In July 2020, Paul Fleming was elected general secretary of Equity, the entertainment trade union representing over 48,000 professionals. Involved in the labour movement for a long time, he has organised in manufacturing and run political lobbying campaigns. In November 2020, during an address to the Special Representative Conference, he spoke of two twin pandemics – the coronavirus pandemic and a pandemic of precarity. He has criticised the “pittance” provided by Treasury, DCMS and government failures to address their self-employment qualms in the industry and called for a rethink of the structure of funding. Fleming sits as a Labour councillor for the Faraday ward of Southwark Council.
