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Stagehands May Picket ‘Three Tenors’ Concert : Labor: Key issue is union wages for workers at the July 16 Dodger Stadium event.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A labor dispute between the local stagehands union and producers of “Encore! The Three Tenors” concert at Dodger Stadium may result in a picket line greeting the expected sold-out audience.

The concert, set for July 16, the evening before the World Cup championship soccer match, features world-class tenors Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, with Zubin Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Attorneys for Local 33 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees are concerned that the concert producers may hire stagehands at non-union wages to work alongside stagehands working under an agreement between the union and the Philharmonic.

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Union attorneys faxed a three-page letter to “Tenors” impresario Tibor Rudas on Tuesday informing him of “certain problems” between IATSE and Rudas representatives, to tell him of existing collective-bargaining agreements covering stagehand work for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and to ask what Rudas plans to pay additional stagehands at the Dodger Stadium event.

Local 33 Business Representative John F. Beringhele has for several weeks been attempting to work out an agreement to cover wages, hours and other conditions for the staging of the event, says attorney Bob Cantore.

If the union finds that wages and benefits being paid stagehands are less than would be the case by union standards, Cantore says, “the union will peacefully picket and inform the public through leaflets that they have paid up to $1,000 for tickets and the producer is then paying substandard wages with all of that money.”

The stagehands union, which has 1,200 members in Los Angeles County, has done other concert work at Dodger Stadium, Cantore says, as well as when singers Carreras and Domingo appeared at the Greek Theatre and Music Center Opera, respectively.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is proceeding with respect to this performance just as it does in respect to others done away from the Music Center complex and Hollywood Bowl, says Dennis Vaughn, the lawyer representing the Philharmonic in this matter. The orchestra “is employing stagehands in a normal fashion, under the collective-bargaining agreement.”

Vaughn confirmed that he had spoken with IATSE attorney Cantore, however. “We discussed our respective positions about the union’s claims about work at the performance. Naturally, the Philharmonic wants and expects to see the show go forward on a normal and undisturbed basis. Certainly we don’t believe that the picketing activity should be conducted, and have so advised the union.”

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The IATSE board will take all this under consideration at a Tuesday board meeting, Cantore says, and he agreed to let Vaughn know their decision then, if not sooner. “We have a longstanding relationship with the Philharmonic,” Cantore says. “It was never our intent to put them in the middle of the thing.”

Asked about demands made by Local 33, “Tenors” concert general manager Wayne Baruch would say only the following: “We are following all normal and legal procedures and producing the show according to the highest possible standards.”

Nobody at the Rudas Organization will discuss expected concert income, but reliable sources estimate it could gross $12.5 million to $15 million should it sell out. More than 40,000 seats at $15 to $150 reportedly sold out long ago, but an undisclosed number of tickets at $300 and up are still on the market. Baruch would say only that “very few” tickets remained for sale.

Ticket sales were apparently also an issue in the cancellation of Elizabeth Taylor’s post-concert supper to raise funds for AIDS-related services. The actress sent a fax to The Times saying that she “did not realize” the face value of each concert ticket would not reach her foundation. Taylor’s foundation had been offering packages ranging from $2,500 to $5,000, which included concert and dinner tickets.

Baruch declined to comment, saying he had not seen Taylor’s fax.

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