The State Theatre in Portland. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald, file
Production staff at the State Theatre have filed a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board.
The approximately 35 stagehands are seeking what they say are industry-standard wages, as well as benefits for all production staff and future employees.
“We are a diverse, highly skilled group who deserve to be valued with more than just high praise,” stagehand Brian Cormier said in a news release.
“Management says they want to protect the people who work here, and yet we struggle to access even the basic protections, such as workers’ comp, that we currently do have,” added Kevin Lee, also a stagehand.
State Theatre manager Lauren Wayne did not respond to questions about whether she intends to recognize the union.
The production crew is organizing with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 114, which is based in Portland. IATSE represents about 90 stage workers in Maine, primarily based in Portland.
The group has requested that the management of Crobo LLC, the business name for the State Theatre, voluntarily recognize the union by 5 p.m. Thursday.
If the company does not recognize the union, there will be an NLRB election, said Devon Medeiros, the business agent for IATSE Local 114.
Medeiros said the group does not expect that Crobo LLC will voluntarily recognize the union, but he’s “extremely confident” that a labor board election would go in the group’s favor.
“They have really reasonable demands,” he said. “They’re not asking for anything that isn’t what we would determine are both an industry standard or a regional standard. They’re not looking to negotiate the State Theatre out of business.”
Medeiros said the crew first approached the union about organizing in late 2023 and has been working with the state AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions, to pull everything together.
“These employees really just want to have a seat at the table and a say in their employment,” Medeiros said. “There’s a lot of pervasive antiunion fear that is largely unfounded. … It really isn’t a hostile or greedy effort.”
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