The walkout could affect some big summer shows, including the city's jazz festival. The stage technicians are members of the International Alliance for Theatre Employees. Their contract expired in February 1999.
Pay is the major issue in the dispute.
Talks with a conciliator yesterday failed to resolve the differences. They say they are on strike and we're very disappointed with this because we've only had two meetings with the conciliator. The threat of a strike had already led to the cancellation of a six-day run of the Broadway musical Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk . A strike will hit the Montreal International Jazz Festival even harder. Seventeen festival events are scheduled for Place des Arts between June 30th and July 10th.