BRIEF: Broadway Negotiations Remain at a Standstill

Oct 12, 12:57 PM

Current Headlines: By Tania Padgett, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Oct. 12--Contract negotiations are still at a standstill this morning for stagehands and Broadway producers.

"It's all quiet on the Western front," said Bruce Cohen, spokesperson for the Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. There was a glimmer of hope yesterday that the two organizations might resolve their issues when they met at an undisclosed location to "clear the air."

Negotiations between the two groups stalled Tuesday night, fueling worry that producers might lock out stagehands if an agreement is not reached.

A lockout would darken most of the theaters on Broadway and cost the city as much as $5 million a day in business. Alan Cohen, spokesman for the League of American Theatres and Producers, assured ticketholders yesterday that the

League would not lock out stagehands. Cohen said stagehands want to avoid a strike. But said yesterday that the stagehands "will not take pay curts or job cuts."

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