DON'T YOU PEOPLE GET IT. YES THIS IS MY RANT ABOUT THE STRIKE — Page 3

i DO have to agree with you on that one cooperross. Many of my friends had NO clue about this..many assumed I was talking about the Writer's strike. But I mean this has been brewing for a while now. Sadly, even AFTER Local One when on strike, it still didn't get the national coverage I felt it deserved.

But I do see that had many people known about this while it was almost at climax to strike, perhaps they would have been able to get back a portion of what they invested in their trip.

If you want to point fingers...do it at the Media.

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I do have to agree that there should have been more coverage in the media. I know it was mentioned in passing over the summer on a few news stations but nothing much ever came of it. You think with something this huge that has this much of an impact on the city they would have been following this.

I live in a farming town too on the West Coast. Who is calling tourist stupid? Uninformed, maybe not making good plans but the worst of it is when tourist or anyone make statements that the Union doesn't care or personally went to all of this trouble to ruin your vacation. Now that sounds selfish. It sucks, it's rotten luck, that I understand. Sometimes, you just can't get a break. That I understand.

Who knew when this strike was going to happen? Even those involved didn't but they had a good idea. All the while though hoping some miracle would come along to save them from having to do this.

Buying your airfare six months in advance it truly a leap of faith if ever I saw one. You may not have heard the rumors but again, there were rumblings. A storm, a blackout, heck even your favorite Actor might get hurt or find a better job in that range of time. You would still be up a creek if you bought one of those non-refundable tickets. You would have been better waiting another month so that you could afford a little bit more and bought one that was.

With this strike, you might even see a few performers on the street holding signs. Wow, that must be strange. Just thinking of that bozo who said we should be throwing stuff at the Actors and Stagehands for daring to stand up for their right to Strike. See? This stuff makes people angry. Words cannot express how happy I am this guy missed the show. Even us tourists who are mad at other tourists for giving us a bad name! New Yorkers were great to me and that is why I know I will come back to New York when I can afford to spend some worthwhile money on shows.

This is as much slack as I fear I can give.

"I find the comments made by localonecrew and jerseygurl actually offensive in how naive they were. Name the job were I can make fantastic money and still have large amounts of time for family and kids and put a quality steak on the grill(as was foolishly said earlier). "

THEATRICAL PRODUCER!!!!

"I wasn't trying to give *you* advice..."

It doesn't matter, just stop giving travel advice period. Regardless of the justification of the strike, nobody turns to Local One for travel advice.


"...and nearly everyone is missing the bigger picture. Isn't it important to any of the fans that the union members have a fair contract (after not having a contract for a bit)? Clearly, the shows can't go up without local one....."

Yes, well, you know your own power. I guess?? that's a good thing. But lots of people only have your word to go on of what a 'fair contract' would look like and whether Local One would leap at it if they saw it. I've been trying to get an explanation of what precisely these work rules are that are the crux of the issue, and I don't think I yet understand them.


"Yes, I do understand that there are aspects of a trip that are non-refundable. With that in mind, why not take the trip anyway and make the most of it? Why swallow cancellation fees on top of the monies already paid? That makes little sense to me."

It should make sense. Because, even with non-refundables, it's still much less expensive to cancel a trip than go through with it. Clearly, some people will still go through with their trips, but others will not. And it's not up to Local One to be yelling at people for cancelling. Quit the travel advice and tell your union to get back in negotiations.

They've been on the brink of a strike for awhile now. At least from what I've been reading and keeping up on it. The news also reported a possible lockout back in September. You think with something that large the media would have choosen to give updates about it because it is having such an impact.

Edit : Thanks for the correction!

Updated On: 11/13/07 at 08:08 AM

MajorT
As I have previously stated to others who have made comments such as yours. I am insulted by your accusations. Us stagehands are family men who do care about the others we are affecting. It breaks our hearts to see little girls crying because they can't see there shows. We have set aside a portion of our defense fund(which comes out of our pocket) to help the other unions affected by the strike. I wish we could do more, but we can only do so much. The reason we are on strike is because the producers were unwilling to continue negotiating in "good faith". They walked away from the table and posted onerous work rules against this Local. As much as the producers want everyone to believe that this our "greedy" fault, they are the ones implemented this sign of "bad faith". If the were willing to pull these work rules and continue to honor the expired contract we would probably still be working now. So, if you have a problem call them at (212)764-1122 and ask them why they chose to force us to strike. These are not stupid people, they knew exactly how to make us look like the bad guy. And as far the stagehands on Victor Victoria you are talking about, touring stagehands are on a completely different contract and have nothing to do with Local ONE stagehands. And besides my little speculation is that these gentlemen you speak of had done there job or were waiting for cues. We love our jobs and a little play time between cues(as long as it doesn't affect the production) should not be criticized.
BB86
The "strike" back in September was actually a "lock-out" implemented by the producers. There was a period of about four days where we didn't know if we were going to be allowed into our theatres. But the media doesn't care to make the proper distinction in these matters. You'd also think that the media would be able to have unbiased coverage of these events. Are you aware that the Union had an hour long press conference on Sunday. Good luck finding any media coverage of it. People seem to think we are not talking to the media. But every time we do the media seem to run out of ink, lead, paint, batteries, or crayons and miss all this info.

When the transit workers went on strike, many people were also inconvenienced. When teachers go on strike, kids can't go to school. Theater is not alone in its sacrifice. Unions are unions and strikes happen. Yes, some tourists will feel burned, but in the past when there has been a strike, tourism has eventually come back.

If you want to say that there is a significant impact now you are right but it would have been worse in December and hopefully this will all be over in another week. The fact is that this could have been avoided by a bit of good bargaining. If there is a standoff, everyone gets hurt. But what is the option? There are union workers in other industries who have worked for a year or more without a contract. That doesn't work so well either.

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Oh God...don't even bring up that transit strike! I'm still pissed off about that.

This strike, I'm relatively ambivalent about. But that transit strike??? Talk about Asshole fighting Asshole. Wretched people all!

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Updated On: 11/14/07 at 12:05 PM

JenD -- it sucks for your sister. Nobody's saying it doesn't. And it's definitely disappointing. But your sister and brother in law work (if your sister is still working) under fair conditions, no? And they will be getting paid on pay day, right? Local One will not. I think that's where the request for a little perspective comes into play.

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Updated On: 11/13/07 at 12:20 PM

"
It's New York City, for chrissakes. Would it kill them to explore the city? Go to a museum? See an off broadway show?"

Not that i have tickets right now ... nor actually will i book anytime in the near future (had planned for a january trip and cancelling it now)


But i have been to new york MANY times. While i do go see some new museum exhibits .. i mainly plan trips around shows i want to see.

About the NYC Taxi Drivers ... i thought their "strike" threatens were total BS.

As far as this goes .... you have to remember like all strikes ... it can hurt yourself as well.

The shows that are open are in independent houses (ie: not Shubert, Nederlander etc) and have their own, separate contracts with the union. They're not affected by the strike unless IATSE has them walk in a show of solidarity (like it has been speculated about the tours across the nation)

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Updated On: 11/13/07 at 02:01 PM