Union Stagehands Average $290,000 per Year

Have you heard this story? I know that both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh devoted some attention to it. Apparently Sean Hannity did, too. It was first reported in the Bergen (NJ) Record:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/68164552.html?page=all

Mr. Ahearn, the columnist who broke the news, is a season ticket holder at Lincoln Center, I think. He doesn't say so but Mr. Limbaugh reports a ticket to the opera at the Lincoln Center runs some $400 per person. Mr. Limbaugh further reports that the lead violinist at the Lincoln Center grosses a little over $100,000 - an amount that would be a good income in Wheeling, WV but not so much in New York City. One imagines the audience pays $400 a head to hear the lead violinist bust some funky fiddle chops. One also imagines the audience would begrudge paying a penny to watch some ape in a suit move furniture. Am I wrong? Why the large disparity? It has been proven in recent years that if the stagehands refuse to come to work (they threatened a walk-out) nobody performs. The penguins come, sit there, and nothing happens. Everybody leaves unhappy.

Imagine the groundskeepers at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA are paid higher than Tom Brady. I'm talking about the guys who bring the tarp out when it looks like snow. Could the team turn a profit? Neither can Lincoln Center. At least there's no public money involved, right? Right? Wrong. Anthony Wiener and Chuck Y. Schumer make sure there's plenty of public money. Hell, you can't sustain an operation that pays a bunch of grunts nearly $300,000 a year to move chairs and raise and lower curtains!

Stop being such a snob, sir. Only an elitist would suggest the lead violinist should make as much as the hardworking union man who arranges his music stand!

Do you think that chair placement virtuosity is easy?

Yes. The only thing difficult about it is being related to an existing stagehand and having a way in. Outside of that it is a closed shop.