The Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees' Association was an Australian

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

which existed between 1910 and 1993. It represented a wide range of workers employed in the entertainment industry in Australia.

Coverage

The ATAEA represented employees in a diverse range of non-performing occupations in the entertainment industry. These included film projectionists,

ushers An usher is a person who welcomes and shows people where to sit, especially at a church, theatre or when attending a wedding. History The word comes from the Latin ''ostiarius'' ("porter", "doorman") through Norman French, and is a cognate of ...

, ticket sellers,

film crew A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera o ...

stagehands A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their work include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production. General St ...

, racecourse, sports ground and amusement park staff.

Formation

While a state-based union may have existed in Victoria during the late 19th century, the union first achieved federal registration in 1910 as the ''Australian Federated Stage Employees' Association''. The union underwent several name changes before finally settling on its final title in 1915. The ATAEA originally only represented stagehands, but over time, and with technological change, it widened its membership base to cover much of the entertainment industry in Australia.

Amalgamation

Due to the difficulties of servicing a widely-spread membership, and following ACTU policy of the time, the ATAEA began seeking an amalgamation of unions representing the entertainment and media industry in Australia during the early 1990s. This decision, however, along with political and generational differences, caused division between the national office of the union and the Queensland branch. This animosity developed until the Queensland branch split away from the federal union in 1991, and later merged with the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exer ...

in Queensland. The rest of the union merged with the

Australian Journalists' Association The Australian Journalists Association (AJA) was an Australian trade union for journalists from 1910–1992. In 1913 the Australian Journalists' Association merged with the Australian Writers' and Artists' Union. This union had been formed in 19 ...

and

Actors' Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

in 1993 to form the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). The ATAEA continues to exist as a distinct section within the MEAA, and had 3045 members as of 2011.

References

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External links

alliance.org.au
The website of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the successor to the ATAEA. Defunct trade unions of Australia Entertainment industry unions Trade unions established in 1910 Trade unions disestablished in 1993 1910 establishments in Australia 1993 disestablishments in Australia