Broadway's Standoff Has Union Facing New Economics, Technology

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aqpNgEVY6ayY&refer=muse

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- There was no Broadway shutdown last week, and unless the warring parties breach their temporary truce, none will occur this week. But there's also no contract between producers and stagehands and the union has punched up the tension level, calling a strike vote for next Sunday.

The issues that have led to this volatile standoff are less about money than about technology and its effect on a tradition- bound industry. The saber rattling may harken back to union hall fist-waving of the 1930s, but the stakes are extremely high.

After a week of increasingly testy negotiations, the producers' most notable gesture was to remove the word ``lockout'' from their verbal quiver. This was their way of admitting they could ill afford the public relations nightmare of taking the rap for shows going dark and workers jobless.

So the union called a strike vote for Oct. 21. With a pretty cushy contract already in hand, they're not inclined to be cowed by producers and theater owners.

The producers and stagehands have been performing this Strindbergian death dance since the end of July. One side presents an offer. The other side pouts like a spurned lover. Everyone gets hot and bothered; everyone cools off and then they start all over again. Mostly it's been for show.

But many of the rules governing work in the 13 unions represented on Broadway were won in an age before computer- driven sets, robotic lighting and digital orchestras. While every other industry has had to adapt to technological advances or face extinction, Broadway labor has been slow to awaken to reality.

Final Offers?

FULL story at link.