STRIKE TOMORROW — Page 8

Glad to hear you are not outside anymore LOCAL1. Please enlighten some of these idiots on this board who are completely ignorant of what it means to be a Stage Hand

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localone-i have personally seen crew members show up to work, sign in and then leave the theater so perhaps you have had blinders on over the past years while working. I have also seen guys work their half hour shift then go across the street to grab a drink at the local bar. most don't do this, but some do. Refute that!

> just back from the picket line.

ditto

> 1. i have never , in my twenty years as a union stagehand, seen
> a stagehand get paid to do nothing. the only time we stand

ditto. But about 26 years in my case. unless I'm mis-counting.

> 2. we were told to expect 2-3 weeks but to not be surprised if > we were still standing out there at christmas.

ditto, and as I viewed the league press conference footage featuring herschel waxman and richard frankel, both people I know and who claim to respect their employees, but clearly do not, I fear it will be christmas or new years or even longer.

> 3. we feel bad for ticket holders, we really do, but its

I really feel badly for the ticket holders. Honestly. It absolutely kills me to disappoint any theatre-goer, let alone a child.

> 4. we walked because the league refused to negotiate. sitting
> at the table and dictating to us a set of never changing terms
> is not a negotiation.

and this is absolutely correct. the League's people told us a year ago "you might as well take your strike vote now". That's before we officially started negotiating. They have been negotiating in bad faith, and continue to try to negotiate in the press. This won't be worked out in the press. It has to be worked out at the table, in an honest manner. But what is now clear now is that the people on their side of the table are not honest, honorable people. Get your pocketbooks ready, when a deal DOES come, they are going to immediately raise your ticket prices by 10% or 15% and blame it on "increased stagehand costs" while giving us a 3% raise. What's that additional 7% to 12%? Service charge? I'd be interested to see just how much the posters on this board spend, on an annual basis, on "restoration fees".

as an aside: I would like to thank the overwhelming majority of new yorkers AND tourists who stopped to show their support to the union members on the line today. We even had tourists who had come to see our show JOIN OUR LINE and walk with us in solidarity , in one case of 3 great ladies from out west for an entire hour! That cancels out any anti-union venom I've read here.

Updated On: 11/10/07 at 11:56 PM

I work for Actors' Equity and I know EXACTLY why they went on strike and it won't be resolved anytime soon. Both sides are greedy, which is sad for EVERYONE that has bought a ticket to see any broadway show, let alone planning a whole trip around it. Local One SHOULD be ashamed of themselves. This is whole thing is disgusting.

bway stud is another example of anti-stagehand posting from members that joined after10/07. i am not saying that all the anti-union posts are from people who joined after that date, just most.

very curious......



welcome to the propaganda machine that is the league.