Equity Jobs

Full time, permanent (35 hours per week) 
Based in Glasgow office 
Salary on a scale starting at £48,062.34 (rising to £49,745.89 in July 2025)
30 days annual leave plus bank holidays and Christmas office closure 
Defined Benefit and Contributory Pension Scheme
Company car provided 
Equity recognises Unite as the staff group union 
 
Equity

Equity is the UK trade union for professional performers and creative practitioners. Equity is respected as one of the most powerful entertainment unions in the world, and at the heart of the UK trade union movement. We are a growing union of around 50,000 members, proud of our strong organising and campaigning record. Our members are mostly freelance- with many working in greenfield and emerging areas in audio, videogames, dance and the light entertainment sectors. By contrast, most British TV, film and theatre are made on union agreements with minimum terms driving forward industry standards on everything from pay to dignity at work. The Union has a team of staff in offices across the UK who have a wealth of experience and expertise when it comes to advice and representation. They are able to deal with the issues raised by members working in all areas of the industry whether it be a major feature film, a theatre in education show, radio voice overs, a circus act or any other live or recorded work. 
 
Equity is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all who believe they fit the essential requirements for the job. 
 
The Role 

Organisers work under the direction of the Deputy General Secretary, and in close collaboration with Equity's Regional and National Officials to deliver the union's recruitment, organising and campaigning strategies across the live performance and recorded media sectors. They are specifically responsible for organising in workplaces, increasing membership density, identifying industrial, campaigning and casework issues, developing deputies (workplace reps) and local activists, at all times working in line with the Union’s democratic structures, and operating within trade union law and the Union’s own Rules.

Organisers work closely with National and Regional Officials and the union's industrial departments to develop and action strategies to build Equity's influence, organisation and bargaining coverage. Supporting the campaigning activity of branches and networks and training local activists is also central to these roles, alongside increasing member engagement with the wider trade union movement. Undertaking administrative duties to assist the national/area official in addition to the effective management of the relevant office is also expected.

Organiser roles are based in each of Equity's offices across the UK. A full UK driving licence is required and extensive travel in your region is expected alongside regular travel/attendance to other Equity offices. A company car or car allowance will be provided.

Strong candidates will have experience of mobilising others to take action or have a track record of success in campaigning or organising. To be successful in this role you will have excellent interpersonal and administrative skills, be highly organised, independent, adaptable and flexible. You will be a confident public speaker, be enthusiastic about engaging with workers, and will have an ability to inspire others to act collectively to win. You will have an understanding of developing and executing campaign plans, of working in a target driven environment and have experience of using a range of communication tools.

How to Apply

Please send your completed application and equalities monitoring form to jobs@equity.org.uk clearly marked as [FULL NAME – SCOTLAND ORGANISER]. CVs sent in isolation will not be considered and only Word-compatible files or PDFs will be accepted.

Job Description and Person Specification 
Application Form 
Equalities Monitoring Form

The closing date for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 9 February 2025.

Interviews are scheduled to be held on Thursday 20 February 2025.

For further information about the role please contact Louise McMullan (Deputy General Secretary) at lmcmullan@equity.org.uk.

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide feedback to all applicants. Therefore, if you haven’t heard back from us by the advertised interview date, your application has been unsuccessful. 

This is Equity’s proud statement of the world we want to build. It is this vision which drives our whole reason for being – whether it be organising in our industries, or participation in the worldwide trades union movement.

Equity’s members have been told, at best, that resilience to the industrial and political choices which underpin the arts and entertainment industries is admirable. At worst, they have been told to put up and shut up with the inevitable precarity of working in the industries where we organise. The products of their labour have been treated as luxuries or frivolities instead of serious industries underpinning social and economic progress.

The consequence is low pay, precarity, poor health and safety, harassment, bullying, and a mental health crisis. This is systemic and deep rooted – unlike most closed shop unions in the UK and elsewhere in the world (even in our own industries) we have inherited not a high basic pay, but a low one from the attitudes which prevailed from within the union and the industry. Where most unions achieved a 5 day week in the Edwardian era, the six day basic week remains a feature of most members’ working lives.

For a long time, under the closed shop and beyond, the union was viewed as, and sometimes acted like, a regulator rather than a negotiator. This has the legacy of a confused mixture of pride in Equity agreements, but an association of blame with the union for the persistence of bad terms – rather than the bosses who enforce them. Moreover, the union is often an ‘other’, not an organisation where the membership has ownership of its actions, but an organisation which does things to them.

As a union it is our role to collectively shift members’ consciousness and their organisation to a place where they are actively resisting, in every workplace, attacks on their terms and conditions.

Industrial
All action by staff or activists has a clear and conscious industrial outcome. Equity will always place blame on the bosses, and not attempt to behave like a regulator for poor behaviour within the industry. We will not expect government, funders, regulators, HMRC or other third parties to deliver outcomes, but sincerely believe that our industrial processes have the power to. Industry events, benefits for members, and the union’s democratic structures, must be singularly focused on where the union has power.

Accountable
That members and staff have a shared agenda. Equity’s members are the union, and should be those who drive our demands at work, and deliver the outcomes by their organising and campaigning. Members at work or seeking work steer our industrial agenda from survey to strike.

Collective
To resolve individual problems with collective answers. Every member will be treated with compassion and courtesy. Solutions to problems will always initially be industrial, through our advice or agreements. Legal support will be a secondary option, but used in an activist way to further the collective good. Most contractual, employment, equalities, and other workplace disputes will be dealt with by the union’s staff, following the strategies and using the leverage of Equity’s members.

Aspirational
That staff and activists raise the industrial aspirations of the membership.