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chesswarsnow
11-10-2007, 09:25 PM
Sorry bout that,

1. But IATSE Local Union #1 has gone strike.
2. Lets hope that they stay that way.
3. Then also it might take down the film industry.
4. The Neoliberal Medias.
5. Maybe if we're lucky.
6. Come on for the good of America, STRIKE LIKE HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7. Read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/theater/11broadway.html?hp

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As Stagehands Strike, Broadway Shows Don’t Go On
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Stagehands began picketing on Saturday, and 27 Broadway shows were shuttered.

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By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: November 11, 2007
Most of Broadway was dark yesterday as stagehands went on strike over new work rules that producers have imposed or have been pushing for in months of contentious negotiations.

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Times Topics: Broadway Labor Relations

Broadway Strike Survival Guide: A list of some the shows currently running that are recommended by theater critics for The Times.


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The stagehands took their picket signs to the wet sidewalks about 10 a.m. after a meeting of Local One, their union, at the Westin New York on West 43rd Street.

Twenty-seven Broadway shows, including “Wicked,” “Jersey Boys” and “The Lion King,” were shuttered, starting with “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical,” which was to raise its curtain at 11 a.m. Eight shows playing in theaters that have separate contracts with the union remained open.

The work stoppage not only crippled a $939 million industry, but also slowed the whole universe of Midtown: the bars, the restaurants, the hotels, the souvenir stores and the pedicabs that serve the people who buy Broadway tickets — more than 12 million of which were sold last year.

Yesterday’s matinee traffic of tourists and theatergoers was thrown off balance, with busloads of students sitting unhappily outside “The Color Purple,” and nervous restaurant workers contemplating a night with no dinner rush.

“Customers may show up, but they will be grumpy and won’t tip well,” said Laura Cosentino, as she stood on West 46th Street handing out menus for Rachel’s, a theater district restaurant.

The eight Broadway productions still running are: “Cymbeline,” “Mary Poppins,” “Mauritius,” “Pygmalion,” “The Ritz,” “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” “Xanadu” and “Young Frankenstein.”

This is the second strike on Broadway in less than five years. The four-day musicians’ walkout in 2003 was the first in almost three decades. But this is the first time Local One, a 121-year-old union, has called a strike on Broadway.

The producers and the union last met on Thursday, the second of three negotiating sessions requested by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the parent union of Local One.

In a statement, Thomas C. Short, the president of the parent union, said the talks had been making progress when he left on Thursday afternoon.

“I am dismayed that just hours after my departure the employers made a 180 degree turn and began bargaining in a regressive manner,” Mr. Short said in the statement. “This action demonstrates a clear lack of will on the employers’ part to reach an agreement.”

Charlotte St. Martin, the executive director of the League of American Theaters and Producers, the trade group representing the Broadway theaters, said, “There was good dialogue between both of us, but in effect their last and final offer budged very little.”

But, she added, “when we gave them our last offer we were ready, willing and able to negotiate the next day.” She said the league was never officially notified that a strike was imminent.

Yesterday morning, neither Local One nor the international alliance had issued a comment and outside of the union, seemingly no one was entirely sure a strike was going to happen. A long line of hopeful theatergoers had already formed at the TKTS discount ticket booth, which was still listing available shows while the union was meeting.

But at 10 a.m., stagehands took to the picket lines and started handing out fliers that read in part, “Cuts in our jobs and wages will never result in a cut in ticket prices to benefit the public, but only an increase in the profits for producers.”

Many members of the other Broadway unions, including Actors Equity Association, hit the sidewalks in support of Local One; several musicians played “Solidarity Forever” in front of the darkened Ambassador theater.

“While this is a private labor matter, the economic impact is very public and will be felt far beyond the theaters closed today,” he said in the statement, adding that “the city continues to stand ready to help in any way we can.”

As the producers and the stagehands put into motion plans they have developed for months, there are plenty of others around Midtown who are having to make adjustments on the fly.

Disappointed theatergoers were left facing darkened houses and the options available after their Broadway plans fell through.

Modify that: “I would say a little bit more than disappointed,” said Beverly Krein, 63, a Curves trainer from Fargo, N.D., who had come to New York with her daughter and granddaughter to see “Mamma Mia!”

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Regards,
SirJamesofTexas