Above photo: Luigi.
After 11 Months Without A Contract.
Workers at New York City’s Atlantic Theater Company are going on strike. It has the potential to inspire workers across the country.
On Sunday, January 12, Atlantic Theater Company (ATC) workers in New York City announced they are going on strike after long and arduous negotiations have not produced a collective bargaining agreement worth signing. This bargaining unit consists of carpenters, electricians, painters, audio and video technicians, hairdressers, makeup artists, wardrobe workers, and others. The show quite literally cannot go on without them.
ATC workers voted 129-1 in favor of unionizing with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) in February 2024, becoming the first major off-broadway theater to do so. During this time, ATC contracted the infamous union busting law firm Littler Mendelson, who is also representing Starbucks in its attempts to thwart Starbucks Workers United. Perhaps the most egregious of acts perpetrated by ATC during this time was postponing a production scheduled for this past October until the spring of 2025 to strong arm workers out of hours and into accepting a less-than-ideal contract.
As we can see, it did not work. This, in tandem with delays and difficulties at the bargaining table, has led to IATSE filing an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge against ATC for the reason of “Refusal to Bargain/Bad Faith Bargaining.” The workforce unanimously voted to authorize the strike this past Friday, January 10.
ATC is a neighborhood staple of Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and has been the home to a plethora of critically acclaimed and Tony Award-winning work since 1985. In addition, this organizing campaign at the Atlantic Theater is one of many in a recent wave of off-broadway workers unionizing, such as The Public Theater and The Vineyard Theater, as well as the show crews for TITANIQUE and Little Shop Of Horrors.
After 11 months of no contract and minimal progress, the workers have had enough. Their demands include a minimum rate of $35 an hour, healthcare coverage, higher overtime pay, and improved health and safety protections in the workplace.
On January 7, IATSE held a rally for the workers in a showcase of their readiness to strike. Among the several speeches of the rally were the words of 27 year old Mikey Stevens, scenic carpenter and organizing/bargaining committee member:
From Starbucks to Amazon, from the railroads to the docks, from the Atlantic theater to the Public Theater, to the rest of Off-Broadway; workers are realizing the power that we hold and the life that we deserve. The Atlantic better come to the table on Friday, ready to make a fair deal or we’ll show them, and companies all over town, that they need us a whole lot more than we need them.
This sentiment rings incredibly true for all off-Broadway theater technicians across New York City. This strike can be a starting point for larger and deeper processes of labor organizing in this industry and has great potential to inspire many more workers in the city and across this country. A win for ATC workers is a win for all off-Broadway theater workers, and a win for the entire working class — it can encourage other sectors to keep fighting to unionize and win a contract. Readers who want to stand in solidarity with ATC workers and join them on the picket line can find information on the ATC Organizing Committee’s Instagram.