Broadway actors, stage managers and musicians authorize strike

Marquees along the Great White Way could soon be going dark. 

Two unions representing Broadway actors, stage managers and musicians have authorized strikes that threaten to shut down most musicals and plays in the city’s theater district.  

The executive board of Actors’ Equity Association’s voted to authorize a strike soon after their contract with the Broadway League, a trade association for producers, theater owners and general managers expired in late September. On Monday, leadership of the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 announced that the union's rank and file had followed suit, with membership voting 98 percent in favor of a strike.  

The authorizations heighten the risk of the first strike on Broadway since 2007 when a walkout by stagehands closed many shows for 19 days. The last actors' strike was in 1968, and the longest was a 30-day strike held in 1919, just six years after the AEA was founded. 

The unions have been bargaining with the Broadway League since Aug. 25 and the AEA participated in two days of mediation last week. Its next bargaining session is scheduled for Oct. 17, said the union's executive director, Al Vincent.

Vincent said that progress had been made during last week’s mediation sessions, but disagreements remain particularly on the issue of healthcare funding. He added that he hoped the Broadway League would bring proposals that allow both sides to make “meaningful progress” on a new deal and didn’t rule out walking out on strike.  

“We had two days of bargaining last week with the mediator where we started to make some progress, which is why we agreed to an additional bargaining day [this] week Oct. 17 to see if we can make more progress that leads to us getting meaningful responses on the issues that are important to our members,” Vincent said in an interview on Monday. "Both parties know what issues are important and I am hopeful we can make meaningful progress on the 17th, and we'll see where we go from there.” 

The union represents more than 50,000 actors and stagehands nationwide, and Vincent said that one of the crucial issues dividing the union and management now is future healthcare costs. By the union’s estimates, member healthcare costs will balloon in 2026, so the union is pushing employers to contribute more per week per union member, a union official said.  

The official said that under the current contract, employers contribute $150 a week to each individual workers’ healthcare plan, lower than most of AEA’s contracts with other theaters across the country. The official didn’t say how much the union is hoping the company contributes, or what raises the union has asked for at the bargaining table.  

The Phantom of the Opera closed a 35-year run at the Majestic Theatre in April 2023. A potential strike by theater actors, stage manager and musicians could close several theaters.

Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo

'Collective power'

Local 802’s demands, as laid out in a public letter signed by almost all of the 1,200 Broadway musicians, include fair wages, stable healthcare coverage, maintaining the attendance policy, employment and income security and more.  

“On the heels of the most successful season in history, the Broadway League wants the working musicians and artists who fueled that very success to accept wage cuts, threats to healthcare benefits, and potential job losses,” Local 802’s president, Bob Suttmann, said in a statement. “Faced with such an egregious erosion of their working conditions, Local 802 Broadway musicians and other artists are ready to leverage every ounce of their collective power, up to and including a strike. Committing to anything less would mean sacrificing far too many hard-won gains.” 

Local 802 has bargaining scheduled with the Broadway League in the next few days, according to a union press release.  

“Good-faith negotiations happen at the bargaining table, not in the press,” Wiley Novell, a spokesperson for the Broadway League, said in a statement in response to Local 802's strike authorization vote. “We value our musicians, and we are committed to working in good faith to get a fair contract done.” 

Last week, 31 members of the House of Representatives from both parties, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, sent a letter to union leadership and the Broadway Association expressing concern about a possible strike.

“We respectfully encourage both sides to bargain in good faith and resolve these issues to avoid a strike,” the representatives wrote. “Finding a way to a common ground on these and other outstanding issues will benefit both labor and management — and the broader economy. If these issues are not resolved, any work stoppage could be highly disruptive to workers and businesses in the theatre district and beyond.” 

Democratic nominee for Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pledged his support to both unions, writing on social media that workers’ healthcare is "on the line, and it's time for a fair deal that protects it.” 

Vincent said that both unions are supporting each other as they bargain for new contracts. 

“We’re making sure members have a safe and sustainable working environment and making sure they have the coverage that they need, the staffing that they need whether they're in a chorus or a stage manager,” he said. "We really hope the league comes in with meaningful proposals and we can make some movement.” 

hfreeman@thechiefleader.com