Why I still support IATSE, just not here

I found out about this, read several different stories, and . . . I am not happy.

This is the bullshit spewed from http://www.livebroadway.com/

And my comments on this will be in RED.

Local One, IATSE, the stagehands union, has shut down Broadway. They left the negotiating table and abruptly went on the picket line. They refused to budge on nearly every issue, protecting wasteful, costly and indefensible rules that are embedded like dead weights in contracts so obscure and old that no one truly remembers how, when or why they were introduced. The union wants you to believe they are the victims, the little guys.

We have the highest regard and respect for our stagehands. But, they are not, as the Union leadership characterizes them, the typical "little guys" as far as compensation is concerned. Their "average annual earnings," in salary and benefits, is more than $150,000, with many stagehands earning more than $200,000.

*They are professionals and should be well paid, and will remain the best paid in this industry in the world. We simply don't want to be compelled to hire more workers than needed and pay them when there is no work for them to do.

For example:

# It takes a few minutes to move a piano, but we are forced to pay stagehands for four hours of work. YOU AGREED TO IT, SO DEAL WITH IT! STANDARD SHOW UNION OR NOT HAS CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS TO THOSE THAT TAKE THE TIME TO DO THE WORK!

As a result, over the course of a year, many stagehands add another $50,000 dollars to their six figure salaries from moving pianos or mopping floors. I HAVE YET IN 37 YEARS OF WORKING IN THEATRE MET SOMEONE MAKING $50,k MOVING & MOPPING

# Head Electricians earn a six figure salary, but their contract only permits them to work a total of 80 minutes a week. THIS IS TOTAL BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE WORKED AS AN M.E. AND I HAVE NEVER COME ACROSS THIS STIPULATION.

# A flyman making $160,000 annually in salary and benefits is required for all productions, even when there is no fly cue in the production and no flyman is needed. AGAIN, YOU AGREED TO IT YEARS AGO, JUST FUCKING DEAL WITH IT YOU PANSIES!!

# We are required to keep the same number of workers loading in a show as hired on day one for the entire load-in process regardless of how many workers are subsequently needed. O.K. YOU GOT ME THERE

# We have offered a significant raise in wages, but the union says there will be a cut in wages. The only explanation is that this would be the result of fewer people being paid for not working. W.T.F.???? I WANT SOMETHING FROM YOUR STASH, CHARLOTTE!



These issues can only be resolved at the bargaining table, not on the picket line. We remain prepared to meet 24/7 until we reach an acceptable agreement.

Charlotte St. Martin
Executive Director
The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO BROADWAY PATRONS

Due to a strike by Local One, IATSE stagehands, there will be no performances today at many Broadway theatres. Off Broadway shows and several Broadway productions, including CYMBELINE, MARY POPPINS, MAURITIUS, PYGMALION,THE RITZ, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, XANADU and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN will perform this week according to their normal schedules. For information about Duran Duran's Red Carpet Massacre, please visit DuranDuran.com. However, the rest of the Broadway theatres are dark.

If you purchased tickets via credit card to a Broadway show that is not performing, in most cases your card will automatically be credited. If you purchased your ticket with cash, please return to the point of purchase.

Visit ILoveNYTheater.com for detailed information about cancelled shows and refunds/exchange.

And a reminder: When buying Broadway tickets, it's a very good idea to make your purchases through well-established, primary sources like Ticketmaster, Telecharge, ILoveNYTheater.com, theatre box offices, and the Broadway Ticket Center.

We encourage you to continue to place orders for future performance dates and to purchase replacement tickets for those automatically refunded.

Please check back with this page or visit www.ILoveNYTheater.com for updates on the work stoppage.

* * * *

The League of American Theatres and Producers is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. Our members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in New York and more than 240 other North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry. Each year, League members bring Broadway to more than 30 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada.

This site provides information on special Broadway events and programs. For information on and tickets to shows in New York City, visit ILoveNYTheater.com. For information about shows in other cities across the U.S. and Canada, visit TouringBroadway.com.

I'm not sorry for being an ass about this, but these people are
sisters and brothers to me over the years. They need
the respect that is due to them, and not treated as just people
that push things, flip switches, make sure people look good,

And that they are seen & heard by the other people that paid over
$100 to see the show

I am REALLY pissed about this

Blessed Be,
as long as you are not a member of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc.

And Charlotte St. Martin, I hope you never meet an unemployed stagehand, designer, or writer.

For my blessings, DO NOT apply to your deamon twunt ass.

Dr. S.