Local 1's statement -- are they serious?- Page 4

[hiltyfied]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 7:10pm

leko2, you say that the 38% Local One keeps referring to is the percentage of jobs that the League wants to cut. Your union seems to be saying that this number - 38% - is not about jobs alone but includes other things, like income. I've actually talked to several Local One union members who are picketing, and I haven't gotten a consistent (or clear) definition of exactly what the 38% pertains to. I'm hoping you can explain it to me!

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 7:11pm

"I believe the $150,000 number is for union members who are employed year round by the production. "

i worked all 52 weeks on a production, did all of the extra work calls, and i did not make 150,000 that year.

that number, thrown around by the producers, is poppycock.

if i made that much i would sign their contract right now and go back to work.

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 7:50pm

This is in an article on EW.com:

"Claffey (Union president) declined to elaborate on every point over which the League and Local One disagree, but he did cite one major issue, what the producers call 'featherbedding.' Producers accuse the stagehands of purposely taking longer than they have to on jobs so that they can claim they need more workers on a show. The stagehands, however, claim the producers put profit before safety, efficiency, and fairness. 'If they require us to be there three hours out of eight hours, are we supposed to get paid for [just] three hours?' Claffey asked. 'At the firehouse down the street, what if they only got paid to put that fire out instead of the time they're waiting for the fire?'"

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20159709,00.html


Seriously? This article makes it sound like the are striking because they want to keep getting paid for work they don't do. Rough life. How can ANYONE sympathize with that???

Get back to work and stop endangering an entire industry's livelihood.

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:02pm

"Get back to work and stop endangering an entire industry's livelihood. "

no. i will be out there every day until i am paid for the work i do, the expertise i bring, and the safety i ensure.

[UnionMade]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:08pm

Jason,
The reason I recently joined this board is because I was searching for the hour long press conference held yesterday. In my fruitless search for any coverage of this event I ran across slanderous comments against myself and my brothers. I could not sit back and not try to educate some people of the other side. Anyway in reference to your article from EW. Union President Claffey spoke for more than twenty minutes yesterday yet the entire media somehow only got these two sentences. Maybe they ran out of ink, lead, paint, batteries, or crayons and couldn't cover the conference without bias.

[JRybka]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:12pm

Local One Crew:
But you are saying you are worth 100,000 or more?

I will agree with you 100% when teachers, fireman, policeman make more money then you do.

You will all be out of jobs if you piss off enough of the "regular folks" who pay for theater tickets and they don't show up.

Remember.. the ones who pay the tickets are the teachers, fireman, policeman, shop keeper, nurse who bust their asses 100X more then you do and make much more less then you do.



......
LEKO2:
YOU WORTE THIS:
Jrybka: It's the same thing in regional theaters, community playhouses, and nonprofits. A lot of them use unions, yes even community playhouses. And I resent that comment you made about not doing it "for the love of the lights but for the green in the wallet." I love what I do for a living, but I need to be able to support myself so I can continue to be living.

MY REPSONSEl
They may use unions but they are not gouging their patrons eyes out (or wallets) in the process.
And the love? Teacher teach for the love... where is the 150,00 for them? Policeman get in the line of fire for our saftey.. where is their 150,000 Nurses rock Crack Babies to sleep so they can live another day... where is their 150,000?

You can hem and haw and say it is for the love of but right now it is about the almight dollar. Stop making lame ass excuses and just admit it is all about money.

[pants2]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:24pm

I can't understand why the stagehands would be willing to totally endanger the whole industry just because the good money they already make isn't enough.

[bk]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:28pm

"no. i will be out there every day until i am paid for the work i do, the expertise i bring, and the safety i ensure."

And have you not for years been paid to do exactly that? And will you not, when the dust is settled, still be paid to do that? You can make with the bombast all you like, but you are not dealing in facts, just angry rhetoric. You are being offered not unreasonable pay increases - and yes, there's a price to be paid for it, but it's one that Local One has already agreed to back off on - which is what everyone calls the "featherbedding" issue. But to demand that 38% of what you folks aver will be loss of jobs be made up in salary increases simply means there is no reason for a strike, because if that's what happens, no one is gaining and no one is losing - it's status quo - if you think that's what a negotiation is, you can just think again.

I know you folks do a great job and I count several of your members as friends, just as I count several producers as friends. There are points to be made for both sides, but, as Johnny Mercer so ably put it, something's gotta give, and it's BOTH sides that are going to have to give - and whether right or wrong, standing at a distance it would seem the League is making with the offers and that Local One is refusing to even listen to what are reasonable pay raises over the next five years. A negotiation is a negotiation - the League has made public what their offer is - which is more than one can say for Local One (at least officially) - put it out there, let everyone judge the facts and post to their hearts' content - but in the end, the discussion boards aren't going to decide who compromises, who wins, or who loses. Get back to the table and work it out. It's what will inevitably happen, and then both sides will stand and cheerlead and say they got exactly what they wanted, and like with most of these things, that will not be the truth but more rhetoric. It happens with every strike.

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:31pm

"Remember.. the ones who pay the tickets are the teachers, fireman, policeman, shop keeper, nurse who bust their asses 100X more then you do and make much more less then you do. "


you have absolutely no idea how hard i do or do not work.
absolutely zero idea.

come do a load-in with me when i am working 8am to midnight, seven days a week, for two months.
standing on the grid, pulling hundreds of feet of multi-cable up 70 feet.
you do that and maybe you will have a clue as to what you are talking about.
i am not complaining about the work. i choose to do it and alot of the time i like it.

but for you to make statements based upon no information on how hard i work is a blatant display of ignorance.

[Mooo]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:32pm

"Honestly, I don't have much sympathy for the stagehands. Don't get me wrong, I have a great respect for how much work they put in and what it is they do, and how difficult it must be for them. However, I think in terms of what they're striking for, they don't have it so bad. One could argue that they deserve more money for whatever hardships they apparently endure so frequently that shutting down broadway is the obvious solution, but they're the ones who chose their jobs, and what they're asking for is a littl ebit ridiculous. Unfortunately, though, they have the producers by the, well, you know. But stagehands have it good and are asking for a little much. I'm not sure what offers local one was made during the talks, but whatever it was, if it was closer to what they wanted they should have taken it considering, again, they don't have it so bad to begin with, and it was by no means a good idea for this to happen."

You're absolutely right that we all chose our jobs. They are trying to change those jobs dramatically. We are not talking about getting more. We are asking to keep what we have. Local 1 has not struck Broadway in 120 years. That should tell you a little something about what is at stake here.

You're totally confused about the issue. The producers are demanding dramatic give-backs.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:53pm

Question...If the stagehands agree to the new contract offered by the producers, will a lot of stagehands be out of work?

[JRybka]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:53pm

localonecrew:

Actually tell that to a nurse who works twice as much as you do and get paid so much less then you do......

You may work from 8am to 12am for two months but police and fireman and nurses do this all the time 50 weeks a year!

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:55pm

again, you have zero idea about what i do and how hard i work.

zero idea.

[JRybka]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:57pm

Then enlighten us oh HOLY LOCAL ONE CREW.

Bring us to the light as you inform us of all the hard work you do for 6 figures and then tell me how that is more important then nurses who make 30-40K for helping crack babies, cancer patients and our brothers and sisters with AIDS.

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 8:58pm

My first instinct tells me that this will become a battle of egos and not a fight over money. At this point, the producers feel they are justified and the union feels they are as well. Who will buckle? I fear that money will influence this, and, in the end, it'll be the union that breaks under pressure, not the producers. These producers are, strategically, in a good position. If the strike last beyond a few weeks, a "speedy resolution" will no longer suffice for the League... they'll be out to show their strengh and "win." They'll also want to take action to make sure this doesn't happen again.

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:02pm

i dont need to equate what i do to anybody elses career choice. they chose their jobs just as i chose mine. i only want to be justly paid for the work i do, the expertise i bring, and the saftey i provide.
the shows you love so much are not only actors and producers,. stagehands are an integral and necessary part of the artistic process. i just want to failry paid for being a part of that process.
so whine about me and my craft all you want cause until the producers stop trying to destroy my livelihood, until they stop trying to turn me into a migrant worker, and until they stop lying , you wont be seeing a broadway show.

[JRybka]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:04pm

but local no one is saying how much they are being paid....

How much do you make in a year. Seiously. six figures?

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:06pm

working a show full time for a year,doing all of the extra work calls,and working an extra load in for 4 weeks, i made less than 90 grand.

[JRybka]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:08pm

90 grand? 90 grand? I know a lot of people who probably work 10x harder who would love to make 1/2 of that.

But hey.. go for the 6 figures. Why not go for 200,000! I mean let's go all out and say you need 1/4 million!

[Mooo]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:09pm

Localonecrew you're waisting your breath on some of these people.

If Jrybka represents the intelligence on Capital Hill no wonder the country is in the toilet.

If you're really interested in what we make it has been posted in about thirty other threads on here.

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:09pm

localonecrew, never say never. Strikes don't always end the way those striking intend. We all might wind up seeing Broadway shows after all, with non-union stagehands, if your union isn't willing to negotiate fairly.

[bk]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:09pm

The more you use silly rhetoric like the migrant worker comment, the sillier you look, I'm afraid. That's just horse manure and you know it - empty bombast. No one is trying to turn anyone into a "migrant" worker - and the fact that you can seriously put that in a post means that I can seriously not take you seriously. And why don't you scroll up and respond to the one post on this page which is reasonbly put and even-keeled? Why have you responded to every other one BUT that one, and, yes, I mean mine.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:12pm

NY1 is doing "The Call" now. It can be streamed live from their website for those not in New York.

[JRybka]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:14pm

Actually Moo, I work on Capitol Hill but I do not work for a politician... I work for a non partisan organization.

[localonecrew]

Posted: 11/12/07 at 9:21pm

"And have you not for years been paid to do exactly that? And will you not, when the dust is settled, still be paid to do that? "

no

"You are being offered not unreasonable pay increases - and yes, there's a price to be paid for it, but it's one that Local One has already agreed to back off on - which is what everyone calls the "featherbedding" issue."

we do not featherbed and have not backed off on this issue because it is not an issue. your information is incorrect.

"But to demand that 38% of what you folks aver will be loss of jobs be made up in salary increases simply means there is no reason for a strike, because if that's what happens, no one is gaining and no one is losing - it's status quo - if you think that's what a negotiation is, you can just think again. "

maybe its the word aver, but you are not making your point clear enough to respond to. try again and i will be happy to respond.

I know you folks do a great job and I count several of your members as friends, just as I count several producers as friends. There are points to be made for both sides, but, as Johnny Mercer so ably put it, something's gotta give, and it's BOTH sides that are going to have to give - and whether right or wrong, standing at a distance it would seem the League is making with the offers and that Local One is refusing to even listen to what are reasonable pay raises over the next five years. A negotiation is a negotiation - the League has made public what their offer is - which is more than one can say for Local One (at least officially) - put it out there, let everyone judge the facts and post to their hearts' content - but in the end, the discussion boards aren't going to decide who compromises, who wins, or who loses. Get back to the table and work it out. It's what will inevitably happen, and then both sides will stand and cheerlead and say they got exactly what they wanted, and like with most of these things, that will not be the truth but more rhetoric. It happens with every strike."

actually, the union offered numerous concessions. the league refused to take any of their proposals off the board. they responded numerous times that their offer would not change and it was a take it or leave it situation.
that is not a negotiation. that is a demand.