BROADWAY CANCELLED THROUGH 25 NOVEMBER- Page 6

[UnionMade]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 9:44pm

Taka,
The easiest way to answer your questions is to direct you through several links of articles about the strike.
Start here: https://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=23020
And then follow the link within that article or use this one that takes you to the same place: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/arts/14broadway.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
And finally: https://www.actorsequity.org/Members/WordPDF/localone_myth_fact.pdf
This should get you caught up quickly. All these sources are not from the union so you can judge for yourself.

[ctnyc]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 10:15pm

I don't understand. If it's cancelled through the 25th, does that means the strike is over that day? Like will it go on the 26th-27th-etc?

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 10:16pm

^Oh, I wish it were like that.^

[jazzicat]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 10:28pm

Whatever, this whole mess is pathetic. Happy thanksgiving everyone. I honestly have no sympathy for those involved. These workers are not working under unsafe or unfair conditions. This is all about greed and money. If I went on strike, I would be FIRED. I'm sorry, I work in corporate America where we have no overtime and no pensions and have a hard time taking vacation and maternity leave. NY is an at-will state. This is my only week off for the rest of the year and yes, I am pissed. I had planned on seeing a matinee and now I I can't see the show I want because some people who do get overtime and do have pensions are manipulating the system at the busiest time of year when most people just want to enjoy life. I am an extremely liberal, sympathetic person--but theater is a joy in life and you are taking away so much joy from other hard working folks at at time of year when we need all the joy we can get. You should be ashamed. This strike is dirty. You think, "hit them at their pocketbooks," I say-- how DARE YOU. Does my boss make more than me? Of course. Do I think it's ridiculous that the CEO flies on the corporate jet and receives millions of dollars per year. Yes. Do I work 12 hour days with no lunches. All the time. But I put in my workload because I have student loans to pay and rent to make. I think you should all stop acting like babies and end this. You are taking so much away from the city that I love and crippling Midtown during what should be a season of hustle and bustle. You might think this will last a week and we should get over it, but thanks a lot. This was my week to see a show on a wednesday. My week to breathe easy and enjoy a city I struggle to live in. I share your pain-- working stinks in general. But suck it up. Just as I'll be doing this wednesday, seeing a movie rather than a Broadway show. Enjoy the strike,I hope the free coffee keeps you warm.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 10:39pm

'Shut the **** up!'

-Barbra Streisand

[jazzicat]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 10:45pm

"Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up."
--Dave Matthews

[bugmenot]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 11:30pm

> Like will it go on the 26th-27th-etc?

no, it only means that the league preemptively canceled performances for the week (which means they don't think there's any chance of coming to agreement, so why bother continuing to negotiate...I guess that's why the league walked out of the meeting last night at 9PM instead of sticking around until 4 or 5 in the morning to try to hammer out a deal, like they did the last time this contract came up). The union members on the picket line tonight saw that, and what is going on with the Grinch lockout, as an indication that the producers really don't care about the industry or their workers. They want to impose their new contract on the stagehands union (and you can bet they will do the same with Equity after that, and every other union after that).

As to explaining to you why the union is fighting, and what the issues are, it's really complex and it's hard to know where to start. I'll give you my take on it. This is just my opinion.

Since the recovery of broadway after the 9/11 attacks (when the union made huge concessions to the producers, btw), the industry has been so incredibly vibrant and successful that most of the time there are no theatres available for new shows to book (right now I think there are two: the Longacre, which is being renovated, and the Belasco, which was booked for "Lone Star Love", which fell through, but supposedly "Passing Strange" is coming in there).

There are weeks and weeks and weeks where there are a bunch of shows reporting grosses over a million dollars, and their franchises on the road also grossing millions of dollars (how many companies of "Jersey Boys" are out right now? How about "Wicked"?). And average-joe stagehand understands that even when a show isn't covering their operating expenses (the "nut"), the general managers, theatre owners, etc., are still getting huge weekly paychecks. Phil Smith earns $1.5 million a year and has a 9-room apartment on Park Avenue, an apartment in Florida, and gives his wife a $400/week allowance. Paul Libin has a house in East Hampton. But the League tries to tell the public that the stagehands are the ones who are rich and greedy. Don't be fooled.

So, then, we get to the expiration of this contract (back in July) and the producers tell the stagehands "we are losing SO much MONEY!" (and we read the variety box office grosses page in confusion). "Four out of five shows fail!" (we think to ourselves, fair enough, here are five shows from the same season: Jersey Boys, Lestat, Hot Feet, In My Life, Ring of Fire -- maybe four of those failed because they were CRAP? WE see these shows too, you know...you really want us to subsidize you putting more crap on broadway?) "We need you greedy stagehands to take salary cuts so we can make MORE money!" (uhm, ok, setting aside that you just insulted us, how about you just raise ticket and concession prices some more. oh, wait, you already did that). "You guys don't do ANYTHING!" (now you are REALLY getting insulting, come climb a 70 foot ladder to the grid and pull electrical cables across the ceiling for a few days in 100 degree heat, and then come tell me we don't do anything, until then STFU).

After the 2004 contract was settled, the league (thanks to a new union-busting lawyer Bernie Plum, who replaced the gentleman who retired, Alan Jaffe) decided 2007 was the year to break the union, take a 60 page contract and rip it to shreds and start over, and, if necessary, take the tourist economy down in flames, if need be. During Thanksgiving and Christmas. While Herschel Waxman tells us just how much he respects us. Yeah Herschel. Whatever. They built up a $20 million warchest (and made sure we knew about it). Before we even started formal negotiations, they told us "you might as well take your strike vote now". They negotiated with us for a few meetings (and by that, I really mean, they told us what they were going to take away from us, and we were going to get nothing) and when we got to the beginning of October they decided that NOW would be the time to weather a strike. So they implemented their new rules on the union workers, and told us "this is what it is from now on". I'm sure they expected us to strike immediately (I'm leaving out that they implied they were going to lock us out...but the bad P.R. changed their minds, I guess). We still tried to negotiate with them. The League has made it clear to us now that they don't want an agreement. They want to break the union and destroy the existing contract.

The union members aren't having it. We are not the lowest-paid union on broadway, that's a fact. But we are the ones who have the power and leverage to fight this fight not just for our members and our families but also for the rest of the broadway unions. We aren't going to be replaced by synthesized orchestras. And we aren't going to be replaced by kids new to the business from Corky St Clair's School of Technical Theater. And our jobs aren't going to be off-shored. We are fighting this not just for us, but for all of the entertainment industry workers.

And that's where we're at.

and that's the SHORT version, I'm afraid

[emo_geek]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 11:33pm

If they end the strike tomorrow I will give people candy....
Good deal. Think about it.

END THE STRIKE!!!

[Taka]

Posted: 11/20/07 at 12:02am

Wow, bugmenot. Thank you for the information. :)