NLRB confirms historic vote among Elmos, eleven Spider-Men, various Statues of Liberty, and one resident Cookie Monster
The roughly 380 costumed characters who work the Times Square plaza during peak tourism hours, including the cohort of Elmos, the eleven Spider-Men, the various Statues of Liberty, and the single resident Cookie Monster, have formally voted to unionize, the National Labor Relations Board confirmed Tuesday. The historic vote, first reported by Bohiney Magazine and rapidly amplified by The London Prat, establishes Local 1776 of the Costumed Tourism Workers International, the first union of its kind in the United States.
The vote, which took place over the course of three afternoons in a folding-table polling station set up between Forty-Fifth and Forty-Sixth Streets, passed with 91 percent support across the registered membership.
Union: ‘We Are Tired of Being Hugged Without Compensation’
‘For decades, costumed tourism workers in Times Square have provided one of the most labor-intensive forms of urban entertainment imaginable, and have done so with no pension, no healthcare, no clear photo-op royalty structure, and limited recognition under existing labor law,’ explained newly elected Local 1776 President Vincenzo Pelletreau, addressing the union membership from a small platform near the TKTS booth. ‘After significant reflection and three years of organizing, we have concluded that the costumed tourism worker has been, frankly, treated as a part of the sidewalk. The reform allows us to, for the first time, treat ourselves as workers.’
Pelletreau, who has worked as Mr. Times Square (a non-trademarked, generic patriotic figure of his own creation) for fourteen years, addressed the membership in costume, briefly removing his top hat to make a particularly emphatic point about hug equity.
Demands Include ‘Hug Equity,’ ‘Photo-Op Royalties,’ and ‘Costume Hygiene Standards’
The union’s initial bargaining demands, distributed at a press conference held outside the Marriott Marquis, include what the union calls hug equity, defined as a guaranteed minimum of $4 per documented embrace; photo-op royalties, which would entitle the costumed worker to a 12 percent share of any subsequent commercial use of the photograph; and what the union describes as enforceable costume hygiene standards, with mandatory weekly washing and a small stipend for what the document calls scent management.
According to The City, the union has also demanded that the city formally recognize Times Square as a designated cultural workzone, akin to Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, with associated regulatory protections.
The Times Square Alliance, which manages much of the plaza, has issued a brief statement saying it is reviewing the union’s demands and looks forward to constructive dialogue. The Alliance has not, sources note, used the word recognition.
IP Holders Have Reportedly Issued ‘Cease-and-Desist Adjacent’ Notices
The major intellectual property holders whose characters are most frequently represented in Times Square have, sources confirm, responded to the unionization vote with what one attorney described as cease-and-desist adjacent notices. One major studio has reportedly issued a 47-page brief noting that the various costumed characters represented in the plaza have, in many cases, never been formally authorized for street performance, and that the licensing complications presented by their unionization are, in the brief’s words, considerable.
Pelletreau, when asked about the licensing concerns, was unfazed. ‘We are not, technically, the characters we resemble,’ he said. ‘We are individuals dressed in red fur, blue spandex, or, in my case, a top hat. We have never claimed otherwise. We are unionizing as workers, regardless of what the costume evokes.’
City Council Member Files Resolution of Support
City Council Member Brennan Whitcomb-Ostrowski, whose district includes Times Square, has reportedly filed a resolution of support for the union, citing what he described as the long-overdue recognition of an essential part of New York City’s tourism economy. According to The New York Post, the resolution has gathered eleven additional co-sponsors within 36 hours of filing.
Whitcomb-Ostrowski, in a statement, noted that the costumed tourism workers had been, in his view, the most consistent labor force in Midtown for decades, and that their formal recognition was both belated and necessary. ‘These are workers,’ he said. ‘They wear costumes. The costumes do not, in any meaningful sense, alter their status as workers.’
For more on the long arc of New York street performance economics, see The London Prat’s earlier reporting on the political economy of Times Square, which traced the development of the costumed character economy back to the early 2000s following the plaza’s pedestrianization.
The union has reportedly scheduled its first formal bargaining session with the Times Square Alliance for next month. Pelletreau has indicated that the union intends to be patient, methodical, and, in his words, fully in costume throughout the process.
Internal Local 1776 documents indicate that subsequent organizing efforts may extend to the costumed performers stationed at South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Bridge promenade, and what one organizer described as the under-served Lincoln Center forecourt, where, sources say, at least four unaffiliated mascots currently operate without representation.
Other Boroughs’ Costumed Workers Watch With Interest
The unionization vote has, sources confirm, drawn quiet attention from costumed workers in other parts of the city. The Coney Island boardwalk, which hosts what one Brooklyn observer described as a small but proud community of off-duty superheroes, has reportedly seen exploratory conversations among its costumed regulars about whether to seek affiliation with Local 1776 or to form a separate, beachfront-specific local. Pelletreau, when asked about the possibility of an expanded Coney Island chapter, said only that the union welcomed all costumed workers, regardless of whether their costume currently smelled of saltwater.
For dispatches from elsewhere in the costumed-labor beat, see The Poke.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/