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Healthcare contributions a key issue in negotiations

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Contract ended on September 28

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Last major Broadway strike was in 1968

By Dawn Chmielewski

Sept 30 (Reuters) - Broadway actors are preparing to

walk off the stage in a strike that would shut down 32 stage

productions as theater attendance approaches its peak season,

according to their union.

Actors' Equity, a union that represents 900 current

Broadway performers and stage managers, said it has yet to reach

agreement on a new labor contract with the Broadway League, the

trade association that represents theater owners, producers and

operators. Negotiations continue, though the three-year contract

ended on September 28.

A central issue in bargaining is healthcare and the

contribution the Broadway League makes to the union's health

care fund.

Al Vincent Jr, executive director and lead negotiator for

Actors' Equity, said the union is asking Broadway's employers to

increase their contribution to the health care fund, which

is projected to fall into a deficit by next May.

The rate of contributions has been unchanged for more than a

decade, even as smaller regional theaters in Kansas and Idaho

oftentimes pay more, Vincent said.

"Asking our employers to care for our bodies, and to pay

their fair share toward our health insurance is not only

reasonable and necessary, it's an investment they should want to

make toward the long-term success of their businesses," Actors'

Equity President Brooke Shields said in a statement to Reuters,

adding that she tore her meniscus on a Broadway show and

continued dancing on it, "painfully," for three months.

"That's just math. There are no Broadway shows without

healthy Broadway actors and stage managers. And there are no

healthy actors and stage managers without safe workplaces and

stable health insurance."

The Broadway League issued a statement saying it continues

to work toward an agreement.

"We all want to sustain the magic of Broadway for our

audience," the Broadway League said in its statement to Reuters.

"We are continuing good-faith negotiations with Actors Equity to

reach a fair agreement that works for Broadway shows, casts,

crews and the millions of people from around the world who come

to experience Broadway."

Other sectors of the entertainment industry have been roiled

by labor unrest, with Hollywood actors and writers striking in

2023, as they fought for better compensation in the streaming TV

era and curbs on the use of artificial intelligence. Video game

actors staged a nearly year-long walkout as they sought

protections against the use of artificial intelligence.

Stage actors have already authorized the bargaining

committee to call a strike. On Friday, the union began

delivering "strike pledge cards" to the stage door, asking

performers and stage managers to commit to a walkout.

Kaylin Seckel, an ensemble cast member of Disney's ( DIS ) "The Lion

King" and understudy to Nala and Sarabi, said she ruptured her

Achilles tendon during a 2022 performance and had to be carried

off-stage by her scene partner. She underwent surgery to repair

the injury, and lengthy physical therapy to help her return to

the stage. Although workers' compensation covered many of her

medical expenses, she relied on her union's health care to pay

for acupuncture and other treatments.

"That was three years ago, and I require, to this day, other

procedures and more physical therapy that I was denied under

workers' comp," said Seckel. "So for performers and stage

managers in this industry, where your jobs are dangerous, ...

without really good health insurance, it's difficult for us to

do our jobs."

The last major Actors Equity strike was in 1968, when a

three-day dispute closed 19 Broadway shows. The New York City

mayor intervened, and helped both sides come to an agreement.