Broadway avoids a strike: What to know about the agreement
Broadway musicians union Local 802 AFM announced Thursday that it had reached a tentative agreement with The Broadway League to avert a strike.
In a press release, Local 802 AFM said it had struck a three-year tentative agreement with The Broadway League, the official trade association for the industry, to keep Broadway's lights on. The deal includes "meaningful wage and health benefit increases," the announcement read.
"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," AFM Local 802 President Bob Suttmann said in a statement included in the press release.
The statement continued, "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."
According to the union, the agreement will now go to the union for ratification
In a statement to ABC News on Thursday, Jason Laks, president of The Broadway League, said, "We are pleased the parties were able to reach a tentative agreement. We are deeply appreciative of our mediator for helping shepherd these discussions."
According to the union, the musicians have been working without a contract since Aug. 31, 2025.
Actors Equity, another Broadway union that represents more than 50,000 actors and stage managers, previously announced that it had reached a tentative deal with The Broadway League on Oct. 18.
The last major Broadway strike occurred in 2007, when a 19-day dispute closed live Broadway shows. This time around, the narrowly avoided strike would have affected 23 shows.
Read on for more details about the dispute and more.
When would the Broadway strike have begun?
Local 802 AFM announced its intention to strike starting Thursday morning if an agreement was not reached with The Broadway League before then.
"The Broadway musicians represented by Local 802 AFM are going into mediation on Wednesday, Oct. 22," the union wrote in a statement on Tuesday, Oct. 21. "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."
What was the union is asking for?
In an open letter to The Broadway League, shared Oct. 1, Local 802 AFM called for a guarantee of "fair wages that reflect Broadway's success," "stable health coverage," "no change to attendance requirement," "employment and income security," and preservation of "in-house contractors."
The union said it was "willing to do whatever it takes to win these important standards."
"We are fighting for a healthy Broadway!" it added.
What did the union say about the possibility of a Broadway strike?
The union previously announced on Oct. 13 that it had voted to authorize a strike "if necessary" in its ongoing negotiations with The Broadway League.
"Broadway musicians of Local 802 have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if needed, as the Broadway League continues to demand unacceptable wages and reduced jobs and benefits in the current contract talks," the union wrote on Instagram at the time, stating that the vote was 98% in favor of strike authorization.
ABC News previously reached out to Local 802 AFM for additional comment but did not immediately hear back.
What did The Broadway League say about the potential strike?
In an earlier statement to ABC News, The Broadway League declined to comment on specific tenants of the negotiations, but stated its determination to reach an agreement.
"Good-faith negotiations happen at the bargaining table, not in the press," the group said at the time. "We value our musicians and we are committed to working in good faith to get a fair contract done."
What shows would have been affected by a Broadway strike?
In a statement announcing its intention to strike without a deal, AFM Local 802 listed the 23 shows that would have been affected.
They included:
- "& Juliet" (Sondheim)
- "Aladdin" (New Amsterdam)
- "Beetlejuice" (Palace)
- "Book of Mormon" (O’Neil)
- "Buena Vista" (Schoenfeld)
- "Chess" (Imperial)
- "Chicago" (Ambassador)
- "Death Becomes Her" (Lunt Fontanne)
- "Gatsby" (Broadway)
- "Hadestown" (Kerr)
- "Hamilton" (Rogers)
- "Hells Kitchen" (Shubert)
- "Just in Time" (Circle in the Square)
- "Lion King" (Minskoff)
- "Mamma Mia" (Wintergarden)
- "Maybe Happy Ending" (Belasco)
- "Mincemeat" (Golden)
- "MJ" (Neil Simon)
- "Moulin Rouge" (Hirshfeld)
- "Outsiders" (Jacob’s)
- "Queen of Versailles" (St. James)
- "Six" (Atkinson)
- "Wicked" (Gershwin)
