Broadway still dark as talks continue :Star Ledger

[billynj]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 9:21pm

Broadway still dark as talks continue
by Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger Saturday November 17, 2007, 7:42 PM
Striking Broadway stagehands entered a second week off the job today while contract talks resumed between producers and union officials.

Officials of the League of American Theatres and Producers, the trade organization representing management, and Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees started talking at 10 a.m. and were still at it tonight in the Westin Hotel in Times Square.


Joining today's discussions -- the first since Nov. 8 -- was Disney's Robert Johnson, a labor relations executive respected by both the union and producers. Disney Theatricals is not a member of the League, but two of its three productions, "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King" have been shuttered by the walkout. The third, "Mary Poppins," has a separate contract with Local 1 and continues to be perform.

The dispute centers on staffing. Theater owners and producers want to cut staffing requirements during both the pre-performance startup period and during the run of a show. The union seeks to protect its hard-won jobs and the safety of everyone working in the theater.

After months of tense negotiations, the stagehands went on strike the morning of Nov. 10, canceling performances of 27 plays and musicals and forcing thousands of stagehands, actors, musicians, box office workers and other theater staff from their jobs.

Hugh Mack Dill is a substitute usher at the Marquis Theatre where the "Drowsy Chaperone" is dark. "The ones who are suffering the most are the ushers because they make the least," he said. "It's hard especially if it's their only job.

Lost paychecks and ticket revenue are only part of the financial damage caused by the strike. Broadway is a tourist magnet, and the city's restaurants, shops and hotels have felt the pinch of the dark theater district. City Hall puts the strike's collateral damage at $2 million a day.

Read more in The Sunday Star-Ledger