As a 10 year member of the stagehands, I've seen most of what goes on with them. I can tell you from personal experience that the stagehands are not the organization to go with, at least not at the time of this writing.
They are poorly organized, have no education program, and drive talented individuals out on a regular basis through on the job hazing and harassment. They really bring a negative attitude to the job, which makes it hard to get things done. There is a small core of individuals who run the stagehands and keep just enough qualified people around to hang onto the clients they have. If you need some grunt labor, they can probably supply that, but they run the union more like labor ready than the IA's you find in other major cities.
For high end clientele, you would be better off finding specialized crews, or hiring on extra temporary staff.
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