The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees will be protesting outside of a Maroon 5 concert in Atlanta on February 19, alleging that Live Nation mistreats stagehands operating in the Georgia capital. The group is labeling the behavior of the concert promoter in the city as a "bad performance." You can see the organization's letter of complaint at Digital Music News.
Maroon 5 isn't a particular target, but the pop band just happens to be playing Philips Arena on Thursday night.
So why Atlanta? Why aren't concerts around the country being protested by the IATSE as well? It turns out that Live Nation's operations in ATL are different than those elsewhere. The protesting organization cited Charlotte and Birmingham as other Southern examples where stagehands are paid union-scale wages and receive benefits from Live Nation, as well as paying payroll taxes to the state.
According to the IATSE, this doesn't hold true in Atlanta. Apparently Live Nation hires out its work to Crew One, a company that hires stagehands as independent contractors and thus avoids paying payroll taxes or giving its employees benefits. This contracting of services is assumed to be considerably cheaper for Live Nation.
Further outrage for the protesters is that the 400 or so employees who work as stagehands in the Atlanta area voted to to form a union, yet Crew One has refused to negotiate.
The issue is less that Live Nation is itself paying unfair wages but rather turning a blind eye for convenience's sake in Atlanta. The ultimate goal of the protests is either to encourage Crew One to open up to negotiations or to get the concert promoter to drop Crew One as the contractor for its Atlanta concerts.
Then again, a Washington Post article from last week indicates Live Nation may be paying low wages at other venues as well.
Stay tuned.
