Dear Stage Alliance Employees:

I am pleased to announce that IATSE Local 205 won it’s grievance against Stage Alliance in regard to the dispute over Long Center wages. Additionally, the arbitrator granted the remedies we were seeking. The details are as follows:

Although the arbitrator ruled that Stage Alliance did not fail to bargain with the Union and dismissed our unfair labor practice charge, the arbitrator also ruled that Stage Alliance did violate the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) when it unilaterally altered the show classification system at the Long Center. Furthermore, the arbitrator has ordered Stage Alliance to reinstate the show classification system for the life of the CBA as it was prior to the change made in September 2015. In addition, Stage Alliance shall “make whole” (pay the missing wages and health and annuity benefits) all of the stagehands who were not paid the appropriate Class A wage rate for shows that they worked at the Long Center since September 10, 2015.

Per the arbitrator’s ruling, the Union will prepare a list of affected shows, as already detailed in Stage Alliance’s arbitration announcement. 

This positive result for Stage Alliance employees is the result of the hard work that Local 205 puts in to negotiating and enforcing our agreements. We could have gone to mediation or taken the compromise that was offered by Stage Alliance, but we listened when employees told us that they did not want to give up the wages that they were entitled to.

In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who showed solidarity on this issue. This win is great news for our Local and for Stage Alliance employees alike. We are here to serve Austin’s stage employees by negotiating agreements with fair wages and conditions, and then by protecting those agreements. This is why IATSE Local 205 exists!

In Solidarity,
President Magee