Last-ditch bid to avoid strike by Broadway backstage staff

Published Monday 5 November 2007 at 12:05 by Judd Hollander

Broadway producers and theatre managers are to hold last minute crisis talks with the International Alliance of Stage and Theatrical Employees in a bid to avoid strikes from New York stagehands.

With the Broadway technical unions vowing that there will be no work in December if they do not receive a new contract, Tom Short, president of the International Alliance of Stage and Theatrical Employees, the parent union of Local One, which represents New York stagehands, will be meeting with the League of American Theatres and Producers from November 7, 8 and 9 to see if there is any chance a strike can be avoided.

While the union has already voted to strike, authorisation from its parent company is needed before such an action can officially begin. 

The major point of contention between the two sides is producers insisting on more flexible work rules when it comes to hiring union members (especially during the load in periods of shows), while the union, citing the enormous profits Broadway makes, as well as job security for their members, is insistent on keeping the current work rules in place.

If a strike does happen, conventional wisdom is that it would occur just before the Thanksgiving holiday (November 22), traditionally the busiest weekend on Broadway and the start of the holiday season in New York. With such a shutdown, only a handful of Broadway’s 39 theatres would continue to operate.

The last time there was a strike on Broadway was in 2003 when the musicians’ union walked off for four days - also over job security - costing the industry millions of dollars at the box office.