THE ISSUE: The stagehands’ strike that has shut down Broadway shows since early November.
I am starting to think that The Post is anti-union (“Killing Broadway,” Editorial, Nov. 20).
When New York City has billions in surplus and the PBA complains that it doesn’t want to take a contract that, after givebacks, doesn’t amount to much more than zeros, The Post says the PBA is wrong.
Now that the stagehands are striking because the producers, who are not carpenters, want to dictate how many stagehands are needed to put on a show – and they are wrong, too.
It is a shame that the Broadway shows are dark now. It is also a shame that going on strike and taking the city to court is the only way that hard-working people in this city can get some respect.
Patrick Vahey
Massapequa Park
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There are standard economic arguments for treating the stagehands’ union like we treat public-sector unions: They can bargain collectively, but they cannot call strikes.
Unlike other private-sector unions, like retail grocery workers, they do not face enough competition from nonunion employers to limit how much they can demand.
If the union of retail grocery workers in Manhattan went on strike for very high wages, there are enough nonunion outlets to easily expand to provide immediate and equivalent services to patrons of unionized stores.
This is not the case with the Broadway industry. Individual theater owners cannot easily find the specialized electricians and other members of the crews needed to run shows, and the length of runs of shows that sign up their theaters is hard to predict.
They have to band together rather than operate on their own; thus competition to limit stagehands’ demands is lacking.
Mayor Bloomberg or Gov. Spitzer should step up to the plate.
Dave M. O’Neill
Manhattan
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There’s a big deal being made over how the Broadway stagehands’ strike is going so far as to prevent the staging of the kid-friendly holiday musical “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
If only folks would go back and read the original Dr. Seuss story or watch the Boris Karloff cartoon, we might all learn that the spirit of Christmas lives in the heart, and nobody – not even striking stagehands – can effectively “steal” the holiday.
Derek Tague
Orange, NJ