The actors, stage managers, bartenders and servers of Phoenix’s Drunk Shakespeare have become the Second Company of the theatrical franchise to unionize as Drunk Shakespeare United. Following just weeks after their fellow workers in Chicago, they too have organized with Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional performers and stage managers in live theatre. Should their employers, Brass Jar Productions AZ LLC, change course and refuse the voluntary recognition they offered in Chicago, the Phoenix workers are confident their signed union commitment cards will lead to certification by the NLRB.
Workers in the Phoenix production unanimously chose to form a union because as the people closest to the work, they see achievable solutions to recurring problems. With no local representative of the employer in Phoenix, there is no mechanism for preserving the high quality of the show and overall experience. A union gives them a voice to address these issues with their management.
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