Carpenters, Stagehands, Costume Makers Rally to Publicize Contract Dispute with NY Metropolitan Opera

Carpenters, stagehands, lighting crews, designers, costume maker and ticket sellers -- all member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees -- held rallies at different cinema locations across New York City Wednesday night to publicize ongoing contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Opera.

The protests were held at cinemas in midtown and downtown Manhattan broadcasting the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD: Summer Encores."

The contracts of six locals of IATSE, plus nine other unions, are due to expire at the end of July, and all are in intense negotiations over proposed cuts in pay and benefits with the Metropolitan Opera.

The company produces 200 performances per season, with an audience of 800,000 and several million who watch performances at the cinema. It has an annual budget of $327 million, and spends $200 million on labor costs and employs 3,400 people.

The Metropolitan Opera has proposed cuts as much as 16 percent claiming declining ticket sales and endowment. The company general manager, Peter Gelb has called it "the biggest economic challenge in the company's history." The Metropolitan Opera has been in existence for 131 years.

The unions maintain the Met's 990 tax-reporting, released in June, show that Gelb received a 26 percent increase in pay and benefits in 2012, taking home $2.8 million in compensation.

"We don't see how you save the Met by cutting the onstage and backstage talent responsible for presenting the greatest opera in the world," said Joe Harnett, assistant director of IATSE's Stagecraft Department, "while avoiding all discussion of bloated management salaries, repeated cost overruns, failed productions and poorly executed marketing and sales strategies."

One of New York's other Opera company -- The New York City Opera -- filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after financial difficulties, ending its 70 year history.

In a survey of Public Participation in the Arts, the National Endowment found among 38,000 adults, declines for traditional, main-line cultural forms -- theater, museums and classical concerts -- between 2008, the last survey period, and 2012. At the same time, audiences became more racially and ethnically diverse, and forms including Latin music, jazz and non-ballet dance performances saw modest upticks in attendance.

Source:  US News : Latin Post