Workers at some of the most iconic music venues in Washington, DC, are making a push to unionize to address what they feel is a widening gap between the venues’ management and their employees.
The 300+ staffers at 9:30 Club, The Anthem, The Atlantis and Lincoln Theatre, petitioned management at Independent Concert Promotion on Monday to voluntarily recognize their efforts and agree to a fair organizing process.
Although Deadline understands management has not made any formal commitments, it appears that the company isn’t writing off their workforce’s request just yet.
“While we have not yet been fully informed of the positions the unions plan to present, we fundamentally believe in their right to exist and in our employees’ rights to collectively bargain,” a spokesperson for IMP told Deadline in a statement Friday. “This company is our people. We look forward to a robust dialogue towards the best result for our staff and for the company, and will work together to make that happen.”
The bargaining unit would include workers across production, food service, box office and door staff at all four venues. The grassroots efforts by the workforce are being assisted by three local unions, Unite Here Local 25, as well as IATSE Locals 22 and 868.
“Without us, the shows don’t happen, and I think that we deserve to be respected for the work that we do,” Sierra Quimby, a lighting designer who has worked for IMP’s venues in multiple capacities for more than 11 years, told Deadline.
She and Lee Reber, who has worked with IMP since 2019, say the staff is hoping to facilitate a more open dialogue with management regarding low wages and other concerns. Quimby says that, particularly over the last year, staff has felt “a lack of a voice to upper management and the people who are making decisions about our livelihoods.”
“There have been a lot of decisions made by the company that have decreased our quality of life as employees, and pretty much unilaterally, those decisions were made without any input from us,” she added.
One of those decisions, which Quimby and Reber characterize as the straw that broke the camel’s back in catalyzing the unionization push, was the removal of a key perk of their employment — a free drink from the bar at the end of the night. While this may seem trivial on the surface, the gesture allowed for community building among the staff, who would often stick around after their shift to have a drink and engage with one another, they say.
This issue also ties directly into another, more existential one: wages. Some IMP employees currently make as low as $18.25 per hour, which is about $0.30 above the city’s minimum wage. Considering that one cocktail could cost one hour of some employees’ wages, the removal of that free drink benefit stung even more, Quimby and Reber told Deadline.
“A single beer at the 9:30 Club costs as much as an hour of our time, basically, and that feels honestly insulting,” Quimby said. “If a single beer can pay us for an hour, then why is that how much we’re getting paid?”
The logic extends far beyond the walls of the venue, as Reber points out: “Washington, DC is a city where a sandwich costs $20. If we can’t afford a sandwich with an hour of wages, what are we supposed to do?”
9:30 Club opened in 1980 and, since then, has become quite a legendary venue. Known for its track record of discovering up-and-coming acts, just a few of the bands that have played there include Nirvana, REM, Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The Lincoln Theater has been around even longer, first opening its doors in 1922. The venue was a haven for the African American community when the city was still segregated and became well known for booking jazz and big band performers. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday are just a few of the many artists who have graced the stage at the Lincoln Theatre.
The Anthem and The Atlantis are much newer, having opened in 2017 and 2023, respectively. Still, they have become well-loved venues in the city, hosting artists from Meek Mill and Lorde to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Darius Rucker.
“I grew up in the area, and I went to my first concert ever at 9:30 Club when I was 12 years old, and it is the place that I fell in love with live music,” Reber, who has worked as both a stagehand and a part-time audio engineer, tells Deadline. “These are really important venues for our music scene and very integral to how our scene functions…I think we deserve to be recognized (and) treated like we work at an internationally renowned venue.”
There is a precedent for IMP working with union production crews at other venues, including the Merriweather Post Pavillion, the Capitol One Arena and DAR Constitution Hall. This, along with the seemingly receptive response from IMP regarding the petition, could set the stage for a relatively amicable organizing process.
Also, more than 300 local and national artists have signed a letter to IMP management encouraging them to engage with this request, Deadline understands.
“We believe that unionizing will lead to a more just workplace. We know that IMP plays an integral role in DC’s music scene and that workers help to create the IMP culture we all appreciate. We believe a fairer and more equitable workplace for IMP employees will be beneficial to everyone in the industry,” reads the letter, signed by Tom Morello, Ted Leo, Soccer Mommy, Neko Case, MJ Lenderman, Yaddiya, Ekko Astral, Jeff Rosenstock and more.
As of now, staffers are still waiting to hear officially from IMP on whether management will voluntarily recognize their unionization effort.
Adds Reber: “We currently are not asking for anything other than just the fair right and process to unionize.”
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