I went to my union meeting this month to see what the state of things is. My B.A and President said by all indications things are going to go from 0 to 1,000 overnight some time between mid summer and early fall.
With that said he told us the over hire list is pretty much destroyed by this
point. A lot of our older members decided to retire, I honestly don’t blame them. This included the entire rigging team from our busiest roadhouse.
We also discussed how we can take this time to weed out people who conduct themselves in an undesirable manner. It presents an opportunity to put the best
foot forward. Way before the pandemic the age of the hooligan
stagehand was coming to and end. Despite the pushback, customer service is just as important as a skill now as everything else we do with our hands.
Especially in the post COVID world organizations are going to look for reasons to not negotiate with labor. If it is between a few people guilty of non stop hoolaginism and an entire labor force, I have no problem using the hooligans as sacrificial lambs.