Local One Votes on Authorization of Stagehand Strike

As promised last week, nearly 1,000 members of Local One (the Broadway stagehands union) held a unanimous vote Sunday October 21 at the Westin Hotel, authorizing union leaders the power to call a strike. 

This does not necessarily mean a strike will be called in the near or distant future, but does grant members of the union the ability to do so.  This vote comes in response to The League of American Theatres and Producers' plan to impose the terms of a new contract to stagehands tomorrow, Monday October 22.

Local One states there are no plans for a strike at this time.  If a strike were issued, many of Broadway's theatres would have to close their doors.

The New York Times says "The union also voted to allocate $1 million from its general fund to help other unions on Broadway in the event of a work stoppage. This would be in addition to the $4.1 million emergency fund raised for its own members for use in the event of a work stoppage."

Since July, the union and the League have been in rigorous contract negotiations, which came to a stand-still earlier this month when both sides proposed their "final offers." If a lock-out or strike is imposed, 22 Broadway theatres would go dark.  Non-union houses not affected by the potential strike include Studio 54, The New Amsterdam, American Airlines Theater and The Biltmore.

In an announcement earlier this week, The Nederlander Organization, Brodway's second largest theatre chain, told their stagehands it would not impose a new contract on Local One next with; thus breaking unity with the League of American Theatres and Producers.  However, in a statement issued by the Nederlander Organization to the union, Nederlander theatres would lock-out stagehands if Local One went on strike against other Broadway theatres.  However, The League seems to have passed the responsibility of a lock-out over the Local One, claiming the decision to close-down Broadway "rests squarely with Local One."

As explained by Campbell Robertson of The New York Times, "The producers have proposed loosening rules on when stagehands are needed for work, how many are needed and what tasks they are allowed to perform. The union has said that any alterations to the rules that would mean less work for stagehands needs to come with exchanges of equal value."