Broadway Stagehands Ratify Contract

The Broadway stagehands union voted on December 9 to ratify a new five-year contract , the details of which were agreed to on November 28 after a 19-day strike. According to The New York Times, the new deal includes raises ranging from 4% to 4.5% over the next five years. In return, producers won concessions on the number of stagehands that must be employed while new shows are being loaded into the theater. Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for Local One, said that the approval vote was "overwhelming."