Broadway strike impasse is how much to pay the stage hands that sweep the floor

Broadway Talks Continue For Second Night In A Row

November 27, 2007

For the second day in a row, stagehands and producers worked overnight to try reach a deal to end the two-week-old Broadway strike.

The two sides convened at around 7 p.m. Monday, but as sunrise approached Tuesday morning, there was still no word of a deal.

An end to the strike would allow more than two dozen Broadway shows to reopen after 17 days in the dark.

The two sides negotiated for nearly 20 hours over the weekend – from Sunday morning until just before 7 a.m. Monday – before agreeing to take a 12-hour break.

“We all felt exhausted and bleary-eyed. I was able to get 20 minutes sleep on the floor; some people weren’t,” said Local One spokesman Bruce Cohen. “The need here is to be creative and to crunch numbers. Local One has its spreadsheets and its computers and its calculators, figuring out the economic impact of everything being discussed and just at one point, everyone realized, we’re not functioning at 110 percent."

Both sides say they're hopeful about settling their differences, and are feeling the pressure to resolve the contract dispute in this latest round of talks.

Stagehands were back on the picket line Monday, hopeful it would be their last day on strike.

Sources tell NY1 that the sticking points remain mopping of the stage and continuity hours – the hours worked at the beginning and end of a stagehand’s shift.