No Strike on Broadway: Actors' Union Signs New Contract

The Actors' Equity Association and Broadway League, which represent producers and theater owners, reached a tentative agreement for a new contract Wednesday, avoiding a situation similar to the stagehand strike that shut down Broadway last November.

According to AP News, the new 39-month-long contract will expire in September 2011 and calls for an 11.25 percent increase of the compensation package for actors, including health benefits and pensions.

The two sides started negotiations for the new contract last April and were still negotiating past the midnight expiration date of the old contract on Sunday, AP News reports.

"In two months of tough bargaining, we achieved an excellent contract with significant gains for every Equity member working on Broadway and the road," John P. Connolly, executive director of the union, told the AP, Wednesday.

After the contract is reviewed by Equity's governing body it will be sent to the union's members for a vote. Maria Somma, a spokesperson for Equity, told the AP that this process could take several weeks.