Pushing forward with international president Thomas C. Short’s “organizational campaign of national LORT theatre(s)”, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) has announced that it may be representing the Ensemble Theatre Company in Houston. That announcement was made pending the results of a hearing over certain “challenged votes” in a recent National Labor Relations Board election.
An IATSE prepared statement dated Nov. 20 indicates that the election “still has some challenges to be cleared” but implied that the union’s representation of the “largest African-American theatre company in the southern United States” was all but sealed.
“No decision has been made,” said Ensemble production manager Meredith McCrory. “They challenged a few votes and they’ll probably have a hearing soon.”
Once the hearing takes place, McCrory said, a decision will be made about whether Ensemble actually goes union.
-- By Murdoch McBride