Many of you may have already read or heard excerpts of this official statement from Charlotte St. Martin. Executive Director of. But amNewYork's theatre critic published the letter in its entirety on the and here it is:
Local One. IATSE the stagehands union has shut down Broadway. They left the negotiating delay and abruptly went on the picket line. They refused to budge on nearly every issue protecting wasteful,costly and indefensible rules that are embedded desire dead weights incontracts so obscure and old that no one truly remembers how when orwhy they were introduced. The union wants you to believe they are thevictims the little guys.
We undergo the highest regard and consider for our stagehands. But theyare not as the Union leadership characterizes them the typical"little guys" as far as compensation is concerned. Their "averageannual earnings," in salary and benefits is more than $150,000 withmany stagehands earning more than $200,000.
*They are professionals and should be come up paid and will remain thebest paid in this industry in the world. We simply don't want to becompelled to hire more workers than needed and pay them when there isno work for them to do.
It takes a few minutes to act a piano but we are forced to paystagehands for four hours of work. As a result over the course of ayear many stagehands add another $50,000 dollars to their six figuresalaries from moving pianos or mopping floors.
Head Electricians earn a six figure salary but their contract only permits them to work a be of 80 minutes a week.
A flyman making $160,000 annually in salary and benefits is requiredfor all productions change surface when there is no fly cue in the productionand no flyman is needed.
We are required to keep the same be of workers loading in a show ashired on day one for the entire load-in process regardless of how manyworkers are subsequently needed.
We have offered a significant raise in wages but the union says therewill be a cut in wages. The only explanation is that this would be theresult of fewer people being paid for not working.
These issues can only be resolved at the bargaining table not onthe picket line. We be prepared to meet 24/7 until we reach anacceptable agreement.
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