A-Team Imitators Are Benched After Pay Dispute With Studio

The men who simulate the antics of the A-Team on the Universal Studios Tour stayed off the the job Tuesday in a dispute over wages, and Universal-MCA responded by announcing it would call in the B-Team.

Ralph Baker of North Hollywood, who plays the George Peppard character in the live-action stunt show, said that he and the 12 other performers decided to stay home Tuesday after management denied their request for a $5-per-performance pay raise. Instead, management countered by offering to trim their pay from $65 a show to about $50 a show, Baker and others said.

Universal-MCA spokesman Steven W. Lew would not comment on the details of negotiations with the actor-stunt men, who are not unionized and whose existing contract expired Monday at midnight. He did say, however, that a new stunt team was already being formed. “We are in the process of interviewing and casting a new show,” he said.

Lew acknowledged that Universal has run ads in the trade publications seeking Mr. T and Peppard look-alikes, which the dissident performers cited as evidence that management was planning to replace them with people who would do the required stunts for less.

The A-Team show, based on a popular TV series and one of five live-action shows offered on the tour, will not be performed again until the new cast has been trained, Lew said.

The new team will probably be ready to roll cars and crash motorcycles in three weeks, another company staffer predicted. Until that time, visitors will be offered complimentary passes to a future A-team live-action performance.

Lew said no further negotiations with the existing team are planned.

“They will be considered for the new cast,” he said.