NEWS

Home • About • Resources • Services • News • Links • Members Only

ATPAM: News: HL0103A

NEWS

reprinted from

Thirteen unions and guilds, representing every worker on Broadway from actors to stagehands to ushers, have banded together to help promote the health of Broadway and the interests of the workers who keep the industry going.

January 16, 2002

The Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG) - which includes Actors' Equity Association, the Dramatists Guild and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees - is an official alliance inspired in part by the informal coalition of industry-wide unions that, in the wake of Sept. 11, collectively agreed to temporary, across-the-board pay cuts to keep many Broadway shows alive.

"We're very concerned about the economic health of the industry," said Gordon Forbes, a spokesman for the coalition who is also a member of the Alliance of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers. "We want to be more actively involved in what goes on in the inception of plans for Broadway, starting with an open dialogue with producers and employers."

Among the first things on the coalition's agenda are addressing issues of workplace safety for backstage workers, and monitoring current trade negotiations, which include those involving the local chapters of United Scenic Artists and the American Federation of Musicians.

According to Forbes, the coalition was also created to help foster community among the diverse workers who come together to make a Broadway show.

"All of the union guilds serve very different constituencies, and the focus of actors may be very different than the focus of some of the blue-collar people in the industry," he said. "Getting people to understand where everyone else is coming from is really important."