Privatization Threatens Overture Union Workers
For 30 years both AFSCME Local 60 and IATSE Local 251 have represented the various employees responsible for ensuring that “the show must go on” at the Madison Civic Center, and its successor, Overture Center for the Arts. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Overture Center management have recently proposed a privatization plan that would effectively bring the curtain down on that historical relationship.
A recent press conference held in the Overture Hall lobby heralded the elimination of the $28.6 million debt that had hung over the arts center like a dark cloud for years. Buried amongst the good news for the building’s future, though, were the casual references to the proposed management restructuring, which would involve privatizing the majority of the Overture operation, excluding only maintenance and custodial workers, who would remain City employees.
AFSCME represents 24 full-time employees and 110 hourly employees, such as ushers, security guards and cashiers. IATSE represents 150 employees who work as they are needed for events.
The privatization proposal is being pushed despite what Overture management is painting as the most successful season to date, including a month-long engagement of Disney’s Broadway hit The Lion King, and despite having been labeled by Broadway Across America as the hottest market in the country, based on dramatic increases in ticket sales for next season.
AFSCME Local 60 steward Davin Pickell refers to the privatization plan as just another variation on the age old “take from the poor, give to the rich” schemes—many of which have contributed to the current gutting of the global economy. “If this were about across the board belt-tightening, including management, in the interest of maintaining jobs, we would be sitting at the table, waiting for the discussion to begin,” he said. “Management has made clear, though, their goal of cutting the cost of labor, while giving themselves raises.”
IATSE Local 251 stagehands just recently started receiving benefits, after having signed a first ever contract with the city of Madison covering work at Overture Center and Monona Terrace Convention Center, having previously worked under conditions of a contract with a local promoter. The city contract was the culmination of over 8 years of protracted effort thwarting the various legal maneuvers made by the City and Overture to avoid having to negotiate with IATSE.
We started pursuing this contract before my oldest son was born,” says Chris Gauthier, Business Agent for Local 251. “He just turned 8. I thought I was finally going to get to spend some time with my family.” The privatization plan would presumably require Gauthier to return to his still-warm seat at the negotiating table.
Tom Carto, President and CEO of Overture Center, made several references at a recent all-staff meeting to the true heart of his vision for the facility’s future, referring to “at-will employees,” undetermined benefits, and lower wages for future hires. Carto, according to Gauthier, “came to town three years ago with a reputation as being unfriendly to labor, and he’s done nothing to change that image since he’s been here.”
Involving the unions
Gauthier and Pickell agree that Overture management has likely already made decisions about what they want the privatized entity to look like, but they have yet to involve union representatives in those discussions. “They claim that the details can’t be discussed, because nothing has been decided,” according to Pickell, “yet they’re plugging in numbers and doing calculations with a consultant based on a set of assumptions that they refuse to share.”
Tom Carto is quick to point the finger at ‘expensive city employees’ as being the cause of Overture’s budget woes,” according to Gauthier. Carto’s base city salary of $127,986 and additional compensation of $36,000 from the 201 State Foundation, the fundraising arm of Overture, arguably make him the highest paid city employee. Privatization, Gauthier adds, “would certainly allow him to earn more, and disclose less.”
Conversations with front-line workers regularly come back to a theme of lack of faith in management, echoing the thought that “they’re the ones who got us to where we are today.” Several employees cited the astronomical manager-to-employee ratio, unchecked mis-management, and a general disconnect between managers and the day-to-day operation of the facility as being of great concern.
According to one employee, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, “at least with [then-Interim President] Michael Goldberg, you had a leader who knew your name, and made you feel appreciated. Tom Carto is rarely seen by employees, and certainly never makes a point of actually fraternizing with us. Ultimately, what does it say that many of us feel we’d even be better off today with Bob D’Angelo at the helm?”
One claim Carto has repeatedly made in the media, attempting to sell privatization, is that the Madison Cultural Arts District (MCAD) is financially responsible for paying wages and benefits which are determined by the city, to employees whose hiring and firing are also done at city discretion.
“That’s one of the worst of his lies,” says Pickell. “Overture management has full control of who gets hired, and they had several representatives at the negotiating table throughout the IATSE contract negotiations. I presume firing hasn’t been an issue either—as they very selectively laid off certain targeted employees in the two rounds of layoffs over the last two years.”
Overture management has recently held up the Kennedy Center, in Washington D.C. as an example of a successful publicly-owned, privately-run performing arts facility. “They used to use a performing arts facility in Alaska as their example,” commented Gauthier. “‘The Anchorage Model’ they called it. We heard last month from Lion King touring crew that the facility in Anchorage was, by far, the worst they had ever performed in.”
The debt deal
The tentatively resolved debt was the result of two failed efforts at investing millions of dollars in hopes of using the resulting income to pay for ongoing maintenance costs at the facility. The debt resolution plan involved various donations totaling $15.1 million, and the various loan-holding banks forgiving the remaining $13.5 million.
Strings attached to the donations and debt forgiveness require the City of Madison to take ownership of the facility, maintain its current subsidy level, and take on the additional responsibility for Overture’s long-term maintenance needs. Recent media accounts suggest that City leaders are as of yet unconvinced to endorse the plan, and say that due diligence and scrutiny will be required before it is approved.
“You often hear about the goal of win-win, but it isn’t often that you see proposals that are lose-lose,” according to Pickell. “Overture will lose valuable employees who will likely choose employment stability, bumping other employees who will bump other employees, until finally other employees will lose their jobs. The taxpayers will lose valuable tax dollars retraining countless employees as the result of this process. But Tom Carto will get a raise. I guess, then, it’s more like lose-lose-lose-lose-(ad infinitum-minus one)-and Tom Carto wins.”