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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Theater Must Recognize Stagehands Union

(CN) - The D.C. Circuit upheld an order requiring the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts to recognize and bargain with a stagehands union's successor.

The center agreed to use only employees referred by Local 623 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Technicians and Allied Crafts to perform all stagehand work at its Dreyfoos Hall in West Palm Beach, Fla.

After the bargaining agreements expired in 2000, Kravis declared an impasse, withdrew recognition from the union and request no further referrals.

The National Labor Relations Board determined that Kravis had violated the National Labor Relations Act by, among other things, "unilaterally changing the scope of the bargaining unit and withdrawing recognition from Local 623."

The board ordered Kravis to recognize Local 500, the union's successor by merger.

Kravis argued, unsuccessfully, that Local 623 was not a union because it did not exclusively represent Dreyfoos Hall stagehands.

Judge Kavanaugh also rejected Kravis' claim that the union never had the majority support needed for continued bargaining after the agreements expired.

That argument is time-barred, Kavanaugh ruled, because Kravis did not raise the claim within six months of initial negotiations.

The court ordered Kravis to recognize Local 500 as Local 623's successor.

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