Theodore Bikel explains need for actors' unions

As Rick Hurd, professor of labor studies, looks on, Theodore Bikel, right, speaks with ILR sophomore Nicole Manning following Bikel's pre-Labor Day lecture in the Biotechnology Building Aug. 31. Charles Harrington/University Photography

By Bill Steele

An actor's work is "made of the gossamer fabric of dreams," but ultimately the needs of artists are the same as those of the members of any craft or laborer's union, according to actor and union leader Theodore Bikel.

"What are actors doing in the house of labor?" Bikel asked rhetorically at the beginning of his speech Aug. 31 to a crowd assembled in the Biotechnology Building's auditorium for this year's pre-Labor Day convocation of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

The answer, he said, is this: "Following a noble calling and insisting that adequate compensation be given for it, is no contradiction."

Bikel is president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America (known to its members as the 4A's), an umbrella organization of performers' unions that includes those representing movie, television and stage actors, musicians, writers, classical performers and others. Previously he served as president of Actor's Equity, which represents stage actors.

Most Americans know him better as a versatile actor who has appeared in movies ranging from "The Defiant Ones" to "The Russians are Coming, the Russians Are Coming," on television shows ranging from PBS dramas to Star Trek, and on Broadway in starring roles in "The Sound of Music" and "Fiddler on the Roof." He has also been a folksinger and a professional photographer. Currently, he noted, he belongs to four of the 4A unions.

Actors, he said, have a special passion for their work, such that many "would rather act than eat." The majority often find themselves in that situation, partly because their passion makes them "vulnerable," making it all the more important that they have someone to negotiate reasonable wages and working conditions. Although many employers in the arts share actors' passion for the work, decisions are often made by "bean counters," he pointed out.

A special problem faced by unions representing actors, he said, is that most people think of actors as wealthy. While the public image of actors is formed by a few stars earning millions, some 80 percent of actors' union members have incomes the U.S. government would define as below poverty level, he said. He spoke of the difficulty he often encountered in persuading government that actors, and the arts as a whole, need government subsidies to survive.

In addition to negotiating with employers, performers' unions have also lobbied effectively in support of the arts, he said, encouraging the creation of such entities as public broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"In my field we have to create job opportunities as well as serve those in the workplace," he explained.

Unions also have championed freedom for the arts, he said, adding, "We fought McCarthyism in the '50s and we are fighting [Sen. Jesse] Helms now."

Bikel touched briefly on current issues such as copyrights and performers' rights, physical access of audiences to performers and the need to introduce the live arts to young people. He then turned to the current strike by actors who appear in television commercials. The main issue, he said, is that producers want to pay a one-time flat fee for the use of commercials on cable outlets, while actors feel they should be paid each time a commercial is played as they have been on network TV. The theory behind this and behind all "residual" payments, he explained, is that whenever a recorded performance of any kind is played, it removes an opportunity for a new performance that would employ an actor. The commercial strike will be settled successfully, he predicted, because although, "We are hurting, they are hurting too," he said.

Summing up with a statement that could easily be carried beyond the performing arts, Bikel said: "Unions in our field are not just about wages and working conditions. Unions are about respect."

Bikel concluded by admitting that unions also have an image problem with young people. "To them, 'union' implies enshrined mediocrity," he said. But, he told the audience of mostly students: "Unions need young leadership. And they can't do it on e-mail or sitting in front of the computer. Their physical presence is needed. We must never lose the fire, enthusiasm and plain human touch that has always been the hallmark of union organizing ... and union thinking."