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Articles: Theater strike looms

Posted by admin on Monday, July 12, 2004 - 06:36 AM

The lights could be dimmed on all but four Broadway shows this week if a resolution isn't reached between the Actors' Equity Association, the actors' and stage managers' union and the League of American Theaters and Producers.
new series of negotiations between the league, the group representing most of Broadway's commercial producers and the union broke down early Saturday. Equity announced plans to convene today for an emergency session that will be closely watched by theater fans and city officials alike. In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg stepped in to nip a musicians' strike that affected substantially fewer shows. The union's members first voted to authorize a strike in June in anticipation of the actors' contract expiring on June 27. Since then, Equity's Maria Somma says, actors have been told to continue working but to take personal items home after each performance. The key issues remaining, according to both sides, are salaries and per diem for certain touring shows. Union executive director Alan Eisenberg says that "standard wage improvements" are being sought and that Equity offered to have a neutral third party assess the questions. "Both sides have agreed that we need to remake the economics of the road," league president Jed Bernstein says. "What's being debated now is what the rates ought to be." Bernstein adds that the league offered to take the concerns regarding road productions off the table, for now, to resume talks. "There has been a tentative agreement in every other area," he says, including safety and health care. The Frogs, Assassins, After the Fall and Sight Unseen are the only Broadway shows that would not be affected by a strike; they are represented by a separate contract. "Anything that would disrupt the Broadway economy, with its importance to New York and the rest of the country, would be very unfortunate," Bernstein says. "We've come 98% of the way, and we have a responsibility to the industry and the city to get this resolved quickly."

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