UNIONS
All Broadway theatres are union houses and if you are going to work on Broadway you will need to be in a union. There are many different unions involved in theatre and they break down by departments. There is a union for actors and directors and stage managers. There is a union for musicians. There is a union for company managers. There is a union for stagehands and there is even a union for ushers and box office staff. Some of these unions you might be familiar with. Others are more specialized for New York theatre. These unions are all considered craft or trade unions, not industrial unions. (Craft unionism means to organize a group of workers unifying the workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade they work in. Industrial unionism is when all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of differences in skill.)
Craft unionism formed the backbone of the American Federation of Labor, which merged with the industrial unions of the Congress of Industrial Organizations to form the AFL-CIO. Under this approach, each union is organized according to the craft, or specific work function, of its members. For example, in the theatre trades, all stagehands belong to the stagehands’ union, the musicians belong to the musicians’ union, and so on. Each craft union has its own administration, its own policies, its own collective bargaining agreements, and its own union halls. A union hall is a place where workers can go when they need work. Theatres call the hall when they need workers.
There is a lot of union pride on Broadway and there is a long history of the different unions working together for the betterment of all workers on Broadway.
Local One is the Stagehands’ Union in New York City. The history of Local One goes back to 1863 when the first stage employees’ organization was founded, at the home of Brother James Timoney in New York City. Originally named the Theatrical Workman’s Council, its name was changed to the Theatrical Mechanical Association. On December 26, 1865, the T.M.A. was incorporated under a State legislative act titled “An act for the Incorporation of Benevolent, Charitable, Scientific and Missionary Societies.” The T.M.A was a good start for theatre labor, but it wasn’t perfect.
On April 26, 1886 41 T.M.A. members met at 187 Bowery, where a new charter was drawn up to create the Theatrical Protective Union Number One. The new charter’s preamble to the constitution states:
We, the theatrical employees of the theatres of New York, deem it eminently right that we should organize for the development and improvement of our conditions, asking but a fair and just compensation commensurate with the service rendered so that equity may be maintained and the welfare of our organization promoted, accepting any wise, honorable, and conservative mediation as a proper adjustment of all difficulties that may arise.
In the early days it was not easy to prove a need for decent wages because there were plenty of unskilled workers willing to work every night to handle the scenery so they could watch the shows. Back then the shows were fairly simplistic. As shows became more complicated and stock companies were replaced by traveling companies, the acceptable standards for the work done by stagehands increased. That led to the need for skilled craftsmen, which is what drove the cheap men and free amusement workers from the field.
Vaudeville became a major employer of T.P.U. members and T.P.U. members helped protect the material of one act from being stolen by another act. Stagehands were very vocal if they caught someone stealing material from another act. The act would either drop the questioned material or they would have to deal with stagehands during their performance. Many theatre traditions were formed during this time. Scenery was changed by a whistle cue: the stage mechanic would blow his whistle to signal commands to the other workers and drops would fly in, scenery would move and props would clear, which is the reason whistling in the theatre is considered bad luck. In 1916, T.P.U. Local One began to put its union stamp (the “bug”) on all scenery and equipment in its jurisdiction. Most scenery was being built in New York and sent out on the road.
Today Local One is a union of over 3,000 workers. Local One’s jurisdiction is New York City and it covers workers in theatre and television. Every Broadway theatre is a union theatre and hires union crew. The way it breaks down in New York is that the theatres are owned by companies such as Jujamcyn or the Nederlanders. These theatre owners rent their theatres to producers. The theatre owners and producers belong to the Broadway League. The Broadway League negotiates a contract with Local One, which defines the pay rate among work rules for the Broadway theatres. The theatre owners hire the house heads (house electrician, house carpenter, and house props). When a producer rents the theatre, that producer agrees to abide by the contract accepted by the League and the union. Then the house heads hire crew to fill the calls. The union has a business agent who oversees the process to make sure the rules are followed and helps to settle disputes between the crew and management. Every theatre elects a steward to oversee the process and deal with issues on a local level.
There are two ways to gain membership to Local One. The first is to apply to be in the apprentice program. If you pass the test and are accepted, you will be assigned to work as an apprentice at a Local One house or shop for three years. The other way is to make a certain amount of money for a certain number of consecutive years on Local One payroll. Currently the requirements are three consecutive years of making a minimum of $35,000. The only way to make this money is to be hired by a house head or a Local One shop.
I.A.T.S.E. is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. I.A.T.S.E. is the union that formed around the same time as Local One. Local One is part of I.A.T.S.E. and there are Locals all over the country. The Locals are numbered in order of their inception. New York was first, and then came Chicago (Local 2) and Pittsburgh (Local 3). Boston is Local 11 and Local 300 is Saskatoon. My good friend Scott Armstrong toured for years and he made a shirt of a fake Local. It was Local 666, the venue from Hell. It was a very popular shirt among stagehands. When you tour it is very common to get SWAG (Stuff We All Get) from the local crew. Most of the time you buy the shirts, but sometimes they are gifts. After you finish a tour you end up with dozens of shirts proudly displaying the Local number and the city name with some logo. Fort Worth’s shirt has a longhorn’s skull decked out in stage lighting. Several Locals use the logo that simply says, “Bad Stagehand. No Donut.” Flint, Michigan has the saying, “Remember when you were a dick to me on the in?”
I.A.T.S.E. covers theatre, television and projectionists, and film crews, in many cities. I.A.T.S.E. is the parent for all of the Locals around the world. Just like New York theatres are union houses, so are most of the road houses around the country. A road house is a theatre that mostly does touring productions. In those houses the house crew are all union employees. There are non-union road houses as well, but most of the theatres are union.
When you tour as a mixer you work on a special touring contract. It is called a “pink” because it is on pink paper. The pink contract, which is the same as the Pink contract used on Broadway, is a contract that is collectively bargained for between I.A.T.S.E. and the Broadway League. The Broadway League is also comprised of theatre owners and presenters from around the U.S. The pink can also be called a road contract and when you go out on a pink you are considered the road crew and not the house crew. It is very similar to the way it works in New York. When you work on a union touring show, it is called a “yellow card” show or a “legitimate” show. It is called a “yellow card” show because I.A.T.S.E. gives you a yellow card to prove you are in the union. At most venues the local crew will meet the local business agent who will want to see their card and contract. This is standard practice to confirm the validity of the show as a legitimate show.
It is possible for shows to tour without using union crews. If this happens, then when the show plays a union house there could be rules the road crew has to follow. Since that crew is not in the union, they could be asked not to touch anything. If you find yourself in this position, it is best to follow the rules and be polite. Remember that it is their house and you are a guest. It is also possible for a show to tour with a union crew and non-union actors and non-union musicians. This happens because different unions have different policies and it usually happens on tours that are doing one-nighters, which involves travel and a show on the same day. I.A.T.S.E. has found a way to work with producers of these types of tours and has started unionizing them. Actors’ Equity has not been able to work this out yet.
When working in New York as a mixer, the majority of the time the mixers are hired by the production and put on a pink contract. That means the mixer works for the production and not the house. It also means that the mixer is paid according to the pink contract and not the Local One, or house, contract. The pink contract has a minimum weekly that must be paid. That weekly is extremely low for New York, which leaves the mixer to have to negotiate for himself to get a decent rate. Also by having the mixer on a pink, it puts the mixer in a position at the theatre where he is the head of his sub-department and yet not really in charge because he is not in the hierarchical structure of the house crew.
Most of the time this works out with no problems, but occasionally it can pose problems when the mixer wants something done and the house crew is not obliged to follow the request. But this is rare. I did a load-in in Canada one time on a non-union tour and the local crew was not happy about us being there. I can remember looking at the house head sound and saying, “The next thing we normally do is hang these speakers,” and he looked right back at me and said, “We’re not going to do that right now.” But for the most part the system works extremely well and everyone is respectful.
Local 802 is the largest local union of professional musicians in the world and is comprised of members who live or work in New York City, Nassau and Suffolk counties, New York. Their mission is to fight for the interests and wellbeing of the musicians employed in New York’s music and entertainment industries. Local 802 is the collective bargaining agent for musicians working on Broadway. Their members include the orchestral musicians who perform at Lincoln Center, the Broadway pit musicians, the freelance musicians who perform in the many other musical venues in and around New York, the jazz artists who perform in our city’s world-famous jazz clubs, hotel, club date and cabaret musicians, recording musicians, orchestrators, arrangers and copyists, as well as teaching artists and the musicians who work in the rock, blues and contemporary music scenes.
802 is the backbone of musical theatre on Broadway. Without these talented musicians there would be no musicals. 802 bargains with the league to establish a contract. Part of the contract establishes a minimum number of musicians allowed per venue. The larger Broadway houses have larger musician minimums. That means if you are going to do a show in the Palace, which is one of the largest Broadway houses, then you are going to be required to have at least 24 musicians. If you are going into the Helen Hayes, which is a smaller house, the minimum is going to be much lower. The assumption is that if you are going into a bigger house, then you are a bigger show with a bigger budget. It is possible to petition the union for a smaller minimum if the show does not require that many musicians. Title of Show is an example of a musical that only required a small band and petitioned the union for a reduced minimum and was granted the reduced minimum.
In 2003 the League and 802 were having trouble coming to terms on a contract. The League was pushing to cut the minimums in the larger houses from 26 down to 14. 802 was not willing to accept that cut and negotiations broke down and 802 went on strike. The League had been preparing for this for the entire year prior. On March 7, 2003 the musicians went out on strike and the League brought in non-union musicians to rehearse every show on Broadway with computer-based virtual orchestras. This consisted of one musician playing a keyboard that sounded like a 26-piece keyboard band and a conductor. The entire cast and crew was brought in to do a full rehearsal with the virtual orchestras with a scheduled performance that night. I was mixing Man of La Mancha at that time. It was by far the worst sound ever heard on Broadway during that rehearsal.
As the day went on it was surreal. The actors were stunned at what they were going to have to perform to. Everyone was respectful of the situation but uncomfortable. Outside the theatre our musician friends were picketing and inside we were listening to a disaster. Around 4 pm Local One announced that they would be honoring the picket line, which meant that Local One stagehands would not cross the line to do the show. At that point everything stopped in the theatre. The house electrician shut down all of the lights and sound and the props crew helped the virtual orchestra people take their equipment out of the theatre. Between 4 pm and 5 pm there was confusion. The League did not want to give up and Actors’ Equity and I.A.T.S.E. had not honored the line, so as an actor or a pink contract person we were still required to show up for the show. Luckily Actors’ Equity announced at 5 pm that they would honor the line as well. With that, the shows were cancelled and we all joined our musician friends walking the picket line.
That is why we are in a union. We look out for each other and make sure we have a safe working environment and can earn a decent wage. In 2007 Local One went on strike and the actors and musicians marched the picket lines with the stagehands and so did ushers and company managers. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Here is a press release that Local One put out about the strike:
Dear Brothers and Sisters of Actor’s Equity, Musicians Local 802, Operating Engineers Local 30, Teamsters Local 817, ATPAM, Local 306, Local 751, Local 764, Local 798, Local 829 and Local 32BJ:
This past Tuesday evening at curtain time, the producers put out a press release announcing that they intended to implement onerous work rules on Local One. An hour later, they backed off, sending a second release saying they would implement on Monday, October 22.
Local One found out about the producers’ latest moves when Mayor Michael Bloomberg called James J. Claffey, Jr., President of Local One, to offer his help, which the union respectfully declined. Nobody at the League of American Theatres and Producers had the courtesy to call the Local One President.
From moment to moment, no one seems to know which work rules the League intends to implement from their expansive list of demands. That’s what Local One has been dealing with during these negotiations. It started three years ago when the League verbally threatened Local One at the table, while also initiating an assessment on every ticket sold to the public to create a $20 million war chest to break our union.
Some additional background: on September 7, after only five introductory meetings and on the day hard bargaining was to begin, Bernard Plum, the League’s lead negotiator, declared that September 30 would be a day of reckoning. On October 9, the League presented its final offer to Local One and the press at the same time. Their final offer was not written for Local One, but for the media.
Ignoring the League’s deadline, Local One put its entire book on the table and, as Local One President James J. Claffey, Jr. has declared publicly and privately, the Union addressed nearly every item on the producers’ list and offered imaginative solutions that met the producers’ requests.
We are professionals and unashamed to state that we are defending good middle class jobs that pay our mortgages, feed our families and allow our children to attend good schools.
The producers’ numbers, so widely distributed, are misleading at best and often bogus.
Their press release celebrated an offer of 16.5% increase in wages. But the producers failed to mention their offer was accompanied by a 38% cut in jobs and income.
We are the caretakers of the theatre, the protectors of the workplace. We keep it safe for all of us. Six days a week, sometimes seven, we are the first to arrive and last to leave.
The producers’ attack on flymen is ignorant to the basic safety concerns in any theatre. Without a flyman, who would be addressing safety problems over head? Who would be checking rigging eight times a week? Who is the first line of defense against any fire in the fly space?
Why do you think there are still fire hooks and extinguishers, by law, located on the fly floors? And, if there were not a flyman on the grid, how long do you think it would take for someone on the stage to reach that fire-fighting equipment?
Automation? We’ve long embraced it. Local One is more productive thanks to automation. We’ve modernized along with the newest technology. We build, install, manage, and repair all of it. We operate safely tons of scenery moving around in the dark and at breakneck speed without injury to you or us.
The producers will also fail to tell you and the press that Local One labor over the last few decades remains 8% of the overall cost of producing a Broadway show. We get raises only when negotiated, but the producers raise ticket prices with every new hit, not to mention $450 premium pricing.
The attack on the working professionals of Local One by the League now and you later is all about profit (although they only put losses in their recent press releases).
Last year, the League announced Broadway box office grosses of $939 million. Secret is the income from licensing, secondary rights, film rights and the hugely lucrative merchandise sales.
The biggest secret of all is the producers’ real profits.
In these negotiations, we put everything on the table except the safety of the stage crew and everyone entering the theatre. The producers’ attack on minimums is an attack on the safety and efficiency of the load-in of shows. It is also an insulting failure to recognize the size, the scope and the technical difficulty of the work we perform and the industry that is our life.
We stand ready to resume negotiations at any time and we stand ready to defend ourselves from the implementation of unsafe, unsound and unacceptable work rules that the producers are threatening to enact.
We are Local One. We are all under attack.
Respectfully and Fraternally,
The Membership of Local No. One
I.A.T.S.E. also represents designers. Local 922 was established to collectively bargain the League on behalf of sound designers. Abe Jacob helped secure a charter for sound designers within I.A.T.S.E. (Local 922); and in 1993 he helped the Local achieve its first collective bargaining agreement with the League of American Theatres and Producers, which became The Broadway League. And in 1999, he helped merge the sound designers with Local One. Sound designers were the only designers who were represented by Local One. Local One sound designers have been transferred to USA 829 for all future bargaining.
USA 829 is a union of Scenic Artists that was founded in 1897 as the United Scenic Artists Association. This union was briefly a local of I.A.T.S.E. until the AFL-CIO ruled that the local must leave the IATSE and join the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers of America (later to become IBPAT, the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades). United Scenic Artists of America Local 829 (officially, it is United Scenic Artist Local USA 829, but everyone refers to it as USA Local 829) grew to include scenic, costume and lighting designers, mural and diorama artists, scene painters, production designers and art directors, commercial costume stylists, storyboard artists and most recently computer artists, art department coordinators, sound designers and projection designers working in all areas of the entertainment industry. On April 27 of 1999, the membership of United Scenic Artists Local 829 voted by an overwhelming majority to reaffiliate with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) and to disaffiliate from the IBPAT. Sound designers joined Local 829 in 2003 for regional theatre representation.
Article I. Theatrical Wardrobe Union Local 764
The Theatrical Wardrobe Union (TWU) Local 764 has represented wardrobe personnel in the New York area since it was founded in 1919 and chartered under the American Federation of Labor as Theatrical Wardrobe Attendants Union # 16770. On August 1, 1942, the union was granted a charter by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada (I.A.T.S.E.) and became Local #764 of the International. In October 1982 a revised charter was issued in the name of Theatrical Wardrobe Union. Local 764 has contracts in all areas of the entertainment industry. Its members work as wardrobe supervisors, (or costumers) and assistants on feature films, pilots, soap operas, commercials and a variety of television programs. They are wardrobe supervisors, assistants, and dressers at venues including Broadway theatres, the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center Theatres, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, and Radio City Music Hall.
The physical jurisdiction is defined as within a 50-mile radius of Columbus Circle for film and New York City, Long Island and Westchester County for theatre.
Actors’ Equity Association (AEA or Equity) was founded in 1913 as the labor union for actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity currently represents more than 48,000 members. Anyone who has worked in theatre should be aware of Equity. Most if not all regional theatres use almost entirely Equity actors and even smaller theatres use some Equity actors. Equity is probably the most recognized entertainment union.