Hundreds of leading actors, musicians and writers will be sending Taoiseach Bertie Ahern a card this festive season demanding legislative reform to ensure unions can negotiate pay for the sector.
Actors Tom Hickey and John Kavanagh, who starred in Alexander and Braveheart, and singer Johnny McEvoy pledged their support to a postcard campaign against a Competition Authority ruling over collective bargaining.
David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Union (ICTU), said the sector was seeking legislative reform to ensure the protection of some of the most vulnerable workers in society.
Union chiefs said legal action and industrial action could not be ruled out as part of the campaign to ensure the right of unions to negotiate fees for workers in the performing arts.
The Competition Authority has overturned a collective bargaining agreement between the actors union Irish Equity, SIPTU and the Institute of Advertising Practitioners.
The agreement had set down rates of pay and conditions of employment for workers in radio, television, cinema and visual arts.
Irish Equity had to sign an undertaking the union would not negotiate fees for actors working on commercials for private companies.
Patricia King, SIPTU's regional secretary, who confirmed unions would be meeting with Trade Minister Micheal Martin, said: "The Irish Government must ensure that the right to be collectively represented is protected."
Statistics gathered by the Arts Council have shown an average performer in the arts sector only earns €5,500 a year - for the weeks when they were actually working with the average wage for a performer last year €456 and €546 for a production artist.
The unions involved, which include SIPTU and the NUJ, said the authority had informed them they would sue if the unions worked collectively to negotiate fees.