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Williams sues Actors Equity
Tuesday, June 26, 2001 By John Hayes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Former "Brady Bunch" star Barry Williams filed federal unfair labor practice charges yesterday in New York against officials of Actors Equity Association after the union fined the actor for headlining last year's non-Equity tour of "The Sound of Music."
The November Pittsburgh Broadway Series performances of the U.S. tour drew nationwide headlines when Equity chose the traditionally pro-labor town as the launching point of a national campaign of informational protests against Williams and producer Troika Productions. Patrick Quinn, national president of Equity, led nearly 50 members of the guild and supporting unions in carrying pickets, chanting songs of protest and passing out handbills outside the Benedum Center.
Williams, an Equity member since the early 1970s, resigned his membership in order to accept the leading role in the non-Equity tour. In what is essentially a battle over timelines, Equity claims that Williams accepted the role before officially resigning and fined the TV icon $52,274.
Equity's director of communications, David Lotz, said the lawsuit, filed against the union through the National Labor Relations Board, came as a surprise.
"[Williams] is still appealing the fine with our national board," he said. "If the decision were overturned by the board, the whole matter would be moot. This is an intimidation tactic on his part."
Randy Wanke, director of legal information for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which is representing Williams, said his client is being targeted by Equity to send a signal to less famous union members to not buck the guild.
"They are trying to bully Mr. Williams and send a clear message that they dare not cross the Actors Equity Association," said Wanke. "What it boils down to is when he signed the contract. He signed [with Troika] on Oct. 10, and he had resigned membership [with Equity] as early as September. He's exercised his right to resign from the union, and now they're hitting him with an extreme fine. It's our understanding that this is the highest fine ever levied [by Equity] against an actor."
Lotz declined to discuss specifics of the suit until Equity attorneys have reviewed the charges.
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