Broadway stagehands return to work after union accepts concessions

Local 1 officials provided no details on the agreement, sending their members back to work without any information, much less a ratification vote, which will not take place for at least 10 days.

The strike, the first in the local’s 120-year history, was forced on the stagehands after management unilaterally imposed work rules contained in its “final offer.” Even then, the union instructed its members to continue working under this setup for more than two weeks before calling the strike on November 10.

The walkout won broad support from actors and musicians as well as makeup, wardrobe, box office and other theater workers, many of whom joined the Local 1 picket lines. At the same time, the stagehands came under sharp political pressure, with the city estimating economic losses of $2 million a day resulting from the strike and the mass media fraudulently blaming Broadway’s shutdown on the workers rather than the owners.

Management itself entered the struggle prepared for an all-out offensive against the workers, having raised a $25 million war chest through per-ticket assessments. The owners’ willingness to keep 27 theaters dark during one of the most profitable seasons of the year was a measure of their ruthlessness and determination to break down barriers to increased profits.