“The members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association voted in separate meetings Tuesday to accept the terms of a new three-year contract,” writes John von Rhein in Tuesday’s (9/29) Chicago Tribune. “The agreement includes wage and pension increase and scheduling provisions that will provide more flexibility during the season and on tour…. The new agreement … replaces the previous three-year contract that expired Sept. 13…. Under terms of the newly ratified agreement, CSO musicians’ annual salary will increase by 1 percent in the first contract year, 2015-16; and 2 percent in each of the second and third years, 2016-17 and 2017-18.… The pension benefit will increase by 4.3 percent but there will be no changes to health care plans or contributions…. Negotiations between the CSOA and the CSO Musicians’ Negotiating Committee began in July 2015…. The belated contract ratification prevented a repeat of the scenario that unfolded in 2012 when CSO musicians … went out on strike for two days after the season had begun.” The article notes that the CSO’s fiscal 2015 results will be reported at the CSO association’s annual meeting next month.
Posted September 30, 2015
Chicago Symphony Orchestra photo by Todd Rosenberg
