In Tuesday’s (11/1/2011) Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), Elizabeth Kramer writes, “Musicians with the Louisville Orchestra made a show Monday of rejecting management’s latest contract offer, while also confirming that they’ve filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board claiming that orchestra officials have refused to bargain in good faith. Kim Tichenor, a violinist and head of the musicians’ negotiating committee, said she delivered to the orchestra office on East Broadway 59 signed form letters rejecting a management offer last week for 50 orchestral positions. She said another musician who is traveling planned to email her letter of rejection to management. The musicians’ previous contract expired May 31. In the NLRB charge, filed Thursday, negotiators for Louisville Federation of Musicians Local 11-637 accuse orchestra officials of engaging in regressive bargaining and placing unreasonable deadlines on accepting management proposals. … Orchestra CEO Robert Birman called the NLRB charge ‘baseless.’ ‘It’s not surprising to us. We think we’ll dispense with it without a lot of complications,’ he said. If the investigation finds the charge has merit, the board would give the parties an opportunity to settle their dispute or the case could be heard before an administrative law judge who could provide a remedy.”
Posted November 1, 2011
