Performing arts and entertainment trade union, Equity, have set out a blistering attack on Polka Dot Pantomimes, accusing them of reneging on an agreement they made with the trade union and of denying the statutory rights of performers and stage management working on their pantos.
Karrim Jalali, Equity’s Industrial Official for Pantomime said, “We sought to work with Darren Maddison of Polka Dot earlier this year after what we believe to be serious breaches of employment law on engagements were brought to our attention. He firmly agreed to re-issue contracts on better terms and conditions to all performers and stage management, acknowledging their rights as workers and including important statutory entitlements, such as paid holiday.
” Instead, from my perspective, he has sought to fly under the radar and try to see what he can get away with, because he doesn’t want to pay what he owes to the workforce. This is unacceptable and we will not tolerate such behaviour.”
Equity is the performing arts and entertainment trade union. It is made up of 50,000 performers and creative practitioners, united in the fight for fair terms and conditions in the workplace. We are actors, singers, dancers, designers, directors, stage managers, puppeteers, comedians, voice artists, and variety performers.
Equity claims that throughout the correspondence and dialogue with Polka Dot Pantomimes, the company never once disputed that the performer and stage management workforce hold employment rights as workers in law, yet despite Equity bringing key statutory employer duties to their attention, the company have, Equity claim, knowingly:
· breached Working Time Regulations by having gruelling schedules without offering the proper rest days required in law
· failed to offer holiday pay/holiday pay in lieu which is worth a significant amount to workers and is also a duty under Working Time Regulations
· failed to auto-enrol workers into a company pension scheme as is Polka Dot Pantomime’s duty under the Pensions Act 2008
Polka Dot Pantomimes ran six pantomimes for the recent Christmas season in Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham; South Holland Centre, Spalding; Albert Halls, Bolton; The Redgrave Theatre, Bristol; Thameside Theatre, Grays; and the Eric Morecombe Centre, Harpenden. Five of the venues hosting Polka Dot Pantomimes are owned by public authorities, and the sixth venue, Redgrave Theatre, is owed by the charity, Clifton College.
Equity has written to council leaders and Clifton College’s chief executive setting out their concerns about the misuse of public authority land and charity spaces.
They claim in their letters that “hosting companies which exploit workers is completely incongruent to [their] organisational vision and values”. Equity have called on the respective councils and charity to carefully consider their future relationships with Polka Dot Pantomimes and “take every reasonable measure [they] can to ensure [their] spaces are not used in connection with the exploitation of workers.”
Darren Maddison for the company denies the allegations.
He said: “Polka Dot Pantomimes are shocked and disappointed at the aggressive and misleading statement issued by Karrim Jalali, Equity’s Industrial Official for Pantomime. In summer 2023, Mr Jalali raised a suggestion that pantomime performers, who for many years had been contracted on a self-employed basis, should be treated as limb b workers going forward, with additional rights such as holiday pay. He requested that we should implement changes to our standard contracts in time for the 2024 pantomime season.
“We worked with Mr Jalali over several months to agree the wording of new standard contracts which are now being issued to our performers for the 2024 season.
“If any of our performers believe that they have not been paid correctly, we would always encourage them to contact us so that we can make the appropriate checks and provide reassurance.
“Polka Dot Pantomimes is proud of the longstanding relationships it has with its performers and venues, and we look forward to providing our audiences with a fantastic pantomime season again in 2024.”
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