“Musicians and management of the Philadelphia Orchestra Friday agreed to continue talking for an unspecified period of time beyond the end of the current labor deal, which had been set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 12,” writes Peter Dobrin in Friday’s (9/9) Philadelphia Inquirer. “The play-and-talk development … does not extend the contract formally to a specific date, but keeps musicians working under the current terms. An initial offer of a new five-year contract called for no raises in the first two years, and one percent raises in each of the following three years. … ‘We’re not very close at the moment, but are going to allow some time to let both parties figure out how to get close, and we are optimistic we can be closer in a couple of weeks,’ said cellist John Koen, chairman of the members’ committee. ‘We have more work to do on an agreement that is both fair and fiscally sound, but there is a genuinely collaborative spirit,’ said executive vice president for orchestra advancement Ryan Fleur.… The first concert of the orchestra’s 2016-17 season is a free performance for college students Sept. 21.”
Posted September 12, 2016
