N.Y. stagehands, management upbeat about strike settlement

Source: LA Times

Union representatives and Broadway theaters are optimistic that a deal may be near.
By Josh Getlin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

NEW YORK -- There was optimism Sunday night on Broadway as both sides in the stagehands strike returned to the bargaining table and said that a settlement might be imminent.

"I think that we're going to be able to make a deal," Herschel Waxman, labor relations chief of the Nederlander Organization, told New Yok 1, a local television news station, as he arrived on the scene in the Midtown theater district. "I'm very optimistic. I think both sides will be smart."

Minutes later, Bruce Cohen, spokesman for Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, sounded equally upbeat, saying: "There's a lot of hard bargaining and good-faith negotiations going on, and we're hoping at some point before the day breaks tomorrow there will be a settlement."

The negotiations between the stagehands and the League of American Theatres and Producers began early Sunday afternoon. The clear hope on both sides was that a settlement could be reached in time for 26 Broadway shows to reopen for Tuesday's performances.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-broadway26nov26,1,7039152.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

As if the stagehands would have leverage any other time.

That's why the writers went on strike before sweeps.

That's why teachers strike when the school year starts.

When else would anyone pay attention?

I worry about peoples' perception of labor in this country.