Broadway musicians voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike Sunday night, threatening significant disruptions to New York City’s iconic theater scene if their demands are not met at the bargaining table this week.
The musicians, who have been working without a contract on Broadway since Aug. 31, outlined their demands in an open letter to the Broadway League on Oct. 1. They include higher wages, better health care coverage, and protections from layoffs. About 98% of the 1,000 members who cast ballots voted in favor of a potential strike if negotiations continue to stall, according to their union Local 802 AFM – though the groups will meet again later this week and the strike could be called off if they are satisfied with a new proposal.
The vote comes as Broadway reported an enormously successful 2024-2025 season, according to the Broadway League, yielding a record $1.89 billion in grosses and a total attendance of 14.7 million, making it the second best attended season ever. It also comes as Broadway performers and stage managers are considering a strike after talks between the Actors’ Equity Association — whose contract expired on Sept. 28 — and the Broadway League stalled over health care. If both actors and musicians walk off the job simultaneously, it could spell disaster for many of the city’s 41 Broadway theaters as attendance begins to ramp up for the holiday season.
“On the heels of the most successful season in history, the Broadway League wants the working musicians and artists who fueled that very success to accept deep wage cuts, threats to health care benefits, and potential job losses,” Local 802 AFM President Bob Suttman said in a statement. “Faced with such an egregious erosion of their working conditions, Local 802 Broadway musicians and other artists are ready to leverage every ounce of their collective power, up to and including a strike. Committing to anything less would mean sacrificing far too many hard-won gains.”
“We made some progress during our two days of mediation last week, but Equity and The Broadway League are still very far apart on some of our most pressing issues,” said Al Vincent Jr., the Actors’ Equity Association’s executive director. “We plan to resume talks on October 17. In the meantime, we will continue strike preparations in case we need to take that step.”
Broadway is a major economic engine for New York City — it contributed $14.7 billion to the city’s economy and supported 96,900 jobs during the 2018-19 season, according to the Broadway League. However, skyrocketing labor and production costs have made it increasingly difficult for new musicals to be profitable despite soaring ticket sales.
Citing potential harm to “theater workers and patrons across the country,” 31 members of Congress signed a letter last week urging the musicians, the actors and the Broadway League to come to an agreement.
“All New Yorkers and the more than 68 million tourists who visit the city each year are counting on you to come to a fair and speedy resolution on these contracts,” they wrote. “We respectfully encourage both sides to bargain in good faith and resolve these issues to avoid a strike.”
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee and current front-runner, also weighed in on social media, tweeting that “Broadway’s actors, musicians and crew make New York the cultural capital of the world.”
According to Local 802 AFM, the strike could happen anytime within the next two weeks, depending on the result of negotiations.
A spokesperson for the Broadway League declined to comment on the vote.
This story was updated with comment from the Actors’ Equity Association.
David Brand contributed reporting.
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