Musicians Strike

The recently threatened strike by the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 against the League of American Theaters and Producers was averted just a day before a walkout would have taken place. The previous contract had recently run out and in contention were a number of items including cost-of-living increases, orchestra minimums, and job safety (physical and acoustical).

Read how it played out in the press:

Mar. 7: BACK STAGE: Musicians, League Unsettled on New Contract
Mar. 13: BACK STAGE: Musicians Union Considers Strike
Mar. 13: PLAYBILL: Broadway Musicians To Vote Mar. 14 on Strike Authorization
Mar. 10: NY POST: Strike Could Leave Audiences Humming Show Tunes
Mar. 11: NY POST: Strike Up The Canned?
Mar. 14: PLAYBILL: B'way Musician Strike Averted
Mar. 14: AP/NY TIMES: Strike Vote on Broadway Canceled
Mar. 14 : NY TIMES: Broadway Musicians and Producers Come to Tentative Agreement.

The threatened strike lead to a flurry of accusations, disapprovals, defenses, and polemical comments in the newsgroups and mailing lists. Considered most heinous was the Union's desired 12 percent cost-of-living salary increase over three years (the tentative agreement sets up a 21 percent increase over five years). The strongest attack was that this kind of increase did not take into account the overall good of the theatrical community. These attackers, however, are apparently unaware of the fact that the negotiations for the previous contract contained many concessions specifically because of the ailing state of Broadway at the time.

Here's some of what I've written in response to the accusations:

Think about what you're complaining about. One would hope that members of the pit are of the highest caliber, the top of their craft - wouldn't one? And that quoted $1,300 is non-negotiable; that's what the pit gets, whether it's the first violin or the fourth. (OK, that's not taking a double into account - but doubling is asking for more ability from a single player.) Anyone on the stage has the right to try to negotiate for more money. But there's no such thing as "star pit salaries." The pit salaries are basically at par with chorus contracts.

Look at salaries for "the best" in other professions; are you really insisting that Broadway pit musicians are worth no more than $68,000 (at best) a year?

So what you're saying pretty much is "We want the best sounding music we can get on Broadway. We want the best players. But we're not willing to pay for the best players; they can go somewhere else if they want more money, maybe Hollywood. We don't care. We'd rather see our ticket money