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STRIKING STAGEHANDS SPOIL SPC BROADWAY TRIPS
By Amy Wheeler
The curtain closed on more than two dozen Broadway musicals earlier this month, including “Monty Python’s Spamalot” and “Rent,” as the Office of College Activities scrambled to alert ticket-holders to the cancellations.
“I wasn’t too bummed out, just disappointed,” sophomore Diane Quinn said about the “Spamalot” cancellation. With 15 minutes before the buses were to load at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11, Quinn got the call from College Activities as she finished her breakfast. “But, I figured I’d make the best out of the day anyway,” she added.
Just hours earlier, it appeared that eleventh-hour negotiations in the Broadway strike had stalled, forcing the Student Programming Council (SPC) to cancel their trip. They had sold 94 tickets.
On Friday, Nov. 16, a similar phone call went out alerting “Rent” ticket-holders that their Sunday, Nov. 18 trip to Broadway, orchestrated by SPC, had been cancelled too.
Twenty-seven shows total, with “Chicago,” “Wicked” and “Hairspray” among others, all shutdown on Saturday, Nov. 10 as the stagehands’ union, Local One, began protesting.
Previously, in the weeks leading up to the strike, the Office of College Activities managed to stay informed about the labor unrest through their ticketing agency, Theater Direct, via the Web site livebroadway.com. News broadcasts on television, online and reports in local newspapers kept New York City ticketing agencies informed as union representatives and the producers of more than a dozen Broadway musicals argued about contracts.
“A lot of the students we called didn’t know the strike was even happening,” said Bob Lynch, director of Student Activities.
Lynch speculated that the timing of the strike, at the beginning of one of Broadway’s busiest seasons, was not purely coincidental. He also theorized about the “rippling effect” the Broadway strike might have throughout New York City, and not without a “tough economic impact.”
“The businesses around Broadway that depend on it are suffering,” he said. “I’m concerned about their well-being.”
Not to be confused with the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike that has impacted late-night talk and comedy shows such as “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The Daily Show with John Stewart,” the picketing on the Great White Way is unrelated. Since July, union members have been operating without a contract.
On Friday, Nov. 9, Local One members had been instructed by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), their parent union, to begin the walkout on Saturday.
The day before though, at the second of the three proposed negotiations by IATSE, their dialogue with The League of American Theaters and Producers seemed to be improving, or so thought IATSE President Thomas C. Short.
“I am dismayed that just hours after my departure the employers made a 180-degree turn and began bargaining in a regressive manner,” Short told the New York Times on Nov. 11. “This action demonstrates a clear lack of will on the employers’ part to reach an agreement.”
“There was good dialogue between both of us,” said Charlotte St. Martin, the executive director of the League of American Theaters and Producers, to the New York Times on Nov. 11 also. “But, in effect, their last and final offer budged very little.”
Despite admissions the league had been “ready, willing, and able to negotiate the next day,” neither St. Martin nor the league had any advance notice about the walkout.
"Our goal is simple: to pay for workers we need and for work that is actually performed," St. Martin claimed.
Phrasing of the stagehands’ contracts, dictating the number called for work, the amount of time they work, and what kind of tasks they can do, fell under the league’s scrutiny this year. League members determined that, under those terms of agreement, the contracts resulted in stagehands being on the clock, but not with always something to do.
Initially, union officials agreed to the pending contractual changes, so long as the stagehands would be compensated with benefits equal to those being cut. Yet, despite the league’s guarantee of higher salaries, President James J. Claffey Jr. of Local One argued that, under the loosened regulations, the amount of available employment for union members would not be as certain. Currently, about 350 to 500 of Local One’s 3,000 active members are in a job on Broadway; building scenery, maintaining props and operating lighting and sound equipment.
If the strike progresses longer than anticipated, Local One officials say they can find employment for many of their stagehands in either television or film.
In response, The League of American Theaters and Producers has announced exchanges or refunds on tickets for shows that are not performing.
Senior Katy Kirkendall, who had not been to see “Rent” before, had planned to go on the Sunday, Nov. 18 trip.
“Now, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get to see it on a Marist trip, because I’m not sure if they’ll do a trip to see [“Rent”] in the spring, or if they do, if I will be able to go on that particular day,” she said.
“The decision to cancel ‘Spamalot’ and ‘Rent’ was made for us by the stagehand union and producers who were unable to come to an agreement,” Lynch concluded.
“All students who purchased tickets for ‘Spamalot’ and ‘Rent’ will be receiving a refund,” he added. “If the student paid by Marist Money, their account will be credited. Students who paid in cash will be notified to come to the College Activities for their refund.”
Lynch confirmed that SPC would reschedule the Broadway trips once tickets became available again.
“We’re not going to stop the trips,” he said. “Students love these trips. We’re going to do our best to reach out to them. I feel bad for those kids.”
However, despite recent events, Lynch remained optimistic about the outcome.
“Let's all hope this strike comes to an end so that every student, family and child will be able to enjoy the magic of Broadway, especially during the upcoming holiday season,” he said.