Instead, most of them are treated like ordinary workers, thrust into a complex workers’ compensation system that provides limited recompense for lost wages and permanent disabilities.
Friday, April 24, 2015
The Perils of Workers’ Comp for Injured Cirque du Soleil Performers
Instead, most of them are treated like ordinary workers, thrust into a complex workers’ compensation system that provides limited recompense for lost wages and permanent disabilities.
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8 comments:
I can not believe that such an established and revered as Cirque du Soleil has such a lack of care for its performers, especially with the risk they put their performers into. I am completely aware that the service of the employees is completely voluntary and that clause in their contracts protects Cirque from getting in trouble with their employees being injured, but I still thought that Cirque would act grateful for the years of service these highly advanced and skilled performers are giving them. For example, Natasha Hallett was with Cirque since 1992, getting paid 150,000 dollars a year. One would think that if they performers are so appreciated when at work, that a company would care enough to either get them back on their feet to live an everyday life as opposed to a crazy Cirque one in thanks for their many years of service. While contractually and in actuality, the fall was Natasha and her supervisor’s fault, it happened on Cirque’s time, and they should be more compensating.
I really see both sides of the argument here. On one hand it's nice that Cirque classifies its performers as employees, but I feel like it would only make sense that they would be classified as employees in the first place. They're not really be contracted out for a few months, these people are doing shows every night every week for long periods of time. You would think that, because of their set safety standards, that they would have a better system in place for dealing with injury compensation though. It doesn't really make sense to me, especially because of the number of high profile injury and death incidents that have occurred on Cirque property. The current system doesn't really seem like it will work long term, and they'll have to start figuring something out if they don't want to face large scale HR problems. If I was a performer in this position, I would definitely be raising hell.
I am sorely surprised at the lack of injury compensation. As in Natasha Hallett's case, the lack of a safety check on the part of a company employee resulted in her inability to continue working for Cirque, and - at least according to her - they largely left her out to dry. One of the biggest weapons in Cirque's arsenal is that so many of the acrobatics are performed in ways that push the very boundaries of safety. While performers must acknowledge the risk associated with performing under such circumstances, Cirque needs to understand that it would not be Cirque without the performers who take that risk. If Cirque wants acrobatic maneuvers that are death-defying, it should be prepared to take care of those willing to honor that vision when they do - however slimly - defy death. There are major risks with this profession, but I think how those risks are assessed and addressed should perhaps be reexamined.
Most of the articles I have seen here that are related to cirque are pretty negative. I believe that if Cirque is having their employees do such incredible and near-impossible stunts, they should have some kind of safety net in place in case they were to injure themselves. With the amount of money Cirque has, it seems only right to provide their workers with a special form of workers compensation that is different than ordinary businesses. The biggest thing that surprised me in this article is the mention of Ka being the most dangerous show. I recently read an article about the death that occurred during a performance of Ka, and I commented, saying that they should not have reopened the show and especially not have included the same stunt that killed the performer. And now to hear the Ka is the most dangerous show makes me worried about the standards that cirque holds themselves to.
It’s so sad that the amazing Cirque performers do not get good compensation if they have an accident and can no longer work in acrobatics anymore. So often the major accidents during Cirque performances are extremely intense, and some even end in death. And the injuries they endue leave life-long pain that is nearly impossible to work with in most normal jobs. I can’t imagine being a Cirque performer, doing amazing stunts in front of huge audiences to one day have an accident and to never again be able to do anything near as interesting as performing for Cirque. The article said that some performers do get compensation, but many are taxi drivers and hair cutters- professions that are so disparate from the hard work they had put into Cirque. I don’t see how we can give other athletes amazing workers compensation when they get injured, but for Cirque performers, they have to fight to get anything. It shows how people still value sports way more than they do performance art, which is really sad.
This is truly ridiculous. Cirque du Soleil performers put their lives on the line everyday for the entertainment of others and instead of taking care of them when they get hurt on the job and almost certainly going to be out of work indefinitely, they are being treated callously by the Cirque owners. It is even more ridiculous because they are in the same type of industry that actor or sports players are, but because they aren't individually famous in the way those other professions warrant, they are left completely helpless when they are injured.
On the other hand, blue collar workers outside of the entertainment industry, put their life on the line daily to make a living and are subject to the workers compensation system when they are wounded. Their livelihoods are in similar peril so why not fix the whole system as opposed to giving entertainers special treatment.
We need to bring much more awareness to the lack of support that injured Cirque performers receive. The article mentions professional sports players, and this is such a keen parallel to the topic at hand. Cirque performers need the same treatment. It seems rather easy for this big company to dismiss the various injuries and cases that come about from this highly dangerous profession. Well, what if a rehabilitation center was created, specifically for Cirque performers, to aid in the recovery process, and serve as a bridge from performing to changing careers? There could be a section of the center that focused on career placement, as well as the physical therapy section. This might help to assuage some of the complaints from injured employees, who believe that they are thrown to the corner, "broken and broke."
Kevin Paul (54-102 :: A, Acting 1, Cameron Knight)
If I keep scrolling down all I could see was article on this injury from a Cirque performer. It's crazy to think that you could lose your entire career over an injury. And I'm worried for any actor, especially an acrobat, that has to be surrounded by this sense of danger. Thats why safety is so important. However, I do believe that some companies are taking their safety to far to the point they are become unsafe because of the safety. And it usually because they aren't being smart about their safety, but people need to be aware during a safety check. Those are super important and they are required to make sure noting bad happens. And having Cirque of all companies to look past this event (even if it was the performer). Maybe they should fine other way to do this check, or maybe they should have a rotation of people so it's fresh professional eyes on the equipment to make sure it's safe.
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