Questions for Local One members

[tenaciOUs b]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 12:57pm

Preface (so you know my bias):

I am part of a group theater trip traveling to NYC next week to see a number of shows. Most of those going are college students. Many hours of work have gone into planning the trip. Airline tickets are non-refundable and it is a situation that does not allow rescheduling.

It is highly unlikely that anyone in the group of 44, adults included, earn even the low figures being passed around as to the starting salary of a stagehand.

I understand that life is full of disappointments: snow storms, broken arms, etc. Accidents happen, weather answers to nobody, these are random events. The strike is not random, it is choice.

If our fligths get cancelled due to a storm, so be it. If our hotel burns down, so be it. But, if I can't fly because a flight was overbooked, then I have been intentionally taken advantage of.

So, now my questions:

1. Why should I have any sympathy for your choice to take advantage of me?

2. (Most importantly) I have seen nothing specific about your demands/desires. What are your specific demands that overshadow your common courtesy of doing your job for which you are paid significantly more than I am?

b!

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 1:11pm

I agree with you Tenacious - but good luck getting a good answer.

Posted: 11/13/07 at 1:29pm

I am NOT a member of Local 1 & my opinion on the strike is beside the point. But, my question is: why is YOUR problem more important than theirs?

As you note, "things" happen to wreck plans. You can file "strikes" under "things".

I'm not sure that Local 1 is asking for your sympathy. This is a business & this is their job. If they were medical personnel running out on you while you lay bleeding, I might be more sympathetic to your indignation.

I sincerely hope this strike ends as soon as humanly possible & that no one else's plans are messed up -- and that I can pay my landlady on time without having to ask for an extension because I can't work due to a strike. But, I'm not going to sit here & pout at the stagehands & say they're being selfish twits. I am seeing it for what it is: life.
Updated On: 11/13/07 at 01:29 PM

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 1:30pm

"I agree with you Tenacious - but good luck getting a good answer."

Jason, I hope that you'll have a "good answer" ready when members of a Teachers Union go on strike somewhere.

The good answer is that there is no good answer. It's a strike, some people are inconvenienced by it, some are not, some couldn't care less about it, some are personally offended that it's happening. It simply is what it is, a job action by a union who has been working without a contract since July, and has had new work rules imposed upon them that they did not agree to while collectively bargaining. You can call them greedy, unfeeling, selfish, or any other epithet that you choose, but it's their fight and not yours. If they felt that the only way that they could get the talks moving forward again was to call a strike, then they are certainly within their rights, no matter how many people are upset by it. I'm sure the union wishes that it wasn't happening just as much as the people who are unable to attend the shows for which they have tickets. The Union members also have something at stake, and whether you agree or disagree about what they are fighting for, it defies logic to say that they can't strike, because someone will be inconvenienced.

Updated On: 11/13/07 at 01:30 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 1:45pm

If your students wanted to go to class and get an education and you up and didn't show one day. They can say why should we care about how you wanted a day off when we wanted to learn.

It is the same thing.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 1:51pm

Yes but there's such a thing as substitute teachers.

[Mooo]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:19pm

I can't help but notice that you didn't once mention the producers while laying the blame for this all on the stagehands.

You should know that the producers were planning to lock us out 3 weeks ago and had said as much several times. They told us we would not be allowed to strike because they would lock us out before we had the chance. Somewhere along the line they realized that they could push this all off on us and make us the bad guys in the public eye. It was a brilliant move on their part because they would have looked pretty stupid if they had locked us out.

It is in fact the producers that are trying to dramatically restructure Broadway and they have chosen now to do it. I don't believe they thought we would strike because of our history but they miscalculated. It is incredibly dissapointing to members that we are ruining everyone's travel and show plans but we have to make a stand for the good of our union and everyone elses.

Local 1 has never before struck on Broadway in 120 years of service. Does that say anything to anyone about the gravity of the situation?

[CJR]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:28pm

Mooo, thank you for saying what I popped into the thread to say. You saved me the typing LOL I can get back to working on other things hahaha

[tenaciOUs b]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:35pm

So...I'm back from lunch and what do I find? Nothing. No specifics.

I am not questioning the morals of the producers. I doubt they have many. I am questioning the validity of the strikers motives. The producers being big and bad is not good enough. If that is the best you can come up with, then I must assume that my vacation has been ruined by YOUR greed.

So, I ask once again. What are the specifics of your demands that outweigh the time and money and effort that has been put into this trip, which for many is a once in a lifetime opportunity? If the producers are running a misinformation campaign, then now is your chance to put the correct informatiion out there.

Still waiting,
b!

[don logan]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:38pm

Tenacious: if you spent 49 seconds on google you could find out what local 1's demands are. Come to New York and do something else! Do you think Broadway is all NYC has to offer?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:39pm

Dude or Dudette, there are countless threads listing both sides' disputes over the contract. Or check out most any article on the subject at playbill.com or ny1.com or wherever.

[CJR]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:40pm

I smell a sock puppet in Tenacious. There are a number of places where they could find this information... yet they come here to whine and complain and bust our balls.

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:44pm

Even if you got an annotated list of motives for why the Union Members found valid reasons for striking, none of them are going to outweigh the time money and effort that have been put into your once in a lifetime trip. Because it's YOUR trip.

Seriously, what's the point of making a list for you. Whether you agree or disagree isn't going to change anything. The strike is still on going, and won't stop because you might suddenly agree that it's justified.

Are there any valid motives that YOU can think of that would justify a strike? Please list them.

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:46pm

'I smell a sock puppet in Tenacious.'

Your postiviely Holmes-ian in your powers to deduce, CJR!

[CJR]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:47pm

Hahaha You know me, robbiej, I like to state the obvious. You know, when Im taking a break from being the resident bitch lol

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:48pm

Oh girl...with tits like those, ya got nothing to worry about!




Did I really just type that?

[maliatkb8]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:58pm

tenaciOUs b, I am not a Local One member, just a die-hard Broadway fan (and college student) who traveled 9 hours to NYC to see Jersey Boys on Saturday. And yes, I couldn't have picked a worse day. However, as a true theater fan I support the stagehands. I spent all day Saturday hanging out with the stagehands and actors of Hairspray and Jersey Boys, who all support each other. The producers are suggesting a cut in their jobs and wages and they've been working without a contract for months! The producers want to cut their jobs yet they don't want to do anything to decrease the ticket prices we pay for their shows therefore increasing the profit that goes to them. The stagehands get nothing from this, the fans get nothing from this, the producers get more and more money from this... now who do you think is greedy?

[CJR]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 2:59pm

Oh that just made my day. Robbie, I have missed you lol

[tenaciOUs b]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 3:12pm

Let's see...

I assume by "sock puppet" you mean a mouth for the producer's side. Sorry, not only wrong, but the name calling implies that the facts are not on your side.

"What's the point of making a list?" The point is that if the reasons are valid, then I can't hold it against local 1. If they are invalid, then the members of local 1 are thieves in my eyes.

As for what I can find online, i have found very little of substance from either side. There's history of the conflict: no contract since July, lock out, etc. The only specific I find is the "featherbedding" thing. From what I know of that, I would tend to side with the producers. If there is more to it, other than "they say 3 people are needed, we say 4 people are needed", give it to me. Specifics...

"Are there valid motives?" Potentially, yes. Requirement to enter a small room with live wires without protection would be a valid reason. No maternity leave would be a valid reason. I have yet to here a valid reason from local 1.

Further info on my bias: My wife is a lifelong Dem who sides witht he union becasue that's what Dems do. I am a lifelong independent who needs to be convinced by facts.

b!

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 3:17pm

""What's the point of making a list?" The point is that if the reasons are valid, then I can't hold it against local 1. If they are invalid, then the members of local 1 are thieves in my eyes. "

And either way the strike continues, whether you think the points are valid or not. So the making of a list will have no bearing on the strike, nor will a change in your opinion one way or the other. So, there's NO point in making a list.

[CJR]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 3:21pm

I assume by "sock puppet" you mean a mouth for the producer's side. Sorry, not only wrong, but the name calling implies that the facts are not on your side.

No, that'd be a shill. A sock puppet is something completely different.

[tenaciOUs b]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 3:24pm

"And either way the strike continues, whether you think the points are valid or not. So the making of a list will have no bearing on the strike, nor will a change in your opinion one way or the other. So, there's NO point in making a list."

Did you read the paragraph you responded to? I am coming to NY regardless. I will be walking by picketers. They will deserve either a corned beef sandwich or a knuckle sandwich. Which is it and WHY?

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 3:33pm

"Did you read the paragraph you responded to? I am coming to NY regardless. I will be walking by picketers. They will deserve either a corned beef sandwich or a knuckle sandwich. Which is it and WHY?"


So, now you've want a list to help you determine if you should feed those on strike or assault them? NICE! I'm hoping that no one gives you a list, and you go with your feelings that you now seem to be harboring. I'd love to see you on the evening news, after you've offered a stagehand your, "knuckle sandwich".

[claudia2]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 3:40pm

Tenacoious: Most of the local one members I know are extremely hard working. There are a few that arent, but you find that in any business, not just theater! They have been working without a contract since July. The producers went into this and had their minds made up long ago that all they want to do is "break the union's." Not just local one, all of them. Equity will be next. All Local one wants is a fair raise and to keep their jobs. What the league is saying about stagehands that get paid and do nothing just isn't true. They just want a fair contract. My husband works from the minute he arrives at the theater until about 45 minutes after the show ends. He does have about 15 minutes before half hour free. For the most part they work hard. The producers were threatening to lock them out. The league was not willing to negotiate in good faith. They really had no other option than to strike. But the producers were ready for them. They have been adding a surcharge on to each and every ticket to build up a multi million dollar warchest to pay for the time that local one will be on strike. So the theater goersers are paying for taht. It rewally is unfortunate that it had to come to this. I wish they would just get back to the table and come up with an equitable contract. Lets hope they start talking soon.

[tenaciOUs b]

Posted: 11/13/07 at 3:44pm

I didn't say I would provide either type of sandwich. The costs would be too high either way.

I must assume however that since not a single valid demand has been listed that there are none. The writers have a valid demand and have made it known what gives with the stage hands?