We facilitate, set up, oversee and strike all the events in the Center’s plaza and many other locations across the campus. Some of us have worked at the Center for ten years or more and most of us are being paid substandard wages by an organization that is thriving financially, in part due to the work we do. 

After having our repeated requests for reasonable wage increases and improvements to our working conditions ignored for years, we finally asked the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) to represent us in our workplace. IATSE has represented the Stagehands on both the main stage of Segerstrom Hall and the Concert Hall for more than 40 years, and the Union’s relationship with the Center has always been excellent. So, the 28 of us on the Event Operations team, along with IATSE’s local Business Rep., believed that the process of organizing our unit and negotiating a reasonable first contract with the Center would be no big deal. 
We were wrong. 

The Center’s current leadership launched an aggressive disinformation campaign against our Union and made every attempt to coerce us into abandoning our pursuit of IATSE representation. The Center hired Union busting attorneys that have thrown every possible obstacle in our path, but this ongoing unlawful behavior has only served to strengthen our resolve, as it’s proven to us just how disrespectfully the Center’s leaders are willing to treat employees who dare to insist on having a voice in their workplace. We’ve included the list of Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges we’ve had to file with the National Labor Relations Board, at the bottom of this page. 
Despite the underhanded tactics of SCFTA’s leadership, we love the Center. 

There’s no place like Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and although we’re not proud of the behavior of the Center’s leaders – we are genuinely proud to work here. Our team wants to continue to help bring amazing events to the members of our community through our work in Segerstrom Event Operations. Please help us convince the Center’s leaders to reverse course and start negotiating with us in good faith. 

We ask that you express your support for us by emailing Brad Marlowe, our IATSE representative, businessagent@iatse504.com.

Brad will collect the letters of support and present them to the Center’s Board of Directors in the hopes that they can encourage those on the Center’s negotiating committee to treat us with the respect we’ve earned through our years of service and dedication.