Day 5

So day 5 of the stagehand strike. It's been hard. But as someone said, making history usually is.

I never imagined I would be a part of making history, and especially not this way. But here I am just the same.

Local 1 is on strike. I'm a stagehand, but not a part of Local 1. I work on what's called a pink contract, and I am an employee of the producer. Complicated, huh. Anyway, here's what has happened so far.

Wed 7 Nov. The President of IATSE International (Thomas C. Short) sat down with the League of producers and theater owners, and Local 1. It didn't go well. I held my breath, because I was starting on contract for almost two weeks ( 2 shows shy of two full weeks) at one of the shows I fill in on. Good money and good to keep my health care going.

Thurs. Negotiations fell apart again. President Short gave authorization to Local 1 to call a strike. Hold breath again. Don't leave anything at the theater. Rumors had it by the end of the night that they would wait until after the weekend to call it. Yes, please.

Fri. Still holding on to the idea that we'll keep running through the weekend. By the way, I'm not alone in hoping. As far as I can tell, nobody really wants this to happen. It's loss of pay for everyone. Who really wants to do that?

At the end of the night, I get told that it would be a good idea to wear warm clothes, comfortable shoes, and have rain gear just in case. Ah, no. Suck. That was all anybody was allowed to tell me.

Sat late a.m. Having breakfast with a musician friend. She's already been told there's a strike. I call the hot line, and, yep, there's a strike. For the first time in the 121 year history of Local 1, there's a strike. We start heading to our respective shows.

I notice that I've missed a call, so I listen to the message. I wasn't sure of all the message said, but it definitely said that there was a strike, don't come to the theater and call if there are any questions. Don't come to the theater? Now I'm confused.

I phone the number back. Didn't hear who it was I was talking to, but it didn't matter really because I don't know many of the names from the international (who represents me as a stagehand on pink contract). I actually thought I was going to get a recording. "Since there's a strike, there is no work and no reason for you to show up to the theater." says the voice on the phone.

"But shouldn't I show up and show my support on the line?" I asked even more confused.

"Well as your employer, I can not advise you on that...." Crap it's general management calling to tell me that I'm being laid off. Ooops. Made my apologies. "Sorry it's early." "I couldn't hear very well because it's noisy." "My brain's not processing information properly." Crap. And double crap because it is that easy for them to "let me go".

So I show up to the line, and sign three different sign in sheets - just in case there is some form of compensation. Get told repeatedly that I am under no obligation to walk the picket line. Now hang on a sec. I know that Local 1 is not my employer or do they represent me, but we're all stagehands. Of course I'm gonna show up. If nothing else, than to honor my side of the contract I sign just a couple of days ago, and because I work with these people.

Sat and Sun are days for union to figure out how to run this strike. I mean they've never done it before. But pretty quickly they get things hammered out. Shifts are created, because there needs to be at least two people picketing during box office hours.

I quickly create a job for myself handing out fliers to the people in the cars going by. The walking in circles and/or standing for hours is hard on everyone. And me still trying to recover from back surgery earlier this year. I think my PT won't be pleased when I see him next.

Mon 12 Nov. Rest up during the day and do my PT exercises - I give myself a gold star. I'm at the other show I cover farther uptown. Here it's more like a party, especially once the musicians show up. They start playing dixieland. I go to the other side of the street to hand out fliers to the drivers. Passengers rarely take fliers. I see a friend I haven't seen in too many years. This is great. I can catch up with him. The time flies.

After a little bit one of the actors and another stagehand come over to join me. The actor, who is one of the principals in the show, decides he's gonna hand out chocolates that he has brought. If a driver took a chocolate, then they had to take a flier. I think we handed out much more than we would've if there had been no chocolates. Besides, he's very funny and made the time go by much faster.

Tues. Back downtown. I run into more people I hadn't seen in awhile. One hung out for the whole time. Which did a good job of keeping my mind off the electric sparks that go off every once in awhile in my leg. It's great when stage management, the actors, musicians and ushers show up. Then there are tons of people. There has been a fair amount of press covering this nightly.

Had my picture taken four times, by the same guy, while I was handing fliers to drivers. I turned to my friend and said that four pieces of my soul were now gone. I meant it jokingly and seriously. I don't really want my picture to show up in any paper. I don't know I don't like the idea of it. I'm not doing anything to really warrant my picture in a paper. Went for drinks with a friend to unwind. There is so much talk about this going on for a month it scares me. Managed to make it home around the time I would've gotten home after a show.

Wed, today. Was hoping to swim this week, but was too tired to get up so early. Two show day. The early afternoon session was fine. I managed to hand out 10 fliers in a row. My best streak, yet. Actually, ran out of fliers and had to get more. They announced that the producers, Local 1, President Short and a mediator would be sitting down on Sat morning. That's a good sign, even if it means the strike breaks after my two weeks are up. It means I might have a chance to do enough work, so my health care won't be in danger. Took a break around 3pm.

Went home so I could eat and do my stretches properly. Today was the first day that food was at the picket line. There were tons of bagels and danishes from a local deli. It was really nice of them to hand out so much food. Felt pretty good after the break. I was really sleepy, though. But tonight dragged, and I started hurting after being there for only 10-15 minutes. Can't wait to see what the PT has to say tomorrow. One of the shows had a toast out on the sidewalk, because tonight would've been their opening night.

My friends have been really great - as usual. Checking in with me. Andrea and Chris made dinner on sat night, and saved a plate and some wine for me. It was great to see them, and to not have to go home and cook so late. Charlee has told me I can use her place if I need to take a break. I've gotten an offer of some part-time work if I need it. I think I'll take it just to be safe.

But mainly, I'm pleased to see how respectful everyone has been - strikers and the public. This is affecting everyone, so I wasn't sure how angry people would be. But so far so good. And as usual, we are all looking out for one another - making sure breaks are taken and such.

Let's hope the talks on Sat work out, and the theaters are up and running soon.