Professional performers around the world have a vested interest in setting up strong and representative guilds and trade unions, able to voice their concerns, bargain for better rates and conditions of employment and offer help and advice to their members.
Every year, FIA organises workshops in several countries to help its junior members increase their organisational and bargaining skills. Recent training seminars were held in Malaysia and in the Philippines, where national performers organisations could focus on issues related to intellectual property, leadership skills and recruitment.
Confronted with a growing demand for assistance, FIA has also encouraged its most experienced affiliates to establish privileged relations with one or more performers' unions in other countries. Canadian Actors Equity (CAEA) was the first FIA affiliate to respond enthusiastically to this call. "ORUUANO is a young but promising performers union in Namibia, whose members face important challenges. Performers in that country struggle to be engaged under professional contracts. They do not have access to a national health plan and even emergency medical care is a rarity. Insurance and pension benefits paid to any extent by their employers would be a welcome and much needed improvement for artists in Namibia. I am proud of my union's commitment to help out and strengthen the representation of performers worldwide", reported CAEA President Henry Gauthier.
To kick-start the cooperation, Vincent Mwemba - Secretary General for ORUUANO - joined Equity's senior staff at their national office in Toronto for a two-week intensive training on issues of lobbying, government funding, organizational structure, contracts and bargaining. The next phase of this agreement will see CAEA's staff work locally in Namibia with ORUUANO's representatives to consolidate the union's clout in the country.
