In Wednesday’s (9/21) Denver Post, Kyle MacMillan reports, “Colorado Symphony musicians voted unanimously Tuesday to delay a decision on an emergency contract revision that calls for a 14 percent pay cut and a significant increase in performance time. Facing what it termed a ‘cash crisis,’ orchestra management told musicians this week the concessions were necessary for the CSO to stay in business. But Pete Vriesenga, president of the Denver Musicians Association, said the ‘emergency urgency’ of last week’s negotiations did not constitute good-faith bargaining. … Colorado Symphony officials declined to discuss the issue Tuesday. But in a one-page proposal presented to the musicians Sunday evening following a concert, the orchestra asked the musicians to help ‘proactively bridge a very real financial challenge.’ … According to a confidential report issued earlier this year by an emergency committee, the orchestra ran a deficit of $647,000 in its recently completed fiscal year and had a cash reserve of just $16,000 as of July. … Besides pay cuts and increased playing time, the proposal also asked musicians to ‘pledge to work in good faith’ toward a long-term restructuring of the orchestra’s finances. These changes would come on top of the 12.5 percent pay cut that the musicians agreed to in a one-year contract in 2009-10—a pay level that continues this season in its present contract.”
Posted September 22, 2011
