“Musicians in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra have agreed to a two-year contract extension that … does not include a pay cut,” writes Jenna Ross in Friday’s (3/12) Star Tribune (MN). “The pact, announced this week, was passed unanimously by the musicians, the SPCO board and the board of the American Federation of Musicians Local 30-73 some 15 months before the current contract was set to expire. It will maintain musicians’ pay, benefits and work rules from July 2022 until July 2024…. Said Jon Limbacher, the SPCO’s managing director and president, ‘We went to the orchestra and said … an extension would be a helpful and critical piece to the recovery plan. The orchestra responded immediately and decisively.’ Some orchestras across the country have responded to the pandemic—which has wiped months of in-person concerts from their calendars—with furloughs and other compensation cuts…. But the SPCO, a smaller organization, has maintained its 23 musicians’ pay…. ‘We’ve been able to hold our pay steady,’ said Lynn Erickson, trumpet player and chairperson of the Orchestra Committee. ‘People are … willing to keep the same pay scale going for the next two or three years.’ ”
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