“Friday, Oct. 29, was supposed to mark the start of the San Antonio Symphony’s 2021-22 season,” writes Kathleen Petty in Friday’s (10/29) San Antonio Magazine (TX). “Instead of filling the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts with the sounds of Rachmaninoff, however, many of the musicians who make up the symphony [participated in a rally] as they continue to strike against what they’ve described as unfair labor practices proposed by the symphony’s board and management in contract negotiations. The musicians officially went on strike a month ago after rejecting what the symphony’s board of directors described as its ‘last, best, and final offer.’ The offer reduced the number of full-time musicians from 71 to 42 and allowed for 26 part-time musicians who could be hired by concert. The season also was shortened from 31 to 24 weeks and full-time musicians’ base pay was set at $24,000, rather than the just more than $35,000 they received before. Earlier this week, the American Federation of Musicians Local 23 chapter also filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board, stating the symphony is ‘engaging in bad faith surface bargaining.’ … Representatives for the symphony have not yet provided a comment.”
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