The sidewalk outside the newly renamed Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts was bustling this morning with stagehand workers unloading trucks with equipment for this week’s two-night run of “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical,” at the Calvin Simmons Theatre. The historical building is readying for its grand opening this weekend, and the workers were wearing vests from Stage Monkeys, which provides nonunion labor.
Just a few feet down, members of the Oakland International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 107 were demanding that the venue honor its promise to bring back union labor.
According to Omar Sabeh, Local 107’s business manager, the union’s members have provided stagecraft labor at the space since its doors opened in 1915. Many Local 107 members have been with the union for decades, he said, some of whom worked shows in the building before it closed its doors in 2005…