In Tuesday’s (5/13) New York Times, Michael Cooper reports, “This weekend the musicians in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra wore buttons during performances to call attention to the fact that the opera house is seeking concessions from them in contract talks. The union representing the orchestra went a step further on Monday, voting to authorize a strike should negotiations with management fail.” The orchestra’s contract ends in July, as do those of the company’s 15 other unions, and “management is trying to reduce labor costs at a time when ticket sales have fallen and its endowment has dwindled.… ‘We remain hopeful that the negotiations will have a positive outcome,’ Jessica Phillips Rieske, a clarinetist who is the chairwoman of the orchestra’s negotiating committee, said … Tino Gagliardi, the president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, said in a statement: ‘We will continue to negotiate in good faith and we are optimistic that an agreement can be reached that will not deny [audiences] … access to the acclaimed artistry of the hardest-working orchestra in the world.’ Peter Clark, a spokesman for the Met, noted … ‘Our singular goal is to control our costs in order to secure a sustainable business model that will ensure the Met’s future and the livelihood of its employees.’ ”
Posted May 13, 2014
