Stagehands Get Lots of Support for Broadway Strike

Stagehands Get Lots of Support for Broadway Strike

by James Parks, Nov 20, 2007

The Thanksgiving holiday is a time for families and friends to come together and the striking stagehands on Broadway are finding they have lots of friends in the union movement.

Contract negotiations are set to resume after the Thanksgiving holiday. After months of unsuccessful negotiations, the members of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 1 were forced out on strike Nov. 10, leaving most of Broadway’s stages dark. The main issues in the contract talks are work rules and wages. About a quarter of the 2,200 members of Local 1, who build scenery, maintain props and install and operate lighting and sound equipment, work in Broadway theaters.

The New York City Central Labor Council issued a statement saying it stands

in full solidarity with IATSE Local One in their fight for a fair contract and we know the union did everything in their power to keep the neon lights bright on Broadway.

The council is urging its 1.3 million members from 400 local unions to join the picket lines. When they come out they will be joined by the actors and musicians who perform on the Broadway stages. Members of Actors’ Equity and the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) Local 802 made it clear they are standing with their union brothers and sisters with whom they work side by side on the play, the “Great White Way.”