Will A Fashion Week Picket Line Strike At The Lincoln Center?

While Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week is only weeks away, it may be welcomed with a picket line. According to the Wall Street Journal, there’s a dispute between IMG Fashion, which produces Fashion Week and the labor union Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which oversees the majority of the theatrical labor at the performing-arts complex and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The origin of this dispute centers on the relationship between the labor union and the Lincoln Center and the specific area IMG plans to have the fashion tents. Local One’s contract with the Lincoln Center gives the union jurisdiction over the Lincoln Center campus but it excludes Damrosch Park and the southwest corner of the plaza where IMG plans to erect their tents.

However, union president President James J. Claffey, Jr., insists that Local One has precedent with events held at the Lincoln Center. He states, “Local One is the labor provider. We have a relationship to the entire campus. It’s absolute practice.” However, the Lincoln Center and the parks department told IMG that the union has no jurisdiction over the park or plaza property.

An agreement between the three parties should be reached soon and will set the standard for future fashion weeks as IMG signed a 5 year deal with the Lincoln Center and may plan to increase use of the campus facilities. President Claffey warned that the union will “exercise our legal rights if they don’t come to some sort of agreement with us” implying pamphleting and picketing the venue and tents.

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