In 2003, a musicians’ union strike shuttered Broadway for four days, causing the theatre industry’s flagship location to suffer millions of dollars in losses. The outcome was a negotiated compromise: Musicians, who were seeking to prevent producers from replacing too many live performers with computer-based music systems, accepted the fact that the pit would go forward with a few less live bodies and reminded their employers that Broadway was rebounding with record profits from the problems of 2001. The producers, for their part, acknowledged that they could not completely automate the orchestra and were satisfied with keeping just a little less of those enhanced profits.
This year could be a repeat performance of the events of four years ago — and hopefully no more intense. Members of Local One of IATSE, a quarter of whose 2,200 members work on Broadway as stagehands, carpenters, electricians, lighting technicians, props workers and sound technicians, reported to work at the beginning of August without a contract. Early negotiations have been described as tense and contentious.
These negotiations come within the context of a record-breaking 2006–07 season at the box office for Broadway, when grosses reached $939 million. But statistics provided by the League of American Theaters and Producers illustrate the rising costs of the theater business and the industry’s high rate of failure: 19 of the 39 shows that opened during the 2005–06 season, for example, closed without recouping investments, for an aggregate loss of $96 million.
In response, the producers are seeking concessions from the union, specifically to give producers more flexibility in how and when they employ stagehands. The expense of the load-in, the period when a production is moving into a theatre, which can last for weeks and cost well over $1 million, is a primary issue. Producers determine how many stagehands a production will need (the size of the venue is also a determining factor). However, over the course of the load-in, all those stagehands are required to be on site, and be paid, even if they are not needed on certain days. Producers say they want to be able to use and pay only the stagehands they need on the days they need them. They are also looking for more flexibility in the rules about what kinds of tasks stagehands can be called upon to do when they are at the theatre.
As with the musicians union, Local One appears to recognize that some of these concessions will be made. In fact, from the start, the fiery rhetoric expected from a New York union official was missing. James J. Claffey Jr., president of Local One, told the New York Times that it was “not un-reasonable for the league to be making these proposals.” But, he added, changing the current rules in ways that would lessen the earning potential of stagehands requires some give and take. “We’re looking for an agreement that has exchanges,” Claffey said. “We’re not going to commit to a concessionary agreement.”
Local One, whose member’s paychecks range from $1,600 to $1,225 per week during a show, plus overtime and other opportunities, are looking to increase those numbers, particularly if producers get their way and don’t have to pay the entire crew from day one of load-in. But at a time in the U.S. economy when staff reductions are a matter of course, both sides have geared up for a lengthy siege. Over the past few years, the league has amassed a $20 million reserve by taking a few cents out of each ticket sold, creating a fund to cover certain fixed expenses, like insurance payments and advertising, to hold over shows interrupted by a strike or a lockout. The union, which has never called a strike against Broadway theatres in its 121-year history, has accumulated a $4 million defense fund.
There are 39 Broadway theatres; even allowing for flops, that averages out to over $24 million generated per venue annually. Nine of those venues, including Disney Theatricals, Live Nation and the nonprofits, have separate contract negotiations with the union. However, solidarity during a rumored strike, planned for the height of the Broadway season around Thanksgiving, could shut down the entire industry. During the 2003 musicians union strike, members of Actor’s Equity and IATSE refused to cross the picket lines, effectively shutting down 18 Broadway musicals.
The musicians strike lasted all of four days. Nonetheless, it cost the city over $2 million a day in lost revenue. Producers and union representatives are declining to comment during negotiations, but the New York Post’s theatrical beat reporter, Michael Riedel, says sources have described the proceedings as “rancorous.” Quoting a source, the Post says, “… it will get uglier. It’s going to take longer, and it’s much more serious than it’s ever been.”
It’s possible that by the time you read this, the labor issues will have been settled. But the underlying factors will remain: Any hint of featherbedding, real or imagined, will become a target in an economy that will outsource or automate at the drop of a hat to cut costs. The best seats for this year’s highly anticipated stage production of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein will be going for a reported $450. The high cost is being attributed to the show’s special effects. To a lighting grip, that says the technicians deserve a larger share of that revenue; to a producer, it’s the price of more sophisticated special effects. It’ll be interesting to see which perspective prevails.
Contact Dan at ddaley@plsn.com.
