www.hollywoodreporter.com: Crew members at the Atlantic Theater Company, a major Off-Broadway theater, have gone on strike after contract negotiations fell apart.
As a result of the strike, announced Sunday, the theater has postponed its productions of Grief Camp and I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan. The strike comes after crew members voted to unionize with IATSE in February 2024, with concerns about healthcare and job security, amid a bigger Off-Broadway push.
6 comments:
It's sad to know that crew members still aren't getting the fair compensation they deserve, but It's good to see that they are ready to stand up for themselves and that IATSE and AEA and ready to back them. Because they have to go on strike, Atlantic will almost certainly lose more money than if they had simply negotiated fairly in the first place. They miss out on ticket sales by having to postpone, and they also get bad publicity. Hopefully the show can resume very soon.
I think it's good that strikes still happen every so often so that companies aren't as quick to neglect their workers. The workers deserve rights and the theater needs to remember that they can't do anything without those workers. I hope this situation gets sorted out shortly, and the workers get fair payment.
It is still crazy to me that there are a lot of non-unions crews working on Broadway or Off-Broadway because I feel like at this point, it almost seems like predatory behavior from the theatre and corporations that are not providing their workers with what they need. It is not like they cannot afford these things or I don’t know, maybe they can’t but I feel like it is long overdue to provide your workers with what they need in order for the show to go on and to have happy workers. I wonder if it is because shows are a lot more gig based and crews can go with shows but if they are crews that work in house, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be provided with basic things such as insurance. It is also shocking to me that the theatre thinks it can just throw money on the issue to solve it instead of making actual changes and communicate in good faith with the union and its workers.
When reading about strikes and the struggle between an employer and the union, I am always curious about how a company frames the costs that the company incurs based off of the proposed demands by the union and what the validity of these concerns are. In essence, I wonder if the company is being truthful about such demands being as existentially threatening to the company as The Atlantic seems to make them to be. And if they are, would the company not have an incentive to be much more financially transparent with the union in this negotiations? Attempt to create a more long-term solution that attempts to both help the company and union achieve what they want of a successful theater company that truly supports its employees? Otherwise, it would seem that the company has alternative motives or wishes to hide certain parts of their financial planning that if discovered would actually be harmful to the company. Overall, I am curious where the truth is in these negotiations if they are actually achievable on a financial basis.
Companies need to listen to their employees especially since without them the company cannot function. If the Atlantic Theater Company continues to push off negotiations and fails to properly compromise it will lead to many more issues with future seasons. Even if these theaters are facing struggles post covid, it is no excuse to hold off paying their crew members a fair wage for their work. Unions are made for a reason, to help protect the workers. If the crew members are worried about their continued employment and healthcare then the theater should either listen to the call to unionize or offer protections that the union would for their employees. Even if companies are following actors equity that doesn’t mean that the crew is also getting the same considerations. A job as a stagehand is often physically demanding with minimal room for error. This work should be respected and fairly compensated by the theater companies that wouldn’t be running if not for these crew members.
Recognizing the strike going on at this theatre Company is so important because it highlights the struggles of these theater workers fighting for just basic, fair treatment. I think it’s so shocking that crew members are still fighting for the essentials like healthcare and job security in 2025, like these things shouldn't be negotiable and shouldn't have to be fought for in the first place. I understand that the Atlantic Theater, like many other institutions, faces financial struggles, but I think using that as an argument against fair labor practices feels just so wrong to me. From what I can see, the union’s push for better conditions is part of a bigger shift in the theater industry. I feel like this strike is setting an important precedent not just for Off-Broadway but for the entire industry. However, it's really upsetting to see It’s tough to see productions postponed, but I think it’s necessary to drive meaningful change.
It’s always disheartening to hear of the reasons behind a strike. It seems like negotiations fell through after months of failed attempts, so recently the crew members of the Atlantic Theatre Company decided to strike - and it is ongoing as of this moment. The Atlantic’s claims of being in peril trying to bounce back after COVID-19 seems shallow to me - if one is worried about going out of business, the very first thing one should do is make sure one is paying (and insuring) their workers adequately. For a large and impressive company like Atlantic to overgeneralize that some of ‘our greatest institutions’ are threatened by a strike is just low. The two runs that were initially delayed or postponed have now been announced to have ended officially - which suggests that Atlantic is willing to forego box office revenue to win this legal battle. I’m wondering what move the union is considering next.
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