In Tuesday’s (10/16) Seattle Times, Michael Upchurch writes, “The musicians of the Seattle Symphony and Opera Players’ Organization (SSOPO) have authorized a strike. After months of contract negotiations with the managements of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera, the vote is in response to a contract offer Wednesday that called for musicians to take a 15 percent reduction in compensation in the 2012-13 season. The reduction would come on top of earlier concessions topping $9.6 million that symphony and opera musicians have made in recent years, a SSOPO news release stated. That doesn’t include ‘significant increases’ in musicians’ contribution toward health-care costs, the release said. Seattle Symphony cellist David Sabee, quoted in the SSOPO news release, said that the symphony had a balanced annual budget in 2011-12 and is expected to balance its budget in the 2012-13 season as well. (The budget for each season was about $24 million.) But it’s carrying an $11 million debt from the past season, and its endowment—at $25 million—is seriously underfunded.” In other labor-relations news, a press announcement released by the Indianapolis Symphony this morning states that the Indiana Symphony Society and the orchestra’s musicians union had “ratified two contracts—a ‘bridge’ agreement, effective Oct. 16, 2012-Feb. 3, 2013, and the major financial terms of a five-year contract beginning Feb. 4, 2013 and expiring on Sept. 3, 2017. … The terms of the five-year contract include a salary range of $53,000 in year one to $70,000 in year five and the continuation of healthcare and most pension benefits. Overall, the contract represents $11.5 million in concessions by the musicians.” Indianapolis Symphony performances will resume on October 18.
Posted October 16, 2012
