{"id":48906,"date":"2025-10-23T01:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=48906"},"modified":"2025-10-23T08:57:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:57:39","slug":"broadway-musicians-reach-labor-deal-averting-a-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=48906","title":{"rendered":"Broadway musicians reach labor deal, averting a strike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The union representing Broadway’s musicians reached a tentative labor agreement with commercial producers on Thursday, averting a potentially crippling strike<\/a> that would have silenced nearly two dozen musicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Federation of Musicians Local 802 \u2014 which represents 1,200 musicians \u2014 had threatened to strike if they didn\u2019t have a new contract by the morning, after going into mediation Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Thursday, the union said it had struck a tentative deal that includes wage increases and contribution increases to the health fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This three-year agreement provides meaningful wage and health benefit increases that will preserve crucial access to healthcare for our musicians while maintaining the strong contract protections that empower musicians to build a steady career on Broadway,\u201d AFM Local 802 President Bob Suttmann said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 23 shows that could have gone silent ranged from megahits like \u201cHamilton\u201d and \u201cThe Lion King\u201d to newcomers like \u201cQueen of Versailles\u201d and \u201cChess,\u201d which are still in previews. Plays would not have been automatically impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the second Broadway labor deal in less than a week. Labor tensions had already seemed cool after Actors\u2019 Equity Association \u2014 which represents over 51,000 members, including singers, actors, dancers and stage managers \u2014 announced a new three-year agreement<\/a> with producers over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of both unions had been working under expired contracts. The musicians\u2019 contract expired on Aug. 31, and the Equity contract expired Sept. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The health of Broadway \u2014 once very much in doubt due to the coronavirus pandemic<\/a> that shut down theaters for some 18 months \u2014 is now very good, at least in terms of box office. It has been a long road back from the days when theaters were shuttered<\/a> and the future looked bleak, but the 2024-2025 season took in $1.9 billion<\/a> \u2014 the highest-grossing season in recorded history, overtaking the pre-pandemic previous high of $1.8 billion during the 2018-2019 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unions pointed to the financial health of Broadway to argue that producers could afford to up pay and benefits for musicians and actors. Producers, represented by The Broadway League, had countered that the restored health of Broadway could be endangered by potential ticket price increases to accommodate the demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most recent major strike on Broadway was in late 2007, when a 19-day walkout by stagehands dimmed the lights on more than two dozen shows and cost producers and the city millions of dollars in lost revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, three U.S. senators from New York and New Jersey \u2014 Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Andy Kim \u2014 wrote to both sides, urging them to \u201cparticipate in good faith negotiations and continued communication.\u201d The senators noted that Broadway supports nearly 100,000 jobs and is \u201can essential cornerstone in the economic well-being of surrounding businesses and sectors, including hospitality, retail and transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The union representing Broadway’s musicians reached a tentative labor agreement with commercial producers on Thursday, averting a potentially crippling strike that would have silenced nearly two dozen musicals. The American Federation of Musicians Local 802 \u2014 which represents 1,200 musicians \u2014 had threatened to strike if they didn\u2019t have a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":48907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[22497,35043,21525],"class_list":["post-48906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-broadway","tag-musicians","tag-reach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48908,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48906\/revisions\/48908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}