Last academic year
all the life modelling courses I did were arranged via the university so
clients would approach them and the university would scuttle around trying to
find models prepared to do what the customer wanted. Then everything got moved over to
a newly created outside agency whose first move was to cut the pay rate
for the actual modelling by 17.5% and the mileage allowance paid
for travelling to the venue by 10%.
Then in December they
contacted me again claiming that they needed to make their business "more
competitive" by cutting both the modelling and travel pay rates still
further AND removing their obligation to provide models with a chaperone.
I did some quick sums
and this is how it worked out. A three hour modelling
contact typically takes 4.5 hours out of my day once I had allowed
for the travel time and the unpaid break in mid-session. If I divided the
amount I was paid by the 4.5 hours I was earning less than the minimum wage per
hour. For life-modelling! No thank you very much!
So I didn't even bother
returning the contract. Ten days later a second copy appeared with a note
explaining that the first batch of contracts must have got lost
somewhere as none had been returned to them! The truth was of course that
nobody in their right mind was going to sign a "zero hours" plus
"minimum wage when work is available" agreement.
I think expecting a life
model to operate without a chaperone is the worst aspect of the proposed
contract. In effect I am expected to arrive at a venue that I might
never have seen before, to meet a group of artists that I have never seen
before and then take off all my clothes regardless of the gender balance of the
group. Well I
for one am not going to work on that basis.
It didn't take me long to
find anther agency who, unlike the first, is run entirely by ladies. I will be
meeting with the boss just after the New Year. Every few months she runs
courses at half price for regular clients and in exchange for that she is
allowed to use the discount course to both train and access the suitability of
new recruits for her operation. I will let you know how it goes.
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