Nov 26, 2007 10:12 am US/Eastern
Broadway Talks Resume After Week-Long Hiatus
Producers, Stagehand Workers Hold Marathon Talks
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
There's encouraging news in the Broadway Theater strike.
After a week without talks, negotiations have resumed between producers and striking stagehands.
The main issue in the round-the-clock negotiations has been how many stagehands are required to open a Broadway show and keep it running.
The producers want a flexible number. The stagehands union wants a set number and ample compensation for any concessions made.
These talks have been going on since midday Sunday and at 8:30 p.m. last night came a glimmer of hope.
"Our people have their spreadsheets open calculators going and I would assume the other side is all on the hopes of trying to come to conclusion," Bruce Cohen said.
A total of 26 shows are still shut down, including "Spring Awakening." Tickets for that show were in the hands of Joe and Peggy Schierl visiting from Minneapolis.
"It would have been nice if we could have seen the show we came to see," Joe Schierl said.
They saw Xanadu instead, one of the few Broadway shows that stayed on during the strike because of a different contract with stagehands.
"We never expected it to go this long," Lisa Schierl lamented.
Lisa and Johnson Kimuyu brought their kids to a Theater District restaurant struggling to stay open and not lay off workers. The restaurant owners plan to keep offering a 15 percent discount to boost business.
"It helped a little bit it did but it is not the same," said Antonio Velarde of the Brazil Brazil Restaurant.
As long as negotiators for Producers and Stagehands keeping downing coffee and sticking with it, there's hope on the Great White Way.
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