Protesters said “All labor deserves dignity,” on April 28. Photo by Dean Moses
TIMESLEDGER | Q 2 NS.COM | MAY 14-MAY 20, 2021
Astoria dance company
closes its doors due to
COVID-19 complications
BY BILL PARRY
As New York City moves
toward its COVID reopening
May 19, the renaissance comes
too late for a dance company
in Astoria.
The board of the Pascal
Rioult Dance Theatre announced
last week that it is
dissolving the organization,
closing its Astoria-based dance
center and the dance company
due to “the ongoing difficulties
of the COVID-19 pandemic,” effective
immediately.
“On behalf of the board,
we’re saddened to announce
the dissolution of the organization
and the closure of the
RIOULT Dance Center,” former
Chairman of the Board
Hope Greenfield said. “We had
expected many great things
for the future of the company,
especially with our new center
in Astoria, but the pandemic
has sadly brought an end to
our plans.”
For nearly three decades,
the Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre
was part of the city’s
dance community performing
12 of its New York seasons at
the Joyce Theater in Manhattan.
The dance company also
performed at theaters and
festivals across the country
including New York City Fall
for Dance; Lincoln Center
Out-of-Doors; Central Park
SummerStage; the American
Dance Festival in Raleigh,
N.C.; the Annenberg Center;
and Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley,
California.
International venues included
the Cannes International
Festival, Maison de la
Danse in Lyon, France, the
Tamaulipas International
Festival in Mexico as well as
venues in Italy, Switzerland,
Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg
and Japan.
The RIOULT Dance Center
opened in October 2018 in
Astoria and quickly became a
safe and welcoming space for
dancers from all across the
New York City area to take
classes, rehearse and create,
as well as function as a
home for the dance company.
The school was dedicated to
community-based arts programming,
providing an educational
resource for western
Queens.
“I am sorry that my dream
of establishing a home for
the company and school that
celebrates the diversity and
richness of dance has come to
this unfortunate end, and has
necessitated the closure of the
dance company,” founder Pascal
Rioult said. “I am grateful
for the dedication of my
board, my staff, my dancers,
my teachers and the artists
who made the center a vibrant
place... My entire life has been
dedicated to dance and even
though this chapter is closing,
my choreographic career has
not come to an end.”
The RIOULT Dance Center
was located at 34-01 Steinway
St. and was part of the Kaufman
Arts District which includes 30
arts and culture spaces including
the Museum of the Moving
Image, the Frank Sinatra
School of the Arts and Kaufman
Astoria Studios. RIOULT
Dance NY was the first established
dance company to
take up residence within the
Kaufman Arts District.
BY DEAN MOSES
Ten Queens UPS employees
have been reinstated after
beingwrongfully terminated.
Now, Teamsters Local 804 is
demanding weeks of back pay
for these workers.
“People over packages” has
been the message of Teamsters
Local 804 as they fight
for the rights of their members.
In April, the 10 workers
— two of whom are pregnant
— were fired for not working
overtime, despite finishing
their part-time shift. According
to Teamsters Local 804,
these employees were not informed
that they had to work
past their shift. It’s the union’s
position that the walkout allegation
was only after the
fact, and they did not refuse
to work. The workers were
fired for walking out of the job
without first informing their
supervisors despite fulfilling
their part-time schedule.
For weeks, Teamsters Local
804 let out a rallying cry
stating, “Part-time workers
are essential not disposable.”
They demanded that UPS management
treat their employees
like the essential workers they
are, whether they be part-time
or full-time workers.
The matter was under arbitration
with UPS stating that
the workers could come back
at any time, while the union
shared the condition of their
reinstatement meant that they
would have to enforce overtime
for over 3,000 part-time
workers.
For the Teamsters, the
crux of the argument was that
a part-time employee should
not work extra hours if they
are not being paid full-time
benefits.
On April 28, Vinny Perrone,
president of Teamsters Local
804 led a protest outside of the
Queens UPS warehouse at 136-
40 Springfield Blvd. pushing
for their reinstatement, and
less than two weeks later they
have their jobs back.
“This past Friday, my
vice president and a couple
of my business agents went
down there to that building
in Laurelton to meet with the
company and the company relented
and said that they could
come back to work and they
will arbitrate their back pay,”
Perrone told Schneps Media.
Perrone shared that UPS
management sought to forgo
the back pay for these workers,
removing the discharge
in favor of a time served suspension.
However, Teamsters
Local 804 say they did not
agree to this, since they feel
that the workers did not do
anything wrong.
As of 3 a.m. on May 8, a
number of the workers have
already started their first
shift back. Their fellow workers
will also return on Monday,
although one of the soonto
be mothers will not return
since she is due to give birth
in the near future (she will be
on disability).
“I feel like it is a victory.
It wasn’t necessary that it got
this far to begin with, but I
am certainly glad that everybody,
and Local 804 is glad,
that these members are able
to return to work,” Perrone
said, adding that he greatly
appreciates the support from
local elected officials, candidates
and other unions.
Perrone believes that although
the workers have been
reinstated successfully, UPS
will continue to treat all of the
workers with the same bullying
tactics but Teamsters Local
804 will be there to have
their members’ backs.
“This whole thing started,
I believe because these
men and women were doing
this every day because this
is just their routine — their
norm. On that particular day
on Wednesday, April 13, the
building couldn’t project how
much volume came in, and
maybe it was way too much
volume or people called out
sick and they felt they could
just hold these people as indentured
servants,” Perrone
said.
Perrone is hoping the arbitration
for back pay will be
resolved by the end of May or
early June.
Schneps Media reached
out to UPS for comment and
is awaiting a response.
The curtain has come down for the Rioult Dance Company, which
closed its Astoria dance center due to the COVID pandemic.
Photo courtesy of RIOULT Dance NY
Ten fi red UPS workers in Laurelton get
their jobs back after Teamsters action
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