|
|
|
|
|
| AFT Home > Publications > American Teacher |
 |
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|
American Teacher October 2001--RoundUp
'Music Man' tour: No, with a
capital N
Actors' Equity Association, the union for professional actors and stage managers, is urging a boycott of an upcoming national tour of "The Music Man," which is being produced with non-union actors. The 40-week tour opens in Des Moines, Iowa, on Oct. 2, and Actors' Equity is planning protests at various cities along the tour route. The show is produced by Big League Theatricals, which has refused offers for a contract; the public will thus pay "Broadway" prices for a production in which none of the actors has ever appeared on Broadway, notes Actors' Equity. The union especially asks AFT members for support of the boycott because many teachers and school staff are theatergoers and often organize school outings to attend productions like this one. The AFL-CIO is supporting the boycott. Actors' Equity has already demonstrated its willingness to be flexible on touring productions. The union granted concessions for the upcoming national tours of "Guys and Dolls" and "Seussical," for example, but Big League has rejected similar terms. It should be noted that the current Broadway revival of "The Music Man," which opened in 2000, continues to be performed at the Neil Simon Theatre; all of the actors and stage managers in the Broadway production are employed under Equity contracts. Cities on the non-union tour include Cleveland, Hartford, Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and San Antonio. For details and a complete itinerary of the tour, go to www.actorsequity.org.
UFW touts "union strawberries" The next time you go shopping for strawberries, be sure to look for the union label. The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) is asking AFT members and other unionists to ask for Coastal Berry brand strawberries in stores, hotels and restaurants. The union recently reached a historic first-ever contract with Coastal Berry Company, the largest grower of strawberries in the United States. "We hope to send a message to the strawberry industry that a company that pays decent wages and provides benefits under the UFW contract will flourish," says Irv Hershenbaum, UFW"s first vice president. The three-year agreement provides for health insurance, dental coverage and life insurance. It also establishes a grievance and arbitration procedure and provides protections from unjust firings. "Strawberry workers have worked long and hard to earn this union contract," according to the UFW. "Consumers who champion the UFW now have the opportunity to help farm workers by purchasing Coastal Berry brand strawberries." Visit the union's Web site at www.ufw.org to learn where you can purchase the union-friendly strawberries.
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001 Copyright by the American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO. All
rights reserved. Photographs |
