In Monday’s (11/14) Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), Elizabeth Kramer writes, “Louisville Orchestra musicians, facing a what a mediator said was a Sunday deadline to accept or reject a new contract offer from management, have asked for an extension because they didn’t receive the written proposal until late Friday afternoon. The mediator, Henri Mangeot, had indicated Wednesday that the musicians could vote on the offer Sunday. But Sunday night, Kim Tichenor, chairwoman of the players’ negotiating committee, said: ‘We still need more time to look over it. There are some changes there that we need to look over.’ Tichenor said the Sunday deadline came with the offer the orchestra presented last Monday. On Tuesday, management agreed verbally to modify that offer but, she said, didn’t deliver its latest proposal in writing until Friday afternoon. … The orchestra has offered positions to all salaried musicians willing to work, starting Jan. 9, but proposed that the number of musicians in the orchestra be cut to 55 by the end of May 2013. … The orchestra has also offered musicians a minimum weekly salary of $925 for each season through 2017, plus 30 weeks of guaranteed work annually, except for a shortened season that would begin this January, when there would be 13 work weeks. … The orchestra has canceled all performances through December and is now considering canceling January performances.”
Posted November 15, 2011
