Local One Ratifies 5-Year Contract

Though details of the contract have not been released, theatre-fans and tourists alike may be pleased to know that Local One - the stagehands' union whose labor-stoppage halted Broadway for 19 days - ratified their new agreement with Broadway producers on Sunday, December 9. The contract will last five years.

Details of the contract, as explained by NY1, reportedly include: "A wage increase of nearly 23% over five years. The lowest paid stagehands, who make up 75% of the Broadway workforce, will get an extra four percent increase in the first year... In exchange, stagehands made concessions on certain work rules, including minimum employment levels. The League was able to decrease the minimum number of stagehands required to move productions into a theater from 22 to 17."

Bruce Cohen, spokesperson for Local One, told NY1 news channel: "There won't be any interruption on Broadway through the five-year term of this contract."

Executive Director of The League of American Theatres & Producers, Charlotte St. Martin, states she is pleased with the ratification of the contract.

The stagehands strike, which crippled the New York City economy of an estimated $2-million a day, frozen over two-dozen Broadway theatres November 10 - 28, 2007.  The new contract follows weeks of rigorous negotiations, whereupon The League and Local One came to a temporary agreement which reopened The Rialto on Friday, November 29.