TicketNews: Broadway will stay bright after a last-minute agreement between the musicians union AFM Local 802 and the Broadway League averted a strike that was set to begin today. The two sides reached a tentative three-year contract, ending weeks of negotiations that had threatened to halt nearly every musical currently running on Broadway.
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I am so happy that musicians in Local 802 were able to increase their wages and get access to healthcare! I am surprised that the Broadway Alliance waited until essentially the last moment to create an actual agreement, but I guess that is the goal of these strikes. The alliance saw that this strike would shut down all major Broadway shows, except for Ragtime, and realized it needed to actually support its artists in order to keep them. A lot of recent discussions in the world of Broadway and film have relied on this method, which I think is super powerful. We are in a time where live artists are pushing for recognition of their importance to these larger corporations, and often they are not recognized until they literally strike. The alliance’s reaction also sheds light into their strategy, which is reflected in most capitalist companies, where the profit margin is increased by lowering the wages of the workers.
This is definitely pretty big news, and I’m super happy to hear that an agreement between the unions was met without a strike. I cannot imagine what a huge financial impact that a strike would have on everyone associated with the Broadway industry and how that would trickle into the rest of New York City as a whole. It’s definitely a good thing that an agreement was able to reached, but it’s definitely unfortunate that it took so long for the Broadway League to agree to a deal. I can only imagine how stressful it was to be a musician or actor or stagehand or usher or anyone and have literally no idea whether your income was about to be thrown out the window in a couple days. Reaching an agreement at 4:30 in the morning must have been a really rough night, and it’s great that the musicians are able to tentatively get better healthcare and pay.
It’s encouraging to see strikes working. I feel hesitant around the idea of striking because companies may just replace strikers with new people who are willing to take the poor conditions being striked for leaving you jobless. However, this is not true in this case as the musicians thankfully found a negotiation on health insurance and other rights of necessity affiliated. I think the musicians had the advantage of being in a live entertainment sector (as opposed to other sides of entertainment like writers where if they go on strike, the entire operation does not come to a halt). The money and reputation lost to a show being canceled due to musicians missing would not only cause the shows to refund their upset guests, but also the news of all Broadway shows being shut down would cause even more people to hear the news and have the companies they’re striking lose respect/reputation.
I am extremely glad to hear that a strike was able to be averted. I’m very glad to hear that Local 802 was able to reach this agreement with the Broadway League, but I worry that we will arrive at this same problem 3 years down the road, as it is only a tentative three year contract. I am unsure as to the typical length of these types of negotiations- maybe this is the normal length. The wording in this article gives off the impression that this is more of a stopgap solution than a lasting change, however. I’m also curious about what makes Ragtime’s contract different from a typical contract with the Broadway League. I did some research and it looks like Ragtime is on a LORT contract but I’m not sure how a LORT can be on Broadway. Is a LORT producing the show at a Broadway house? How is this different from the standard Broadway League?
It’s a relief to hear that things were sorted out and a strike did not occur, considering all the news I had seen over the past week was saying the opposite and alluding to the conflict escalating. However, as relieving as it is to see things sorted out, I must say that it's absurd that the musicians had to fight so hard and threaten a strike for what seems as if it should just be basic things you get with a job. Reading the three-year agreement, I was a little shocked (even though I should have expected it, knowing the world and the industry right now) by the fact that they had to fight incredibly hard for “meaningful wage and health benefit increases that will preserve crucial access to healthcare.” Like, shouldn’t that be a given? I could go into a whole side tangent too about healthcare in the US, because it really is horrendous how the system works here, but I’ll spare everyone. See that system is already bad enough on its own, but the fact that even more blocks were potentially gonna be places for the musicians is stupid, and it's upsetting to see how they had to threaten a strike in order to come to this agreement.
This is huge news. I am so glad that they were able to make an agreement without the need to actually go on strike. This is so important because it reaffirms the power that unions in our industry have. Just the threat of a strike helped the musicians to negotiate better conditions. On top of all that, Broadway is a massive financial provider for New York City, and a strike would have impacted so many people. This would have affected so many other industries. It’s great that they were able to make a deal, but definitely a little disappointing that it took the Broadway League so long to agree. Lately, it must have been incredibly stressful for anyone involved on Broadway, as they had no idea if they would be working in the coming weeks. This feels very similar to our current government shutdown. The scope of this would have really been massive, as it would affect the people you don't typically think about too, like box office staff and ushers.
It sucks that they have to strike, but I’m glad Broadway musicians are fighting for what they need and know they deserve. I'm glad they've come to receive their pay increase without having to halt production, but more than that I'm glad they did what they must to get what they need. I feel like there’s a lot to learn from this; a lot of what’s happening in the US politically right now has us extremely divided and the few that are trying to “fight the fight” are doing so very politely in my opinion. I’ve seen a lot of peaceful protests. Which is not a bad thing! Yes, protest is good! But protests are better for spreading awareness than direct action, current protests are proving that true. A strike works, and the reason a strike works is because what Broadway needs musicians for is the work they put in. Similarly, the working class in America is necessary to our economy for our labor. Now to collectively halt that labor would really force someone to listen up, right? Just putting that out there…
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