Les Mills UK Instructors are paying too much

Dear Les Mills UK We are paying above the odds to keep our Les Mills qualifications up to date. On top of our CD/DVD kits which are £30 per programme, we have to attend QWs mandatorily twice a year to keep up our qualifications. This we have accepted up to until now. We are angry about the following: 1. Introduction of a two-tier ticket system for SQW – we should all have the same rights to quarterly workshop education. The price of a VIP ticket is more than the cost of a Madonna ticket. Why? The program directors are lovely people but they are not celebrities and should not be treated as such. In addition the ‘extras’ received should be standard for all instructors and we should not have a system where instructors pay additionally, we put so much in to your business already and keep it alive. 2. Why has the standard SQW ticket price gone up by £10? That is a 20% increase and doesn’t reflect inflation and is the second price increase in two years. 3. When we attend QW and SQW we have to pay one/two night’s hotel, potentially flights/other travel costs, and we don’t even pick up our kits at SQWs anymore. 4. What we receive at education – you were looking to implement ‘Groundwork’s so people get more individual time for coaching/technique etc., why are we not having this at SQW and regional workshops as standard? 5. We have never had an increase in our teaching wages, so why should we keep paying more? We would be more willing to accept price increases if our wages went up accordingly. We are being ripped off time and time again, because we ‘do something that we love’. Love does not pay the bills. You have a lot of very angry instructors who feel they’re getting less and less out of your business. It’s one tribe, if you can pay enough to stay in it. Action: Return of the one tier ticket system. Maybe a first come first served basis on the day if you need to organise people in the front and centre rows? Return of the £50 day price, or an adequate reason as to why there’s been an increase of £10. Yours the undersigned