Strike Update: Broadway League and House Staff Union Reach 3 Year Agreement

As previously reported, the members of SEIU 32BJ have voted to authorize a strike this week should the union's bargaining committee decide that one is necessary. Reports are now out that the two sides reached a tentative three-year contract agreement late in the day yesterday, December 17.   

Discussions with other unions including Equity who might also then honor a strike are also said to be underway. 

As Stephanie Gaskell of the New York Daily News reported earlier this week, if an agreement was not reached, Broadway would likely be facing another stagehand strike, as a group of about 150 cleaning workers who tend to many of Broadway's houses - members of 32BJ SEIU - threatened a strike if dissatisfied with their current contract negotiations.

The union's current contract expires on December 31 of this year. It's workers include cleaners, porters and matrons who earn approximately $16 an hour working at over 30 Broadway houses, including those for "Wicked," "The Lion King," "Mamma Mia!" "Jersey Boys," "In the Heights," "God of Carnage" and "Shrek the Musical."

The demands of the workers were reported to be a $1.50-an-hour pay raise and and no health insurance cuts.

Under the terms of the new contract, which will begin in 2010, the Broadway League will make weekly contributions to the 32BJ League Pension Fund, and also continue to provide employer-paid family healthcare coverage. In addition, workers will receive a dollar an hour pay raise, equaling a 6.2 percent raise.

Says Hector Figueroa, 32BJ Secretary-Treasurer, "The League worked cooperatively and productively late into the night to come to an agreement that benefits the workers and ensures the continued success of Broadway theaters."

The last strike to hit Broadway occurred two years ago when the stagehands union shut down the Great White Way for eighteen days.

With more than 110,000 members in eight states and Washington, DC, 32BJ is the largest property service workers union in the country. 32BJ is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), an organization of over 2 million members united by a belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide. To raise industry standards and improve lives, SEIU and 32BJ focuses its resources on organizing new members into the union. The union consists of security officers; doormen, porters, and maintenance workers; bus drivers and aides; window cleaners and food service workers.