Second City performers reach new union contract deal

The Second City performers and stage managers have reached a new contract deal with New York private equity owners ZMC and will avoid a strike.

Last week, Second City performers announced they could move to strike if negotiations between the Actors Equity Union and Second City management didn’t make progress. Lawyers finalized details of a contract deal on Friday.

The performers’ major concern was a wage increase. David Kolen, a senior business representative at Actors Equity Association, said the performers have taken a major step towards earning living wages with a five-year contract that will yield 35% increases that compound out to 40.5% “over the duration of the deal.”

Kolen said Second City performers will see an 18% increase in wages over the first 12 months of the contract. They will also be paid retroactively back to when the previous agreement ended on April 14.

"This deal is going to go all the way to April of 2030,” said Kolen. “Then we'll see how it works over those five years, and we'll hopefully come back to the table in 2030 to fix those things that aren't working and continue to make it better for workers at Second City.”

The Second City management did not respond by presstime to a request for comment. Due to the rotating performance seasons, the contract deal covers between 60 and 80 workers, Kolen said.

Mike Davis is WBEZ’s theater reporter.