“Following a lengthy battle over a new contract, the National Labor Relations Board has ordered the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) to pay its musicians $276,406 in back wages—money they would have earned for playing concerts during the current season,” writes Steve Pfarrer in Thursday’s (1/6) Daily Hampshire Gazette (MA). “The decision follows an unfair labor complaint that unionized musicians filed last year, when they claimed SSO management … had engaged in unfair labor practices [in] failing to issue them a new deal for the 2021-2022 season. The previous contract expired in August 2020…. The board of directors has cited the pandemic, falling revenues, and the lack of a new contract as major hurdles in scheduling shows for the 2021-2022 season…. Thomas Bergeron, principal trumpet for SSO and a member of the Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra [group], says the NLRB settlement also requires the SSO to produce two concerts this spring…. Among several vacant positions, the orchestra currently has no executive director…. Paul Friedmann, a member of the board of directors, said the orchestra is having conversations with candidates for the executive director position and also has reached out to some possible conductors for the two spring concerts.”
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