Atlanta Opera Hair and Makeup Stylists Unionize

Atlanta Opera Hair Stylists Union protest. IATSE Local 798
Hair and make-up stylists on the Atlanta Opera are attempting to type a union with IATSE Local 798. As a part of the very first opera firm within the nation to reopen throughout the pandemic, within the fall of 2020, these hair stylists had been front-facing employees who—given the character of their work—weren’t capable of socially distance. The performers they had been styling couldn’t put on full PPE whereas having their make-up completed. Despite the harmful work they had been doing in a really unsure interval, working earlier than vaccines had been broadly out there, they weren’t given well being advantages. They additionally didn’t obtain pension advantages or additional time pay. They had been thought-about unbiased contractors—even whereas working side-by-side with unionized staff who acquired all the advantages and pay that they lacked.
Angela Johnson, the hair stylists’ consultant at IATSE Local 798, advised Observer that the motivation to type their union started after they found simply what number of of their coworkers in different departments had been unionized and had the pay and advantages that they lacked. For whole seasons they labored beside stagehands, wardrobe employees, and musicians who had been unionized. Their coworkers had been absolutely protected with well being advantages throughout this extremely harmful time. The stylists, all of whom are Black, and a majority of whom are ladies, beloved their jobs. They beloved working in a inventive area alongside performers. Some, equivalent to division head Brie Hall, had been working on the opera for years and had been liable for designing appears to be like for performers. They felt like part of the staff, working for a corporation that they considered being numerous and progressive. 
“I undoubtedly am a theater lady,” Brie Hall advised Observer. “It was at all times enjoyable. It was undoubtedly joyous working there and being inventive and ensuring if you do one thing, you’ve received to nail it as a result of the viewers is watching.”
Coming again from lockdown, Hall seen that her coworkers in wardrobe had been getting paid time and a half for working weekend reveals. The hair stylists weren’t. Meanwhile, they feared for his or her lives and the lives of their family members, engaged on performers’ maskless faces, with out well being advantages, throughout a world pandemic. The Atlanta Opera went to nice lengths to make sure the security of their office, with necessary distancing pointers for all employees. The unprotected stylists felt obviously neglected of consideration. 
Sakeitha King, one other stylist on the Atlanta Opera, advised Observer, “When we exit to work and we put our craft and issues that we love on the forefront, we wish to be compensated a dwelling wage.”
When the stylists requested the Atlanta Opera for voluntary recognition of their union, they didn’t reply. After a number of extra makes an attempt at communication, earlier than the shut of the spring present, they filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). They had been granted an NLRB listening to and the regional administrators discovered of their favor and ordered an election. The Atlanta Opera appealed the case, and the regional administrators discovered within the employees favor a second time. The hair stylists lastly voted over the summer time, however the opera appealed once more, this time to the NLRB in Washington DC. The opera’s declare is that the stylists had been unbiased contractors and not staff and due to this fact ineligible to unionize. In interesting, the opera was capable of get the stylists’ votes impounded whereas the NLRB considers the case. It has remained in overview. 
Their case has gained nationwide consideration due to the leftward flip of President Biden’s NLRB. It is now theorized that the board would possibly need to broaden the definition of worker, making it more durable to misclassify employees, like these hair stylists, as unbiased contractors. The board is at present revisiting the Trump-era customary for worker classification and they’ve invited the general public to submit amicus briefs on reclassification. IATSE 798, nevertheless, maintains that even underneath the Trump-era guidelines, the stylists are certainly staff and not unbiased contractors.
“We proved our case underneath the present guidelines,” Angela Johnson advised Observer. “While it’s great to assist everyone, the underside line is underneath the present guidelines which are in place, the Trump period guidelines, we’ve proved our case, and the regional board and the regional director discovered within the employees favor.” 
Atlanta Opera Hair Stylist Union and Scabby the Rat.
For Hall, the opera firms’ insistence on their continued misclassification as unbiased contractors felt discriminatory, particularly given that everybody else who labored backstage had been staff. Gig work of their area has particular connotations: it’s a day of labor, like a marriage. An whole season of labor isn’t a gig, it’s a job. 
“They work the identical means in our business as anyone else,” Johnson advised Observer. “They’re advised when to return to work. They’re advised when the present goes up. They’re advised when to start out doing hair and make-up. They’re staff.”
Given their exclusion from the rights and pay of the numerous unionized staff they had been working with, it’s no surprise these employees, a union made up of primarily Black ladies, felt personally persecuted. 
“I don’t perceive why we don’t even deserve a dialog to barter,” Hall advised Observer. “We had been stonewalled. We by no means received to be heard in any respect. Me together with my different coworkers would like to know why.”
As the NLRB considers the case, the Atlanta Opera has not rehired these stylists underneath even their former situations. They supplied diminished wages and working situations. Some stylists would possibly even have gone again to work on the opera, however the opera home requested their return far too near the start of the season, when the stylists had already been dedicated elsewhere. The opera firm, based on Johnson at IATSE, is now hiring stylists who stay out of state, little doubt as a result of out-of-state employees are unlikely to need to type a union. The Atlanta Opera didn’t reply when reached out to for remark for this text. 
As the case is reviewed, different efficiency business unions have issued letters of help for these hair stylists. Actors’ Equity cites how continuously their members of coloration expertise hair and make-up discrimmination at work, and how that is because of the shortage of Black technicians within the business. “Hiring Black employees however refusing to deal with them equitably solely exacerbates this disaster,” they wrote of their launch final month. AGMA, the union representing opera singers, additionally issued a press release, condemning the Atlanta Opera’s retaliatory conduct and applauding the stylists for not backing down. As these employees await a ruling from the NLRB which has the potential to be a historic win for employees’ rights nationally, the union continues to arrange. On April 30, IATSE Local 798 can be holding a rally in Atlanta in help. In the meantime, they’re encouraging folks to name the Atlanta Opera and demand union recognition. 

https://observer.com/2022/04/atlanta-opera-hair-and-makeup-stylists-unionize-amid-national-debate-over-gig-workers/