After the dancers of the Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) voted unanimously to unionize with the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) in May 2024, the leadership of DBDT made the appalling decision to terminate all of their dancers in August. This came after the unionized dancers and AGMA alleged a series of retaliatory moves taken by leadership including removing teaching opportunities at the DBDT Academy, declining to extend contract offers to dancers who were selected in April auditions to replace outgoing dancers, and – breaking with past practices – demanding departing dancers purchase an expensive ticket to attend an annual fundraising event.
The DBDT leadership has claimed that the decision to terminate all of their dancers was not in response to their unionization efforts but was a response to a video posted by the dancers to Social Media. The DBDT stated in a Dallas Morning News article that this video “promoted content and practices that contradict our core values and standards of professionalism”. This article was posted in response to the uproar over the termination of the dancers, but the public sentiment still fell clearly on the side of these dancers, with AGMA “[receiving] reports of declining ticket sales, donors withdrawing their support, and major foundations severing ties with DBDT in the wake of its actions”.
Taking the air out of DBDT Leadership’s arguments, in November 2024 The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a formal complaint against the DBDT including more than 40 counts of unlawful conduct based on the dancers’ protected activities. In an Instagram post by the dancers they stated “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.” The NLRB recommended emergency relief in this matter, including reinstatement of the fired workers with back pay and “making all employees or former employees whole for any loss of wages, benefits, or other direct or foreseeable pecuniary harm.”
The long-fought struggle came to a close in December 2024, with the AGMA posting to their website that the DBDT had reached a Settlement Agreement with the terminated dancers. The agreement was brokered by the NLRB and included monetary compensation for the dancers including front pay, back pay, and other pecuniary harms, personal apologies, training and union access, and other worker protections. In addition to these, “the full 7-page NLRB Notice detailing the Company’s misconduct will be: published in The Dallas Morning News for seven days, read aloud to employees by a senior leader, and posted and distributed physically and electronically.” This historic win for performing arts workers shows the power that organized labor has in standing up to unfair treatment at the hands of the bosses. The dancers who fought in this struggle for over 6 months demonstrated for workers throughout Dallas, Texas, and the USA the strength we can achieve when banding together and fighting for our rights.
Photo courtesy of AGMA.
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