Break Times

[paulears]

Just interested in what everyone does about breaks. We are usually quite informal, but have been done over a couple of times lately. As in 8.30am call, by 1.30, not even a tea break - local dance show, they all have flasks, enormous food bags and plenty of time to eat. We don't even have a chance for a pee. They wanted to work through to the gap at the end of the tech, before the dress (which funilly didn't actually happen). I put my foot down and broke for 30mins at 2.30 which annoyed them. We don't have anything in our contracts we issue to hirers (as a non-TMA theatre), but I'm thinking of adding something.

 

What do you all do in circumstances like this?

paul

[gnomatron]

well, contract or no you still have your legal rights, don't you? Which iirc is something like 15 minutes every 4 hours.

 

Most of the time I end up with informal breaks - the occasional cigarette, the 30-40 minutes for lunch or dinner whenever it's convenient. On the occasions I've not been able to get a break I've either worked through or waited as long as it took for it to be convenient. I've never had any excessively long or hard break-less gigs, though. (yet...)

[andy_s]

whether you operate "informally" or otherwise, you should definitely expect the full backing of your management over getting the required breaks. TMA or not, I would suggest using the equity or BECTU rules as a useful generally understood (within the industry, though perhaps with the well-prepared local dance group)framework. Include in the agreement a sentence along the lines of "hirers must ensure that work schedules allow for the required meal breaks to be observed by the resident staff", with a schedule added to the contract setting out what those breaks are and what the costs of breaching them will be.

 

Ask the hirers to provide a schedule before they come into the theatre, and if it doesn't show breaks on it, ask them to revise it, and refer them to the contract.

 

If they want / need to work through breaks, then perhaps they should be asked to pay for the extra crew required to operate split breaks.

 

as far as legal rights go, then 15 minutes every 4 hrs is not sufficient. this is not a proper mealbreak.

 

The equity and BECTU agreements are available from their websites- I think to non-members as well.

[willystyle]

My venue works a flexible system for taking meal breaks, for example if you are working from 10 in the morning till six then you get an hour for lunch at around one or whenever is convenient. If you are working day and evening then you get another hour before the show. If you miss a meal break due to the incoming company being slow etc, then they must pay the venue £20 of which you personally get a tenner! I love this system, especially as I do seem to get a fair few extra tenners all of which are then spent in the bar immediately after the show. :)

[Liquid Nik]

We work a flexible system too. I think any venue that has a varied programme of events has to. But this is not to say that you have to bow to any pressure from a hirer saying you cant or being unhappy about you taking a break, for example, We take in various pro dance shows and we know through experience that it's going to be a long and predominatly hectic day, to the point of running around like the proverbial "Blue Arsed Fly" from 9am till gone midnight without pausing for breath. We attempt to get around this by staggering meal breaks around the available crew. Tea breaks we just take when we can, and at a time that is the least inconveinient, and then put up with any sour looks, with the knowledge that whoever you are working for, begrudges you a tea break, the chances are that you are not going to be able to please them anyway. I would steer around putting in clauses in the hire agreement as this can lead to having to take abreak when it is most inconvenient to you.

they all have flasks, enormous food bags and plenty of time to eat.

We dont let them eat in the auditorium, this means they have to find somwhere else to eat bonuses of which are:-

1 No mess in the auditorium

2 While the are going to find some where to eat , you can have a cuppa!

3 If you are to busy to stop at least you dont have to witness sombody else eating

[paulears]

We dont let them eat in the auditorium, this means they have to find somwhere else to eat bonuses of which are:-

1 No mess in the auditorium

2 While the are going to find some where to eat , you can have a cuppa!

3 If you are to busy to stop at least you dont have to witness sombody else eating

 

I had to work really hard stopping peoplecoming into the auditorium from outside with bags of fish and chips! makes not getting food myself even worse!

[mac.calder]

The places I have worked are pretty much non-union theatres, however when I have SM'ed, I am always fairly strict about breaks - I clear the auditorium of all personal during most breaks. Normally I work on a system of:

 

Either:

Hourly breaks: 5min - these are usually during the initial rehearsals and extreamly informal "go fill up your coffee cup and grab a biscuit then come back to the circle to continue"

3 Hour breaks: 10min - these are for basically when they start acting.

4 hour breaks: 15min - The rest .

 

PLUS:

 

After every 4 hours, a manditory 1 hour break (space locked) before recommencing. If time is tight, I will do a half hour break instead.

 

That is for rehearsals.

 

For bump in:

 

4 hrs, half an hour locked out break, 4 hrs.

 

Our bump-ins are usually fairly informal, meaning that if they need a breather, they can go and have one.

 

They are pretty much the standard break times in the theatres I have worked in.

 

Of course I find all these rules a pain in the rear when I am in another position...

[Guest lightnix]

Under the Working Time Directive, workers are entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of at least twenty minutes, if your working day is six hours or over. The break should be taken during the day, not at the beginning or end of it.

 

Young persons are entitled to a break of 30 minutes if they work over 4½ hours.

 

An adult is worker is also entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of not less than 24 hours in each seven-day period or alternatively, if the employer so determines, either two uninterrupted rest periods (each of not less than 24 hours) in each 14-day period, or one uninterrupted rest period of not less than 48 hours in each 14-day period.

 

In general an adult worker is entitled to an uninterrupted rest period of not less than 11 consecutive hours (12 hours for young persons) in each 24-hour period.

 

Source

 

Working Time Regulations Section 6 - Rest Breaks At Work

[erroneousblack]

As already pointed out there are rules for this. Essentially if someone is coming into your venue, then they do as YOU say! As I'm forever telling the dozy fcukwit amdrams who pollute my current venue, "you raise your standards to my level, I don't lower them for anyone".

 

 

PS. Nor do I entertain the notion that because someone smokes, this gives them a right to an extra ten minute break every hour! :(

[david.elsbury]

I'm in a bit of a different situation, as I'm not in a theatre, but I work doing sound/LX/whatever for concerts, corporate work and stuff.

Essentially I take breaks whenever I'm hungry/ can find the time/ it's scheduled (not often)/ all of the above.

I don't let myself go without a dinner break, for example on an afternoon/evening show. Just because I know that I won't get thru the night and the load-out without one. Whether said break is taken eating frantically over the desk is however sometimes another matter... but usually I / my team allow for breaks, e.g

"we rig and patch, go and get lunch while the noise boys run a line check, and come back and blackout and focus and program." It works quite well for me anyways.

 

My 2,

David

[Just Some Bloke]

Just interested in what everyone does about breaks. We are usually quite informal, but have been done over a couple of times lately. As in 8.30am call, by 1.30, not even a tea break - local dance show, they all have flasks, enormous food bags and plenty of time to eat. We don't even have a chance for a pee. They wanted to work through to the gap at the end of the tech, before the dress (which funilly didn't actually happen). I put my foot down and broke for 30mins at 2.30 which annoyed them. We don't have anything in our contracts we issue to hirers (as a non-TMA theatre), but I'm thinking of adding something.

 

What do you all do in circumstances like this?

paul

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I recognise the situation very clearly! I find it easier for those shows in which I am not personally working the show. For example, we had a pro band in last week who appeared to be going to work through lunch. Noticing this as I passed through, at 1.30 I asked the tour manager "how do you want to do this? Shall I stagger the crew's lunch breaks so there's always someone on, or are you breaking soon so our guys can take a break too?" He came back with "I don't really mind" which I took to mean they were working through lunch, so I said I'd stagger the crew's lunch with one taking half an hour now and the other taking half an hour when the first got back. They'd then get a longer tea break later to make up the difference. It worked well and was easier for me to come in as "the boss" rather than one of the workers.

 

With the amateur companies, I always try to pre-empt the problem by asking the lunch question fairly early so they can plan around it. You're right, though, they do often expect we'll just carry on for a 14 hour day without a break. For them it's one day a year, for us it's 300-ish! Sometimes, as you say, you just have to put your foot down.

[mac.calder]

As already pointed out there are rules for this. Essentially if someone is coming into your venue, then they do as YOU say! As I'm forever telling the dozy fcukwit amdrams who pollute my current venue, "you raise your standards to my level, I don't lower them for anyone".

 

 

PS. Nor do I entertain the notion that because someone smokes, this gives them a right to an extra ten minute break every hour! :)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree with your above statement - I am not a venue tech, but time after time I am forced to lead an amdram company's bump-ins etc due to supreme incompetance, and feel just like you do. I like to try and run amdram as if it was a pro job, although 9/10 times you have to make concessions about working hours, but there are certain things that I think have to be abided by.

 

If SM'ing, as I said above, I use that scheme, which IIRC is pretty much the union guideline breaks for actors in Australia. Where time is the essence (ie bump ins) obviously tech teams need to be staggered - I also try to give guideline times so that I don't end up with my sound monkeys standing arround waiting because they cannot rig the speakers yet.

 

Maybe I am too military, but if a bump-in requires hand holding of everyone, it is not organised well. And if it is not well organised, breaks often go by the wayside...

 

What am I trying to say? Organise everything, and make sure you schedule reasonable breaks.

 

Re smokers - I don't mind them going off for a smoke for 5 minutes, as long as they realise that comes out of their break time and they keep to schedule (and tell me when they go). It helps to lay that down from the begining. Or threaten to get a time clock requiring clockout before they can go outside to smoke. Both my parents smoked for my entire life, maybe that has made me more tollerant, but I also learnt how they do it politely (and because they smoke, naturally, I don't) and without turning smoking into an excuse for lazyness.