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Modified Blue Man protest to go ahead

Globe and Mail
By JAMES ADAMS
Saturday, June 18, 2005 Page A11

Hundreds of balloon-waving protesters are expected to show up late tomorrow afternoon directly across from the Canadian premiere of the Blue Man Group multimedia show after a mediated settlement approved yesterday by the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

The protesters will be part of a "media event" called "the Anti-Blue Man Experience" that will also include a live blues band and speakers in support of a coalition of four local theatrical unions trying to obtain collective agreements with New York-based Blue Man for its production at the Panasonic Theatre in downtown Toronto.

Fitful negotiations had been going on since late last year but broke down last month, with Blue Man insisting on carrying over its tradition of running non-unionized or lightly unionized shows into Toronto's heavily unionized theatrical scene.

Yesterday's decision by labour board chair Kevin Whitaker came after Blue Man lawyer Jamie Knight and lawyers representing the Blue Man Boycott Coalition met yesterday morning to debate an application Mr. Knight filed last week.

The application argued that coalition plans to host a protest coinciding with the official start of Blue Man's show this weekend (previews have been running since June 7) posed "a significant risk" of becoming "an unlawful strike."

At least one of the coalition unions, Canadian Actors' Equity, has asked two members who took Blue Man jobs after it declared the show "employer non grata" to attend a disciplinary meeting in August.

Mr. Knight feared that this, "coupled with the unions' picketing activities, could lead Blue Man Toronto employees to refuse to cross the picket line" -- a work refusal that "would constitute an unlawful strike."

Had Mr. Knight's application been granted unchanged yesterday, the coalition would have been denied access to an area of several blocks around the 700-seat Panasonic, located on the east side of Yonge Street between Isabella and Charles Streets.

However, coalition representatives stressed yesterday that they never intended to carry placards or distribute leaflets on the block where the Panasonic is situated, or to demonstrate outside the stage door in the laneway behind the theatre.

Instead, the event, as planned and as subsequently approved by Mr. Whitaker, will occur on St. Mary Street, a side street running west off the west side of Yonge, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Whatever leafleting planned for Yonge's east side, Mr. Whitaker said, has to occur north of Charles and south of Isabella. Moreover, the unions agreed not to "discipline or take any reprisals" against any Blue Man employee just because he or she "worked for Blue Man in the premiere performance."

© 2005 The Globe and Mail