Broadway Producers to Impose Last Offer

NEW YORK - Broadway producers say they will impose some of the terms of their latest contract offer on the stagehands' union Monday, a move that could increase the possibility of a work stoppage shutting down most Broadway theaters during the busy fall season.

Negotiations between the producers and union have stalled, with each side presenting final offers last week. The producers are demanding more flexibility in the number of stagehands hired, while the union, Local One, is determined to preserve jobs.

"We are forced to implement because Local One will not pursue meaningful change," Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, said in a statement Tuesday.

The union said it heard about the producers' plans in a phone call from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Local One President James J. Claffey Jr.

"The mayor offered to mediate and help bring some kind of positive resolution to the disagreement between the League and the union," union spokesman Bruce Cohen said. But Claffey, according to Cohen, "respectfully declined the mayor's offer."

The union has scheduled a strike authorization vote for Sunday. The vote does not mean members would strike. It would only give union leaders the authority to call a walkout if they deemed it necessary.

"The membership will decide how they want to proceed on this," Cohen said. "There are many different avenues we can pursue, but, at this point, we are not going to do anything that would disrupt the theatergoing public."

The union historically has needed permission from its parent union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Employees, to strike. But with the producers' decision to implement the new work rules, the union said it was unclear whether Local One could strike without the parent union's authorization.

A work stoppage would shut down most commercial Broadway productions, but not those produced by such nonprofit organizations as the Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club and Lincoln Center Theater. Also apparently not affected are shows in theaters owned by non-League members, which include the Hilton, where Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" is in previews, and the Disney-owned New Amsterdam, home to "Mary Poppins."