Stagehands Picket College Street Music Hall

The action took place offstage and on the street Monday, as a dozen stagehands stood in the cold in front of College Street Music Hall to assert that the concert venue is not willing to offer them the same benefits there as the Shubert Theatre does across the street.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stagehands Local 74 has been in nine months of contract negotiations with College Street Music Hall, with key sticking points centering on health care, retirement and a standard hourly wage, according to the union.

“While 22 feet away, stagehands at the Shubert have all of that. I don’t think the public knows,” said Local 74 Business Agent Jim Shea.

At the last virtual meeting with College Street Music Hall, management refused to participate in health care or retirement benefits and continued to push back against the hourly wage requests, according to the union.

College Street Music Hall is owned and operated by the nonprofit New Haven Center for Performing Arts Inc. Keith Mahler, who runs the shop, declined to comment.

“We don’t negotiate in the press,” Mahler said.

Health care is a particular focus for the union during the pandemic.

All stagehands have been out of work since the Covid-19 shutdown began, aside from a few television gigs and performances in empty theaters. The larger union has been able to continue providing health insurance for its members during the pandemic. Otherwise, the stagehands are on unemployment benefits, if they can get them.

“It’s about peace of mind. You don’t think about it when you have it,” said Local 74 President Gardner Friscia.

Shea, for example, has three children. His health insurance has allowed them to go to regular doctor’s appointments and check-ups. For other members, the health insurance has helped them pay for giving birth, cancer treatment and airlifting a child with a diabetes emergency.

In normal times, performance venues state how many stagehands they need for a particular show, and the union drafts up a list of people to work on that show. This could mean eight hours of set-up, plus following lighting, sound and equipment cues during the performance and breaking down the show.

The workers get paid a daily rate, regardless of whether they have worked eight hours in one day or 15. (It’s more often 15, according to Shea.) They get credits toward health care each time they start a job. The performance venues pay into a fund managed by the union, which provides for health care for each family based on the work stagehands do.

Shea and Friscia float two different venues to check the safety of the workers who are sometimes 60 feet or 100 feet up to handle lighting and other equipment. Shea has had 30 years of experience as a stagehand and has been with the union for 25 years.

The two union reps don’t have favorite shows, because they never watch them. It’s more about whom they get to work with, Friscia said.

College Street Music Hall was one of 800 venues across the country that asked for relief last spring as the pandemic shuttered the entertainment industry. Mahler was trying to keep full-time workers on the payroll then by repairing and refurbishing the music hall. At that point, concerts had just been postponed and concert-goers had held onto their tickets, assuming entertainment would restart in the summer and fall.

Now, Mahler has no immediate plans to reopen the music hall, because it’s a venue that doesn’t work well with social distancing requirements.

Shea and Friscia said that they are readying the Local 74 contract so they can get back to work once audiences are mostly vaccinated.

“We know we’re coming back to work. We don’t want to work without a contract,” Shea said.