Deadline: Seeking a fair contract, costume shop workers at the Los Angeles Opera will be handing out leaflets to patrons at the opera’s opening-night gala on September 17.
They voted overwhelmingly in favor of being represented by IATSE Local 768 last year, but the union says they’ve “grown frustrated as management continues to stall negotiations.
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Since Covid, I feel like I have been seeing an increasing number of reports on artists and designers protesting to protect their rights and to ask for a reasonable contrast. One of my high school’s alumnae who is working in the costume industry visited my high school theater last year after she traveled to LA for a production that she is involved in. She told me about how many of the workers, not just costume designers, were in a terrible financial condition because of contract and Covid shutdowns. And this was not specific to LA but everywhere in US and can be extended out to the entire world. Being someone who is currently thinking about focusing on costume in the future and will certainly be involved in the art industry, these news makes me worry about my future. Undeniably, things like this happen in every single industry and it is unavoidable. However, as it is extremely close to my life and what I care about, I often think more in it.
I always find it heartbreaking as well as infuriating when I read about problems like this one. Not only does there seem to be an endless supply of stories like this one, but it never seems to be good news for the workers. Even just last week, one of the top articles on the blog was about the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago - which had just gotten rid of its entire staff after unionizing attempts. The most upsetting part is that the workers obviously care about their work. I doubt any of these workers hold their job solely to make money - those in the theater industry are in it because they enjoy the work, and the art of theater is important to them. Against this background, the problems at the LA Opera, as well as the problems that seem widespread across the theater world, seem just that much more unfortunate, to say the least.
This article was mainly about the costume shops unionization which happened last year, but a new contract still hasn't been struck. I’m surprised at this story for a couple of reasons. They have been operating contractless for all this time and I’m a little surprised that they haven’t taken more drastic measures. It seems pointless to unionize if you don’t have a contract protecting you. The tactic of handing out pamphlets at the gala seems like it could be effective, but I guess the question is whether or not any of the patrons care, and if so, do they withhold donations until living wages are paid. The other thing that seems odd is that some of the other departments are unionized at this company. I am surprised that the shop hasn’t authorized a strike to really get management’s attention. I’d be curious to know if the reason they haven’t done that is because they are concerned they are expendable.
I'm in the same boat as Owen, it's a weird set of circumstances. I fear that the time to stand up for themselves was during the month between the fire and opening night. If not then, then when? They had their employers between a rock and a hard place and all they needed to do was apply the pressure. If the timeframe for the repairs was as tight as possible, a few days striking would have really gained attention from management and negotiations could have been carried out. Or at least some kind of emerency stop gap that could have at least fairly compensated them at the rates they actually wanted for the duration of the month where they essentially had no lives. I'm worried that their opportunity has passed and the company will see firing the more vocal elements of their crew as an investment in finding crewmembers that aren't as burnt out from their company's culture yet.
This is frustrating to hear about, but I wish I could say I was surprised. The theater industry has needed some major changes for a long, long time and it hasn’t happened. I really hope things end in favor of the costume shop workers at the LA Opera, but it sounds like they’ve been trying with no success yet. We are here, in this industry, to make theater & art etc. etc. It is a lot of hard work, and the people doing that work deserve proper rights and pay. That seems intuitive to me, but apparently it isn’t. Like Sukie said, I think we’ve seen more people demanding proper compensation and rights since COVID, which is an interesting connection for another discussion. But, I think there has been a lot of conversation that hopefully will move us in the right direction. Hoping for the best for the LA Opera costume shop workers.
“We are constantly told how much value we bring to the shows and how appreciated we are, and ultimately we’d just like for the company to put their money where their mouth is" -- isn't that the crux of most of these issues. Employers praise workers and make them feel valuable in order to keep them complacent. Then the moment those workers demand fair wages and better treatment, the response is always "you're disposable, we'll find someone else to do the job." And, sadly, LA Opera probably can find people to do the job, likely for even less money. I can't speak for other regions, but in LA, there are always those who are so desperate for a job in theatre or film that they'll work for nothing. As others have pointed out, I think there's been a shift since COVID with craftspeople demanding more benefits and livable wages, and that self-tolerance for "I'll take what I can get to do this thing I love" has definitely dwindled.
I realize that the pandemic has severely impacted profitability in theatre, and that these productions are expensive, and that these calls for unionization and better pay have come at an inconvenient time for many of these theatre companies, but that's no excuse not to pay employees a living wage. Perhaps its time for IATSE to take a stand against the Opera house and strike in solidarity.
I wish I could say I was surprised by this article, but I wasn’t. Maybe it’s just that I’ve gotten more involved in theatre and thus theatre related news over the past couple of years, but if I could only describe the entertainment industry with a couple of sentences, “ overworked and underpaid” would definitely end up on that list. I think that the pandemic has helped inspire a lot of entertainment workers from simply accepting the status quo, however there is still a lot of work to do. I honestly think that the workers of the opera should do more to protest the negotiations if they have had over a year to work out a contract and an agreement if they have been dragging their feet. Nothing ever gets done without significant challenge to the status quo and I hope that these workers are able to keep protesting and keep increasing their protest until they can finally fully be unionized.
It drives me crazy when companies say ‘we value you’ but then don’t show, especially in regard to pay. Their costume shop worked overtime to prevent a show from being postponed due to damage to the costumes. Yet, all they can say is they say how they value the costume shop workers. Plus, the fact that LA Opera is also doing co-productions with other companies who have union shops, but then have their non-union shop do most of the build because it is cheaper. I do like that the seamsters are going to use the opening night gala to hand out pamphlets, hopefully that will get some of the donors interested. Having donors involved could force LA Opera to respond to the proposal and negotiate with IATSE. But the fact that LA Opera has not responded after ten weeks says quite a bit about how they feel about the costume shop unionizing, and how they really feel about the costume shop workers.
Amen Clara Weidman; praise and words of thanks is always appreciated however without a pay or care for the living of artists and specifically in this case costume workers it is never enough to continue working in that position if one cannot live off the low wages. The Los Angeles Opera outsourcing work due to costume worker contract requests and union complaints of unfair treatment not only would give them a bad look but also would discourage other highly talented artisans from being attracted to working there. Also the mention of the extra hours frantically put into fixing the costumes damaged by fire is really sad to hear, especially in the context of the workers caring about the work even while being paid low wages. While it’s understandable that the Los Angeles Opera is at the end of the day a business, they must take care for the people who put the things on stage people come to see.
I’m sad to say I’m not super surprised about this article. Often times in industries where people are truly doing what they love it is harder to get that financial compensation that’s required. The company can say good things constantly about the work of the costume shop but unless that financial compensation is given they truly are appreciating their workers. I think it’s very fair for them to try and ask for this compensation and getting that support from the audience will help reiterate to the opera how much this is needed and is cared about. It’s sad to say that even with the unionization there hasn’t been many strides in making sure that these artists are compensated fairly. Ever since Covid we see more and more people ask for that compensation in an industry that was almost lost and hopefully when people continue to make awareness and continue to speak on these topics every day we’re getting closer to a better industry as a whole.
It is really sad how often we are reading these types of articles these days. Folks aren't getting paid what they deserved and the difference is we are starting to fight against that where older generations sometimes had to take it. I think it is a bold step to pass out information to patrons but I'm sure it is the only way they'll get the powers that be to pay attention. It broke my heart when the article said the theater had been threatening to outsource work and they had attempted many different negotiation tactics to no avail. The company offered empty words about how much they value this shop and its workers and wont do their basic responsibility of supporting fair wages. I would hope with the challenges and protests they are putting up that the company will do its part but I'm not always hopeful in this industry with these issues. I hope this ends up in the artists favor.
I do not understand when corporations/companies drag their feet when workers finally unionize and start the work of negotiations. Do they not realize that working out a contract is much better than the alternatives which include strikes and guillotines. Commit to good faith negotiations in a timely manner or it will go much worse for you. Obviously with a large company like LA Opera, they’re functional, they’re stable. They have a business model sorted out with donors and revenue and whatever. Good faith negotiators on the costume shop workers’ side will acknowledge that any new contracts cannot completely ruin the Opera’s business model because then they’d have to close their doors and that wouldn’t benefit anybody. The negotiators on the LA Opera said need to go in with the same energy, respond to the contract proposal and find a compromise that works for both sides. This threat of outsourcing the work is just not prudent in a social media age where a move like that would garner a lot of negative attention, might result in loss of patrons, angry activists outside your doors, and probably other departments walking out in solidarity.
It is sad. A couple of notes. While costumers voted to organize they can’t strike without a contract. If the stop working they can just be replaced. So the opera drags its feet. If the delay long enough maybe they will quit and they have no legal reason to pay them more or improve working conditions. Also after a year they can invalidate the vote and call for another vote. Which the LA Opera hopes will fail. It is basic union busting. Are the Seamsters strong enough to fight longer or harder I would also bet that the other unions with the LA Opera have non strike clauses that prevent sympathy strikes.
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