By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Fashion Week's first year on the Upper West Side could see picket lines as well as catwalks if a fight over who gets to set up the tents at Lincoln Center isn't resolved this week.
A dispute is brewing between IMG Fashion, the company that produces Fashion Week, and Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents many of the stagehands and other workers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
An existing contract means the union is responsible for most events at Lincoln Center, but the contract does not require union labor for events in the plaza or Damrosch Park, where Fashion Week tents will be set up, according to the Journal.
Union president James J. Claffey, Jr., told the paper that despite the arrangement, the union usually covers events held outside the center including the Midsummer Night Swing, which is in the park, and the annual Christmas tree-lighting near the Lincoln Center fountain.
"Local One is the labor provider," Claffey told the Journal. "We have a relationship to the entire campus."
But Lincoln Center and the Parks Department both told IMG that the union had no jurisdiction over the park, an unnamed source told the paper.
An emergency meeting will be held on Tuesday, as preparations for Fashion Week are scheduled to start this weekend.
Before this year, Fashion Week had been held in Bryant Park for 17 years. IMG has a five-year contract to host Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.
