going to be member-led.

“We’re getting away from that fire and brimstone trade unionism. We’re going to be about engaging with employers. We’re not going to be making huge demands or using antagonistic language.”

Full membership will cost £60 a year, compared to £148 for Equity members.

However, Equity has questioned how Cairn will work, saying that it will be unable to form collective agreements - which allow for negotiations of terms and conditions - as it is a limited company.

Mr Clark said that Cairn’s limited company status is only temporary, and will change once they become a recognised trade union.

The idea to form Cairn came about after a row erupted in late 2020 over Equity announcing redundancies.

One person who lost their job was Lorne Boswell, a full-time organiser in the Glasgow office who had responsibility for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Mr Boswell had been in the union for 30 years and his redundancy sparked outrage amongst some Scottish members, with some alleging that Equity had used non-disclosure agreements and gagging orders. Nine members of Equity’s Scottish committee resigned, with four of them going on to be founding members of Cairn.

Equity maintained that the redundancy was part of UK-wide restructuring which was necessary due to the costs of providing financial support to members during the pandemic.

The issue came to a head at a zoom meeting held by general secretary Paul W. Fleming in January 2021. Some members expressed their anger at Mr Boswell losing his job.

One actor who was present at the meeting said: “The feeling was very anti-London.

“There was a fear that this decision was another example of Scotland being ignored.”

Then Scottish committee member and former Limmy’s show actor Kirsten McLean asked if Equity had ever used gagging orders or non-disclosure agreements, before unsuccessfully attempting to spark a vote of no confidence in Mr Fleming’s leadership.

Mr Boswell took voluntary redundancy, but Mr Clark, Ms McLean’s partner, claimed that “it was compulsory in all but name”.

Equity said that it cannot comment on individual members of staff.

Cairn currently has 15 members, but has a mailing list of 250 people who are interested in joining. Some have already pledged to join once the website is live in a few weeks.

Mr Clark said that he had spoken to “two high-profile actors that are household television names who have expressed an interest in joining.”

Equity has just over 2,500 members in Scotland, and 47,000 across the UK. Roughly 70% of performers in theatre are members, as are almost two thirds of TV and film actors.

One of those who has joined Cairn is Adam McNamara, a 45-year-old actor and writer from Dundee who has starred in Black Mirror and Guilt.

He said: “I just feel that as artists in Scotland, we would be better served with a base here.

“I think it makes sense [to join Cairn] because we’re not beholden to a union which is based in another country.”

He added: “I think once people have got an option to have a union based in Scotland, where we have representatives that are solely for us… I think the crossover will happen.”

One actor from Glasgow, who asked not to be named, said that he had initially thought about joining Cairn but decided against it in the end.

“I was put off by some of the vitriol,” he said. “I think people were enjoying the scandal and it was a big drama that people got on board with.”

He said that he was not a fan of Paul W. Fleming or the restructuring.

“General secretaries come and go but Equity has been around a long time and it’s done a lot for me.

“[The outrage] happened during a crazy time in the world, and I think there was an element of us looking for a bandwagon to get on.”

He added: “When I went into the rehearsal room again after the pandemic had calmed down, one of the Equity representatives was doing rehearsal visits and I got the sense that Equity was still on our side as actors.”

Another Glasgow-based actor, who works both north and south of the border, said that he didn’t think it was a good idea to have a separate Scottish union.

“The work that my agent gets for me is sometimes up here, sometimes in London and sometimes abroad, so I’m used to things being pretty centralised towards London,” he said. “When 90% of the work is in London, I find it difficult to understand why a full branch is needed up here.”

Paul W. Fleming, Equity General Secretary, said: “Equity is stronger in Scotland today than before COVID-19, thanks to the hard work of activists, staff, and the strategic direction taken since the pandemic. Equity has more members in Scotland now than at the start of 2020, and has formed 8 new collective agreements in the last 6 months alone.

“Equity is focussed on winning meaningful pay rises for our members at a time when increases in the cost of living are exceeding 10% - as the only union which bargains for the creative workforce in the performing arts and entertainment industries, the stakes have never been higher and we’ve never fought harder.

“We’re unclear on the purpose of Cairn as a sector support organisation, but as limited companies like Cairn cannot legally form collective agreements, it’s clear that their mission is different to that of an independent trades union. A trade union isn’t about individuals, but the collective, which we’re proud to advance through the mainstream trades union movement as affiliates to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).

“Equity does not comment on individual members of our staff, whether current or former, other than to say that the review of our staffing in 2020 was done entirely in consultation and agreement with our staff union.”