Catherwood LibraryILR School

From the day the stagehands? strike began two weeks ago, the Broadway producers courted public opinion by insisting that the dispute was about one issue: fairness. The producers declared, repeatedly, that the stagehands? contract was filled with so many inefficiencies that elemental fairness cried out for overhauling it. But many labor relations experts say that the Broadway strike, like most other labor confrontations, is not so much about fairness, but about power: the relative power of the two sides. This is the first time that the New York stagehands, in Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, have gone on strike since their union was founded 121 years ago.