Broadway Strike Averted as Musicians, Broadway League Come to an Agreement
Local 802 had threatened to strike today if an agreement on a new contract wasn’t reached.
A Broadway strike has now been officially averted. Musicians union AFM Local 802 has come to an agreement with the Broadway League on a tentative deal for a new work contract. The agreement will now be brought to union members for ratification.
“United in solidarity, Local 802 Broadway musicians are thrilled to announce that we reached a tentative agreement at 4:30 AM with the Broadway League that will avert a strike scheduled to begin later today,” said AFM Local 802 President Bob Suttmann in a statement. “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.”
The union’s former contract expired August 31 and musicians have been working without a contract. Since then, the union has been trying to achieve a new contract that includes increased wages, increased healthcare contributions, and employment and income security.
If a musicians strike were to occur, it would have shut down every musical playing on Broadway with the exception of Ragtime (which is on a different work contract).
This latest news brings to an end a saga that began when both the Broadway work contracts for Local 802 and the actors-stage managers union Actors’ Equity expired (Equity’s expired on September 28). Protracted negotiations with the Broadway League led to Equity threatening to strike, with Local 802 following suit. A strike from both Actors’ Equity and Local 802 would have shut down all of Broadway, save for three shows.
Equity announced a tentative deal with the Broadway League October 18, which is awaiting ratification from its membership.
Members of Congress, as well as mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, had expressed solidarity with Broadway workers and concern at the possibility of a strike, citing its negative financial effects on the city of New York.
Broadway musicians have gone on strike previously, for five days in 2003. The most recent Broadway strike came via stagehands in 2007, which kept most of the Main Stem dark for 19 days. The last time Actors’ Equity went on strike was in 1968, which ended after three days when New York’s mayor stepped in.
