Blue Man production
seeks to bar pickets
By
JAMES ADAMS
The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Page A15
The lawyer for the coming Blue Man Group production will ask
the Ontario Labour Relations Board at a hearing this week
to quash what he says is impending illegal action by anti-Blue-Man
unions outside the theatre where the New York-based organization
plans to stage its Canadian premiere Sunday.
Jamie Knight, a labour lawyer with Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti,
has filed an application asking the board to approve the creation
of a cordon sanitaire of several blocks around the
Panasonic Theatre, effectively banning pickets from operating
Sunday and for an indefinite time thereafter in the theatre's
vicinity.
It's at the 700-seat Panasonic, located on the east side of
Yonge Street about three blocks south of Bloor Street, that
Blue Man hopes to present at least eight shows a week for
an open-ended run. Four local theatrical unions, collectively
known as the Blue Man Group Boycott Coalition, have been trying
for more than eight months to reach collective agreements
with Blue Man, which started as an off-Broadway production
in the early 1990s and now has shows in four other cities,
including Berlin.
Along with calling on the public to refrain from buying tickets
to the show, the coalition has held several "information
sessions" outside the Panasonic, formerly the New Yorker
Theatre, to press its position. With relations becoming more
embittered by the day, talks between the unions and Blue Man
collapsed just over two weeks ago.
Mr. Knight expects the unions -- which want their members
to occupy most of the 70 acting, makeup, stagehand, technician
and musician jobs in the Blue Man multimedia show -- will
try to stage a demonstration outside the Panasonic.
Because one of the unions, Canadian Actors' Equity, already
has contacted some of its members who have signed on with
Blue Man Toronto, there is a "significant risk"
that these "threats" (including possible suspension
from future union-staffed shows or expulsion from the union)
and picketing activities could lead Blue Man "employees
to refuse to cross the picket line," Mr. Knight said.
"A work refusal of this sort would constitute an unlawful
strike" and such an action during Blue Man's Toronto
premiere "would cause irreparable harm. . . ," he
added.
If the board agrees Friday to ban picketing within a certain
area, it "ensures theatre patrons don't have to run a
gantlet" to get into the Panasonic, Mr. Knight said.
In their response to the request, the unions acknowledged
they intend "to have persons present outside the theatre
June 19 [Sunday] requesting customers and/or potential customers
to boycott" the Blue Man show.
They also called for the dismissal of Mr. Knight's application,
arguing that they have not violated the Labour Relations Act,
that Blue Man has "disclosed no prima facie violation"
of that act and that if the application were granted, it would
violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
About 10 days ago, Blue Man reported it had advance ticket
sales of $650,000 for the Panasonic, which is owned and operated
by Clear Channel Entertainment Canada, a subsidiary of its
Texas-based parent. Clear Channel bought the 94-year-old property
last year for about $5-million and has spent an estimated
$10-million to $12-million on renovations.
Meanwhile, actor Gordon Pinsent and former dancer Veronica
Tennant have asked Clear Channel to remove from the Panasonic's
entranceway the bronzed star plaques with their names and
signatures that have been embedded in the sidewalk for 11
years. In letters sent last week, Mr. Pinsent, 74, and Ms.
Tennant, 58, requested the removal because, as long-standing
members of Actors' Equity, each does not "wish to have
my name involved in this controversy in any way." If
Blue Man Group agrees to "negotiate fair agreements"
with Equity and other unions, they "may reconsider.".
A total of five named plaques were placed on the site in 1994
-- four years before the start of Canada's official Walk of
Fame. Clear Channel would like to talk to Mr. Pinsent and
company to give them its side of the issues, a company representative
said. "But if they feel uncomfortable with the situation
. . . we're more than happy to take them [the sidewalk plaques]
out."
©
2005 The Globe and Mail
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