Broadway Stagehands Union Sets Strike Vote

Oct 13, 06:26 AM

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

Oct. 13--The union representing hundreds of Broadway stagehands set the stage for a potential strike yesterday by calling for a strike authorization vote Oct. 21.

The announcement comes several days after contract negotiations between stagehands and producers broke down, stoking worries that producers would lockout stagehands if an agreement was not reached.

A lockout by producers or a strike by stagehands, who handle sets, props and lighting, would shut down most Broadway theaters and cost the city $5 million in business.

James J. Claffey, president of Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Employees, met with leaders of various Broadway unions at Local One's midtown offices yesterday and said he plans to ask stagehands on Oct. 21 to give authorization to leaders "to take any job action necessary."

A strike authorization vote is the first step to a strike, followed by a request for permission to strike to the International Alliance of Theatrical Employees, a larger union, of which Local One is a member.

Other union leaders who were at the meeting were Actors Equity, the American Federation of Musicians Local 802, which went on strike four years ago, and the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers.

This is meaningless, said Norman K. Samnick, a labor and entertainment lawyer who works for Bryan Cave in Manhattan.

"All this is gamesmanship. One day it won't be gamesmanship; and then everybody will be crying," Cave said.

When the musicians went out on strike four years ago, it cost the city an estimated $10 million, prompting intervention from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said earlier in the week that he would not hesitate to get involved again if the economic health of the city was at stake.

The stagehands and producers have been squabbling over a contract since July. Stagehands want to preserve jobs and salaries, which can exceed $100,000 annually.

Producers, who presented their "final offer" Tuesday, said that stagehands want to be paid for work that they do not do.

Meanwhile, other unions are already instructing their members to be prepared in case there is either a strike or a lockout.

Musicians have been told to take their instruments home every night, sources said.

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