Unions Decry Call for Non-Union Inaugural Performers

An effort by President Reagan’s Inaugural Committee to use non-union singers and dancers without pay for the inaugural celebration next week has led to angry protests from unions, threats of a lawsuit and the possibility that some union performers now scheduled to appear might bow out.

The flap started with an advertisement the committee placed in the trade publication Backstage, asking for “non-union theatrical performers” who must be “clean-cut, All-American types” willing to work without pay for a week.

Sanford Wolff, national executive secretary of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said: “This is the clearest evidence yet that this Administration is completely anti-union.”

Ken Orsatti, national executive secretary of the Screen Actors Guild, called the Reagan Committee’s ad for non-union performers “absolutely outrageous” and “an insult to all professional performers.”

John Buckley, spokesman for the inaugural committee in Washington, said the committee is using more union entertainers than any other in history. “We have about 30 orchestras and dozens of other performers who are union members being paid union wages,” Buckley said.

However, in addition, he said, there are other unpaid, volunteer performers who are mostly high school and college students appearing in such programs as the “National Pageant for Youth,” one of the inaugural events. Because “we had fallen behind in recruiting these kids, we used the ad to reach more of them,” Buckley said.

“Our understanding is that all union members have to be paid, so we advertised for non-union performers,” he said.

But Murray Seeger, spokesman for the AFL-CIO, noted that previous administrations routinely asked for exemptions, or waivers, for union performers willing to take part in unpaid, nonprofit shows, and “the unions have cooperated . . . . This Administration made no effort to get waivers.”

He and others scoffed at the committee’s explanation of its ad, since it was placed in Backstage, a publication for professional performers unlikely to be read by high school and college students.

Several union sources said some of the union performers now scheduled to appear might back out, but they gave no details of that threat. However, they said that they are definitely considering legal action based on charges that the committee is ignoring the federal minimum wage law.