The new collective bargaining agreement between AGMA and Arizona Opera was approved by AGMA leadership, after being ratified by the shop.
Thank you to the negotiating committee, and congratulations on this 2-year agreement!
CONTRACT HIGHLIGHTS
COMPENSATION AND OTHER BENEFITS:
- Year 1:
- 2% increase to hourly rehearsal rate
- Chorister meal allowance and increase of 5% to fee for when a Supporting/Solo Bit Artist is engaged to perform two (2) or more roles in the same performance
- Increase to the travel allowance for Supporting/Solo Bit Artists to two hundred thirty ($230)
- Housing stipend will be provided by Arizona Opera to Supporting/Solo Bit Artists who reside out-of-state, in addition to the travel allowance.
- Year 2:
- 3% increase to all wages, round trip rates, and overtime
- New Compensation for Orientation Meetings paid at Chorister’s hourly rate
- Media clips/recordings available to any Artist for private use
SUPPORTING/SOLO BIT ARTISTS and STUDIO ARTISTS:
- When performing SOLO BIT or SUPPORTING role, Studio Artists will receive a cash bonus of $90per show for each time they perform a Schedule C role in addition to their stipend
- All accommodations will be provided to Studio Artists for the duration of the program
- Up-front payments (20%) for SOLO BIT and SUPPORTING ARTISTS
- New Solo Bit and Supporting Artist responsibilities language including Hourly payments for work that was previously not compensated (media calls etc.)
CHORUS:
- New Memorization language that supports discussion if the AGMA Delegate requests additional rehearsal time on behalf of a majority of the chorus
- New Reimbursement of mileage for any Chorister who must drive more than 75 miles round trip to travel to the pick-up location for the Company provided transportation between Phoenix and Tucson
- New notification language for Chorus Auditions
- New Language that Arizona Opera shall hold auditions for Chorus Bit roles and only cast individuals from the Chorus for such roles
- Improved timeline for notifying Choristers of auditions for Bit/Supporting roles
I.D.E.A.:
- Gender Neutral Language used throughout
- Commitment to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion
- Listing audition notices through a broad range of outlets
- Considering any Artist engaged through race-specific casting, for equivalent or greater roles other than race-specific roles during subsequent season
- Being responsive to the needs of Artists who require gender-neutral lavatories/dressing facilities
- IDEA and unconscious bias training on compensated time
- AGMA Staff and all participants will be afforded the opportunity to give feedback on the training and to offer suggestions for improving future training
- Arizona Opera will invite AGMA represented employees to join the Company’s IDEA Committee, which is composed of individuals from a cross-section of departments within the organization, to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and how the the Company will implement such issues
- Addition of MLK Day and Juneteenth to the Holidays
- Arizona Opera will provide costumes, wigs, hair coloring, and makeup with an awareness/sensitivity regarding skin and hair color and type. The Company will ensure that at least one of its hairdressers has an awareness of various hair textures
- New Appropriate Appearance Notification language including a more appropriate timeline (9 weeks) for Arizona Opera to notify AGMA and Delegates and commitment to discuss with AGMA regarding whether it is operationally viable for Arizona Opera to use prosthetics and wigs
- Protections to Core Chorus status for any Chorister who may miss services due to a religious observance
- Protections to Core Chorus status for any Chorister who becomes a new parent
- Deletion of language that required a newly hired chorus to wait 90 days before having access to Paid Time Off (PTO)
- Religious Observance added to qualified reasons to use PTO
- New definition of “Family member” to include any person whose association with the Artist is the equivalent of an immediate family relationship
HEALTH AND SAFETY:
- Commitment to discuss all updates to safety protocols as needed
- In productions with known intimate scenes of full nudity, and/or simulated sex, a trained intimacy coach must be used
- Significant Expansion on Harassment language including:
- Reporting procedure
- Reverse Weingarten Rights
- Anti-Discrimination/Harassment Prevention/Unconscious Bias Training on compensated time
- Commitment to discuss issues related to harassment and/or discrimination and how better to prevent and/or address them upon request of either party