11/4/2024 – The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) is announcing a significant development in the ongoing labor dispute with Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT). The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a formal complaint, finding reasonable cause to believe that Dallas Black Dance Theatre committed numerous unfair labor practices, the most extreme of which was the termination of the entire company. Additionally, the NLRB is recommending seeking emergency relief in federal district court, due to the grievous nature of DBDT’s actions.
Last week, DBDT leadership and their legal team discussed a possible settlement of the unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB. The fact that the NLRB has issued the complaint indicates that its settlement negotiations with DBDT have not progressed sufficiently to justify delaying the agency’s pursuit of justice through legal channels.
Since the dancers of DBDT voted unanimously to unionize on May 29, they have faced relentless opposition from DBDT leadership. Instead of recognizing the Union and bargaining in good faith to improve working conditions at DBDT, the company retaliated by firing all the dancers in an unprecedented move that disregarded their rights and livelihoods. The dancers’ courageous stand for fair treatment has brought this case to the forefront, resulting in the NLRB’s formal complaint.
The complaint includes over forty (40) counts of unlawful conduct based on the dancers’ protected activities, with the most egregious being:
- Threatening dancers with loss of benefits, discipline, or discharge;
- Promising benefits if dancers stopped supporting the Union;
- Shortening dancers’ summer contracts;
- Insisting that departing dancers attending the annual Big Dance fundraiser buy their own tickets, previously free to all dancers;
- Excluding dancers from teaching opportunities at both the Company and at the Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s Academy;
- Failing to pay dancers for work they had performed;
- Decreasing the number of main Company dancers from fourteen to eleven, an unsustainable and unsafe number for the Company’s planned repertoire;
- Refusing to hire three dancers who stood in solidarity with the fired dancers;
- Maintaining an employee handbook that in multiple ways violated the dancers’ rights to engage in conversations and conduct involving their terms and conditions of employment;
- Failing to notify or bargain with the Union, as legally required once the dancers won their union election, over multiple changes to terms and conditions of employment; and
- Firing each and every main company dancer.
The NLRB complaint seeks an order requiring traditional remedies for unlawful terminations, including:
- Reinstatement of all terminated dancers with back pay;
- Making all employees or former employees “whole” for any loss of wages, benefits, or other direct or foreseeable pecuniary harm suffered because of discipline, terminations, directives, legal enforcement actions or other actions taken against them because of unlawful work rules, plus reasonable search for work and interim employment expenses.
In addition, and to further emphasize the seriousness of DBDT’s misconduct, the NLRB is seeking extraordinary remedies requiring DBDT leadership to acknowledge and apologize for their treatment of the dancers publicly, and to receive training about employee rights and employer obligations under the law.
“The NLRB complaint is a critical victory that categorically rejects the Company’s attempts to gaslight the performing arts community into believing that the dancers of DBDT were fired for anything other than asserting their rights and demanding a voice in their workplace,” stated AGMA President Ned Hanlon. “The dancers’ refusal to be silenced despite their mass termination has been a rallying cry and inspiration for artists around the country, from San Francisco to Memphis, to Boston and New York. AGMA stands united, and this complaint reinforces the message that union-busting tactics will not go unchallenged.”
This complaint is similar to an indictment, indicating that the NLRB believes the Company has engaged in severe violations of federal labor law.
“The NLRB’s formal complaint and recommendation for emergency relief is a pivotal moment in this case,” said Interim National Executive Director Allison Beck. “The massive misconduct listed in this complaint means the federal government believes there is substantial evidence of wrongdoing. The recommendation to take this case to federal district court reveals the serious nature of the unfair labor practices involved.”
“The NLRB’s complaint highlights the disturbing actions of Dallas Black Dance Theatre, whose leaders, including Georgia Scaife and Zenetta Drew, have shown nothing but contempt for the rights of their dancers,” said Griff Braun, AGMA’s National Organizing Director. “This complaint sends a clear message to DBDT Leadership: the dancers’ voices matter, and their rights will not be trampled.”
AGMA will continue to provide updates as the case progresses. This news from the NLRB came shortly after the Dallas City Council temporarily paused roughly $248,000 in funding to Dallas Black Dance Theatre due to concerns about the company’s firing of the dancers.