New York Broadway producers and the stagehands union will return to the negotiation table on Saturday, local media reported Wednesday.

The meeting will be the first since talks broke down last week, prompting a strike by stagehands that is now in its fifth day.

The major sticking point has been the number of stagehands required to work each show. Producers accuse the union of forcing them to hire and pay more workers than are really needed. But the stagehand union says it will not give up job protection.

More than two dozen Broadway plays and musicals, such as The Color Purple, Chicago, Grease, Phantom of the Opera, have been shut down in the past five days by the work stoppage. Only eight shows remain open under separate contracts with producers.

It is estimated that the strike would cost the city US$17 million a day.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2007)