UPDATED: Broadway can breathe a sigh of relief. A strike by musicians has been averted as AFM Local 802 has come to an agreement with the Broadway League on a tentative deal. It will now be brought to union members for ratification.
“United in solidarity, Local 802 Broadway musicians are thrilled to announce that we reached a tentative agreement at 4:30 AM with the Broadway League that will avert a strike scheduled to begin later today,” said AFM Local 802 President Bob Suttmann in a statement. “This three-year agreement provides meaningful wage and health benefit increases that will preserve crucial access to healthcare for our musicians while maintaining the strong contract protections that empower musicians to build a steady career on Broadway.”
Musicians had been working without a contract since August 31, when the former deal expired.
The New York Times, which obtained a copy of the tentative agreement, reports it includes a 3 percent salary increase each year of a three-year deal, along with significant contributions from the League to the workers’ health fund.
PREVIOUS, Oct. 21: The union representing Broadway musicians is vowing to go on strike later this week if a last-ditched effort at mediation Wednesday fails.
“The Broadway musicians represented by Local 802 AFM are going into mediation on Wednesday, Oct. 22,” said Local 802 President Bob Suttmann. “If we do not have a new contract by Thursday morning, we are prepared to strike immediately. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement.”
Broadway musicians have been working without a contract since August 31, 2025.
In a list prepared by the union, the following commercial Broadway shows would be impacted by a strike. (Theater names in parentheses).
- & Juliet (Sondheim)
- Aladdin (New Amsterdam)
- Beetlejuice (Palace)
- Book of Mormon (O’Neil)
- Buena Vista Social Club (Schoenfeld)
- Chess (Imperial)
- Chicago (Ambassador)
- Death Becomes Her (Lunt Fontanne)
- The Great Gatsby (Broadway)
- Hadestown (Kerr)
- Hamilton (Rogers)
- Hells Kitchen (Shubert)
- Just in Time (Circle in the Square)
- The Lion King (Minskoff)
- Mamma Mia (Wintergarden)
- Maybe Happy Ending (Belasco)
- Operation Mincemeat (Golden)
- MJ (Neil Simon)
- Moulin Rouge (Hirshfeld)
- The Outsiders (Jacobs)
- Queen of Versailles (St. James)
- Six (Atkinson)
- Wicked (Gershwin)
The announcement from the union comes just days after another Broadway union – Actors’ Equity Association, which reps stage actors and stage managers – reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League over much of the same stumbling blocks faced by the musicians – wages, health care benefits, job security and livable working schedules.
Local 802 represents thousands of highly skilled musicians. Its members perform on Broadway, at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Radio City, in recording studios, as teaching artists, on late-night TV shows and in other televised bands, and in hotels, clubs, festivals and venues across NYC.
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