Today’s Clueless Comment comes via this New York Times article, and offers a scintillating look at why NYC stagehands should give up their fight for decent pay and fair working conditions:

On September 25th I bought three tickets, for $310 in total, to the Cyrano De Bergerac limited engagement performance that was supposed to play today. It seems today is the day that a strike will begin. I also made reservations for three to have dinner at Ben Benson’s after the play. We have been looking forward to this day for almost two months. Needless to say I am disappointed. If the play is cancelled I will also cancel my reservations at Ben Benson’s and not drive and park in the city. This day was to cost me about $650. Hopefully I can get a refund on my tickets. I work hard for my money and do not spend it frivolously. I have not been to a play in over 5 years. Thank you strikers for making my life not as nice as it would have been.

Contrast this to a conversation between a head stagehand and a Broadway exec during contract negotiations, courtesy The Humble Nailbanger:

S: Let me ask you a question. What do you do on a Sunday morning? Do you sleep in a little bit?
E: Yeah, I might get an hour or so extra.
S: Sleep in, have a little breakfast with the kids?
E: Sure, eat with my children, hang out with them, you know. Spend time.
S: And then what? Mow the lawn, have a couple drinks?
E: Maybe. Get in a few rounds of golf. You know, relax.
S: You spend your Sunday just hanging out, relaxing, playing a little bit? Seeing your family?
E: Yeah, why?
S: Well, you know what I do with my Sundays? I get up at 5am, kiss my sleeping kids goodbye, and I come in here and run your fucking theatre. And you want to pay me less now?

I’m sure it’s disappointing to be a Broadway ticketholder right now. It’s never fun to get a new installment of that lesson that we all learn as toddlers, i.e. You Can’t Always Get What You Want. However, I seem to recall the next line stating that Sometimes You Get What You Need. To honor this theory, I pose a question that most of the press sidesteps while covering this story. Which of the following is a basic human right?

1) The right to attend a Broadway performance.
2) The right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for [one]self and [one’s] family an existence worthy of human dignity.

If you chose option 1, you will be “rewarded” by a life in which you are required to sing and dance your every thought. If you chose option 2, you win the I Am a Grownup Who Realizes That Instant Gratification Is Not Always Reasonable award. Yay!

Yes, it sucks to plan a weekend and have some unexpected event shake things up. However, it sucks more to plan a life and then find that you can’t pay your mortgage, or that you have to dip into your kid’s college fund to pay the bills. However, in either case, another of those grownup lessons dictates that a change of plans simply means that it’s time to get creative. Theatregoers can take their screaming kids to FAO Schwartz, or move the anniversary celebration to Central Park for a carriage ride. Those in the latter situation can organize and collectively bargain for their rights.

That’s what the NYC stagehands are doing - fighting for a decent living. If you have Broadway tickets during the strike, you can do the following:

1) Collect your refund.
2) Have a conversation with one of the picketers. You’ll get some clarity on the situation, and maybe even a local’s recommendation on what to do with your extra time.
3) Contrary to this article’s advice, don’t compensate by going to a show with non-union stagehands.
4) Grab a picket sign, or write a blog post, or a letter to the editor.
5) Buy pizza for the picketers.

Most importantly, remember this: a strike is a big deal. No one wakes up one morning thinking, heyyyy! You know what sounds fun? Organizing a majority of my fellow union members to vote to walk out on our jobs and march around in a circle holding picket signs for who knows how long in a New York November for whatever the strike fund can pay us (read: not nearly as much as the too-low wages the employer pays) for no particular reason.

Wake up, people: A STRIKE IS THE LAST RESORT. It’s not designed for you personally in an effort to make your life “not as nice.”

Excerpt from a corporate email:

We recently had our Bay area rep move to New York, so unfortunately we will not be able to come out on site right away. Our local resources are now in San Diego, and I also have a resource in Colorado.