No end to theater stagehands strike
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Artswatch
No end to theater stagehands strike
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic
Talks between the Philadelphia Theatre Co. and union officials ended Sunday after "seven fruitless hours," according to the union, without reaching a new labor agreement covering 27 stagehands. The strike, which began Friday, goes on.
"Management continues its demand to have unrestricted rights to use an alternative, nonunion, lower- paid workforce to perform the scope of work won by the stagehands at the September NLRB election," said a union official in a statement.
A picket line in front of PTC's Suzanne Roberts Theatre at Broad and Lombard Sts. met patrons Sunday afternoon as they arrived for a production of The Mountaintop.
"Today's matinee of The Mountaintop by Katori Hall was performed for a near sold-out and appreciative audience," said a statement from the theater. "PTC will continue its focus on presenting this powerful play despite the stagehands' strike. We will also continue our efforts to negotiate a reasonable contract that is fair to all parties."
o the company wants to have lower paid workers. interesting. i dont like unions, but this union represents concerts and plays which are money machines. i say pay up and stop trying to rip off everyone, your still making millions. these unions are the ones i like.
Peter Dobrin is a classical music critic and culture writer for The Inquirer. Since 1989, he has written music reviews, features, news and commentary for the paper, covering such topics as the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the Venice Biennale, expansion of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra's bankruptcy declaration in 2011, Philadelphia's evolving performing arts center and the general health of arts and culture.
Dobrin was a French horn player. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Elliott Galkin. He has no time to practice today.
