Concert stagehands protest for a living wage, union contract outside Philips Arena tonight

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• Protesters to rally outside Philips Arena tonight over 'poverty-level' wages for stagehands

If you’re heading to the Maroon 5 concert at Philips Arena tonight, prepare to be greeted by union activists with banners protesting a “Poor Performance.”

Their problem isn’t with the pop-rockers. Rather it's concert promoter Live Nation’s use of local stagehands who are forced to accept what union reps think are “poverty-level” wages for helping to put on such dazzling rock shows.

The Atlanta-based stagehands who work behind the scenes of such major concerts make less than half the pay of their peers nationwide — as little as $8.50 an hour with no benefits, says Neil Gluckman, president of Atlanta’s International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 927.

Their plight has received attention from both federal and state lawmakers. The National Labor Relations Board recently approved the unionization of workers for one stagehand firm, Crew One Productions. And a state Senate committee on Feb. 11 unanimously approved a panel to examine whether Georgia’s stagehands and truckers are being misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees.

But for now, they remain stuck with low paychecks for grueling, often dangerous work.

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There are 700 to 800 people in Atlanta working as concert stagehands, Gluckman estimates. They work behind the scenes at large venues, such as Philips Arena, the Georgia Dome, and the Cobb Energy Centre. They serve as the local army backing the band’s own road crew. “For every person the band brings, there are probably 10 local hands,” Gluckman says.

They hang lights, run wires, build sets, dress performers, and unload trucks. Before becoming a union local honcho, Gluckman was a “rigger,” the guy who attaches motors to chains dangling from the venue’s ceiling so lights or props can be pulled upward.

In most major U.S. cities, this work is rewarded with pay in $20 to $25 per hour range — sometimes higher — and benefits. In many cases, the workers are members of IATSE, which has contracts with local branches of Live Nation, the country’s biggest mega-promoter.

But Atlanta has long been a low-pay “outlier,” Gluckman says. In part, that because of Georgia's right-to-work laws and other anti-union sentiments. But, Gluckman admits, it’s been a weak spot in the union’s own work. In fact, IATSE focused its effort on theater stagehands and successfully unionized them. Stagehands working on plays at the Fox Theatre, for example, get a much better deal.

The end result for concert hands has been to “suppress the wage to 50 percent below the national average," Gluckman says.

Large staffing firms, including Crew One, dominate the city's stagehand industry. Promoters like Live Nation hire stagehands for each concert via those companies. The promoters actually pay an industry-standard wage, but the staffing company takes more than half of that as fees, Gluckman says. It also doesn’t withhold taxes or offer benefits or workers’ comp insurance, claiming stagehands are independent contractors. Crew One did not respond to CL's requests for comment.

Gluckman says that stagehands should be considered employees of staffing companies like Crew One, because those firms tell the workers when to show up, when to leave, and what to do. Gluckman testified at the recent state Senate hearing, where Republican senators expressed concern about the categorization of stagehands as well as truckers for companies serving the Port of Savannah.

“It’s an issue that is appealing to Republicans because it’s about leveling the playing field and it’s about all businesses being treatment equally” — and paying their fair share of taxes, Gluckman says.

Meanwhile, IATSE is also pushing for unionization. A group of Crew One stagehands last June voted 116-60 in favor of joining the union in an NLRB-approved election.

But Crew One has repeatedly appealed, with the NLRB most recently shooting the company’s objections down on Jan. 30. “Throughout all of this, Crew One has refused to bargain with us,” Gluckman says.

Crew One’s objections include a claim that the union is essentially a competitor trying to put it out of business by offering staffing service. Gluckman says that’s not true because, while the IATSE local would provide recruits via a hiring-hall method, it would not employ or pay them.

"We take 5 percent of gross wages," Gluckman says about the union fees. "If you make $20 per hour, you voluntarily return a dollar to the union in return for the operation of the union's hiring hall." In addition, union contracts include benefits and withholding of taxes.

Live Nation could agree to only hire only the newly unionized labor, Gluckman says, but it has taken a “hands-off approach.” Live Nation claims that decision lies with its Atlanta branch office. That office “has refused to talk to us,” Gluckman says. Peter Conlon of Live Nation declined to comment on the record.

Thus, the concert protests that will begin at Philips on Thursday and continue at such upcoming shows as Billy Joel’s Feb. 25 date. IATSE will rabble-rouse online, too.

Gluckman says he's "fairly confident" the workers will be able to make an agreement to boost wages with Live Nation.

Until then, he says, the IATSE will be “very visible in getting our message out to the general public.”

NOTE: This post has been altered to clarify Gluckman's comment about making an agreement with Live Nation.