Strike Shutters Broadway for Thanksgiving Week
By Linda Winer, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Nov. 19–A second day of talks between striking stagehands and Broadway producers broke down last night, leaving shows in the dark for at least another week at the start of one of Broadway’s most lucrative periods all year, producers said last night.
“Out of respect for our public and our local theatergoers, many of whom are traveling from around the world, we regret that we must cancel performances through Sunday, Nov. 25,” Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, said in a statement last night.
Producers walked away from the table at a theater district hotel after 12 hours of negotiations, telling the stagehands’ union that its offers “were not enough,” said a representative of Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. No new talks were scheduled.
Twenty-seven Broadway shows remain shut down, with producers and stagehands locked in an impasse over how many workers are required for the lengthy process of loading productions into theaters. All but eight Broadway shows have been closed since Local One called the strike Nov. 10.
“We presented a comprehensive proposal that responded to the union’s concerns about loss of jobs and earnings, and attempted to address our need for some flexibilities in running our business,” St. Martin said. “The union rejected our effort to compromise.”
The strike is costing the city at least $2 million a day.
The stagehands, who include scenery and prop handlers, carpenters, electricians, and lighting and sound technicians, have been working without a contract since July. Negotiations were held into the fall.
It was hoped that a settlement this weekend might get Broadway relit by today. Ticket sales for this week could easily top $1 million each for several of the big shows.
Among the unions honoring the stagehands is the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers. In a lighthearted moment, Bruce Cohen, the association’s president and a representative for Local One, joked yesterday, “Without company managers in doing the books, producers don’t know how much money they’re losing.”
To encourage dining in the theater district, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has helped arrange a 15-percent discount in more than 25 area restaurants through next Sunday, not including Thanksgiving Day.
This story was supplemented with wire service reports.
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