Employees of Pabst Theater Group in Milwaukee are trying to form a union
Milwaukee's Pabst Theater Group announced last month that it was expanding operations, welcoming the Wisconsin Center District's Miller High Life Theatre as their fifth venue.
Now the entertainment venue operator's employees are looking for an expanded role with plans to unionize.
About 82% of PTG's roughly 60 part-time employees from their box office, event staff and hospitality divisions have signed union authorization cards with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Association, otherwise known as MASH, as of April 4.
That same day, MASH president Peter Rickman sent a letter to Pabst Theater Group CEO Gary Witt seeking recognition of the PTG Workers Union and to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.
MASH is the same group that successfully helped Fiserv Forum employees establish a union recognized by Milwaukee Bucks management in 2020.
"We just really want our voices to be heard and to be at the table when decisions are made that impact us," said Lulu Sanchez, who has worked for the Pabst Theater Group box office for six years and is one of the employees seeking union recognition. The Pabst Theater Group "has been an incredible asset to Milwaukee. We just want to make it the best that it can be."
The push for unionization has received support from Wisconsin Democrats U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Mark Pocan, as well as Democratic Senate candidates Alex Lasry and Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin's lieutenant governor.
Reached for comment, the Pabst Theater Group issued a statement to the Journal Sentinel: "We received a request from a union expressing an interest in representing certain employees of PTG. We are reviewing the request. We will respond directly to the union when our review is complete."
Unionization effort predates pandemic
Pabst Theater Group employee discussions with MASH about a possible union go back about 2½ years, said Justin Otto, a backstage hospitality worker with the Pabst for the past six years who's also seeking union recognition.
Talks stalled when the pandemic shut down the Pabst Theater Group venues in March 2020, but they have intensified in the past six months, Rickman said, once the Pabst began hosting shows again at the Pabst Theater, Riverside Theater, Turner Hall Ballroom and the Back Room at Colectivo Coffee.
When speaking with the Journal Sentinel, Rickman, Sanchez and Otto wouldn't specify key requests that might appear in a collective bargaining agreement.
"We're looking at this purely democratically," Otto said. "All of us will have a role in shaping a proposed contract."
"I've been a service worker for most of my life, and I've had plenty of jobs that I can't stand and never thought I wanted to fix those jobs. I just left and quit," Otto added. "We do love working in the music industry. ... You don't try to change a workplace you hate. You do it when you love the workplace."
Beyond hosting shows, the Pabst Theater Group has long tried to position itself as a community leader, from hosting mayoral debates to pushing city officials to institute a mask mandate in 2020. The group also garnered attention in March 2020 for a GoFundMe campaign to support more than 250 part-time employees, including bartenders, ushers and stagehands. The effort raised about $71,000.
Competition heating up on concert scene
With blockbuster business projected for concerts after the live music industry shutdown of the past two years, competition in Milwaukee is intensifying.
Madison-based FPC Live is trying to build a two-room venue adjacent to Maier Festival Park, with plans to open in fall 2023 pending approvals. With a 4,000-person-capacity room and an 800-person-capacity room, the new venue is expected to become the local stop for tours promoted by Live Nation, by far the world's largest promoter, which also owns a controlling interest in FPC Live's parent company, Frank Productions.
FPC Live already has exclusive booking rights for the American Family Insurance Amphitheater and BMO Harris Pavilion in Milwaukee, outside of Summerfest, a deal that resulted in its first shows last summer.
Previously, the Pabst Theater Group was a primary promoter for the BMO Harris Pavilion, but it's since expanded its reach with the five-year deal to book the Miller High Life Theatre. And it continues to book shows beyond its five venues at Fiserv Forum and the Bradley Symphony Center.
In his letter, Rickman requested that the Pabst Theater Group recognize the PTG Workers Union by noon April 7. An attorney for PTG asked for a deadline extension. Otto said he expected a response by end of day Tuesday.
One possible response from PTG is to request an election with the National Labor Relations Board. Rickman argues that such a request "is about delay and opens the door to antagonism and antipathy and animosity that we are seeking to avoid." He added that more PTG employees have expressed union support since the initial letter was sent.
"The ball is in their court," Rickman said of PTG. "The voices of 80%-plus of workers have been heard, and we will stay strong and stay united to win that recognition and win a contract."
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story initially said full-time employees were petitioning for union representation. They are part-time employees working in the box office, event staff and hospitality divisions for Pabst Theater Group.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Pabst Theater Group employees are trying to form a union
