Pearl Jam's LA Shows To Be Picketed By IATSE Local 33

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http://www.theskyiscrape.com/2013/11/pe ... ed-by.html
"It seems that Pearl Jam, a band that has always been an outspoken advocate for the underprivileged, is being put in the awkward position of having to ask fans to cross a picket line in order to see their shows this weekend, and for that matter, to cross the line themselves.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) will be outside the Los Angeles Sports Arena this Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 7:30pm protesting USC's decision to hire non-union works to staff Pearl Jam's two LA shows this weekend.
“Unfortunately, the crew members that should be inside making sure this concert is safe are going to be out front on the picket line,” IATSE Local 33 Business Manager Mark Madrigal said in the statement. “We’re not asking for additional wages or benefits. All we are asking is that USC honor the contract that has been in place for decades. Instead USC is ignoring our members and its obligation to its neighbors and to our communities and hire cheaper workers to make more money.”
Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz added, “These facilities are owned by the public, and we have a right to expect that our taxpayer dollars will go to support the Los Angeles economy and good jobs, not line the pockets of USC at the expense of our citizens. USC should stand up and be good corporate citizens in this matter and continue the policy that has worked for decades for all parties.”
The band hasn't issued a statement or responded to requests for comments, but surely this development won't sit well with the band who wrote Green Disease and Unemployable. What do you think? Should Pearl Jam take action? Issue a statement? Should fans feel bad for crossing the line?"
http://www.theskyiscrape.com/2013/11/pe ... ed-by.html
"It seems that Pearl Jam, a band that has always been an outspoken advocate for the underprivileged, is being put in the awkward position of having to ask fans to cross a picket line in order to see their shows this weekend, and for that matter, to cross the line themselves.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) will be outside the Los Angeles Sports Arena this Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 7:30pm protesting USC's decision to hire non-union works to staff Pearl Jam's two LA shows this weekend.
“Unfortunately, the crew members that should be inside making sure this concert is safe are going to be out front on the picket line,” IATSE Local 33 Business Manager Mark Madrigal said in the statement. “We’re not asking for additional wages or benefits. All we are asking is that USC honor the contract that has been in place for decades. Instead USC is ignoring our members and its obligation to its neighbors and to our communities and hire cheaper workers to make more money.”
Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz added, “These facilities are owned by the public, and we have a right to expect that our taxpayer dollars will go to support the Los Angeles economy and good jobs, not line the pockets of USC at the expense of our citizens. USC should stand up and be good corporate citizens in this matter and continue the policy that has worked for decades for all parties.”
The band hasn't issued a statement or responded to requests for comments, but surely this development won't sit well with the band who wrote Green Disease and Unemployable. What do you think? Should Pearl Jam take action? Issue a statement? Should fans feel bad for crossing the line?"
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Is this supposed to be an actual sentence?? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
anyway luckily i dont have this dilemma a i wont be in LA but i would hate to see PJ concerts becoming targets because the band/fans will cancel if people picket......but i do appreciate the need for unions and the benefit they bring workers.
On February 13, John McNamee Jr., president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 829, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to 12 months in prison and two years of supervised release for embezzling $150,000 from the New York City union. He was indicted last February and pleaded guilty in October following a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards. McNamee originally had been charged with stealing nearly $250,000 and filing false reports to conceal the thefts. The case is separate from a U.S. Department of Labor civil suit against local pension plan trustees, alleging more than $3 million in illegal transactions and failure to perform due diligence in managing another $11 million in assets.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Carnegie Hall, impressive-especially for the salaries of its stagehands.
One union worker, stagehand Dennis O’Connell, who is the props manager at Carnegie Hall, makes $422,599 per year—plus $107,445 in benefits. A New York Times reporter, Daniel J. Wakin, got the information on a 2007-2008 publicly-filed tax return of Carnegie Hall, which listed the theater’s six highest paid employees.
Besides the company’s chief executive, Clive Gillison, who made $946,581, the next five highest paid employees were all stagehands. The lowest-ranked member in the top five was electrician John Goodson, who made $327,257 plus $76,459 in benefits.
Although the stagehands at Carnegie Hall might be the best paid in town, the average pay of all the stagehands at nearby Lincoln Center, including salary and benefits, was $290,000.
The power to charge a business $300,000 to $500,000 for one laborer comes from Local 1, of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, which closed down 39 Broadway theaters in November 2007 for 19 days, causing tens of millions of dollars per week to be lost by theater owners, and the city.
So the next time you visit New York and wonder why all the theater tickets are $150 each or more, now you know at least part of the story
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
So the options are a bunch of well-paid workers, or a shitload of extra money into the pockets of much richer people.... I think option 1 is preferable. It's not like they'd suddenly lower ticket prices if they lowered salaries. They will still charge as much as they can get out of the paying public.
Anyway, are the folks in LA earning $250K a year? I don't think so....
The guy working the cash register at McDonalds is contributing too.
Should he be making $300k a year?
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Do you think that a 15 year old at McDonald's is comparable to stagehands?
You compare stage hands to professional athletes in order to justify their $250K salary?
People pay Big Money to see athletes perform. They don't pay big money to see the cotton candy vendor do his thing.
Stage Hands=Cotton Candy Vendor.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Being a stagehand is a career. They don't just wander around picking shit up and putting it down. I don't think comparing them to cotton-candy vendors is fair (but cotton-candy vendors should earn more too! I think minimum wages are WAY too low for the most part, and I consider them bad for the overall economy). Anyway, yeah, I support a more even distribution of wealth. Yeah, those people are overpaid... but it's either a bunch of them or a couple of filthy rich CEOs or producers or whatever. I'll support the workers getting the money over the fat cats any day.
I'm pretty much a fucking socialist Speedy - what do you expect from me here?
Maybe tomorrow I will fill you in on EXACTLY what I think of the Fucking Teamsters Union.
Have a good one.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
I think the voice of the union should be heard and the issue needs to be worked out between the Union, USC and the City of Los Angeles. Would any of these entities compensate PJ for the lost revenue related to cancelling, rescheduling or moving the show? I doubt it.
I am sure the band will say something... on stage. But... to issue an official statement? Why? It's not there issue... it's politics. I know the band has never been afraid to make a political statement... but not at the cost to thier fans and thier own livelihood.
I used to work for an event production company, and obviously Las Vegas is a huge convention and event city. When our equipment was being loaded into/out of venues by these folks, there was such disrespect for the equipment, and gear constantly mis-packed/damaged. Our technicians and show staff were always at the mercy of slow moving employees, or having to wait until 2 or 3 stagehands would be available to do the work one of us could with ease.
I'm all for worker protection and safety, and there was a time and place that these groups really served a purpose - but most of them today are just as corrupt as the people they're supposedly protecting their members from. Sorry to sound harsh, but those are my experiences. I'm going to have a great time at the show and not give it a second thought.
Pearl Jam will be paying the wages of the non-union workers and that can be an issue for some. The workers aren't demanding concessions or higher wages, just the right to work. I hope that those who feel "screw the unions" enjoy their $5/hour jobs with no benefits. At any rate, it seems that they will only be picketing for an hour, so all the non-GA people can filter in after 7:30. Peace Love and Pearl Jam!
It sucks that I'm finding out about this the night before the show. If I had known before tickets went on sale I might have made a different decision.
Here's what I am going to do. I intend to boycott concessions at the show (as I did at the forum in 2006). I ask everyone that reads this to do the same. I will start a thread on this board and on Facebook and make the same plea. I will also send an email to the highest ranking official at USC and inform them that now that I know about the dispute, I will not be attending another show at the sports arena and I will inform as many people as I can to do the same.
And the rest of us make $5 an hour with no benefits?
Funny, last year the Teamsters attempted to get in to the company I work for. We told those corrupt pieces of shit to go fuck themselves.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....