Atlanta Symphony Contract Dispute

[bisontuba]

That is great news! Now the orchestra world needs to keep this guy from landing another job--he needs to 'go away' permanently.
I bet a deal can get struck now! Here's hoping!
Mark

[tbn.al]

If you agree with the text I invite you to sign the online petition to end the lockout in Atlanta.

https://www.change.org/p/woodruff-arts- ... ns-lockout" target="_blank

[Mark]

If you agree with the text I invite you to sign the online petition to end the lockout in Atlanta.

https://www.change.org/p/woodruff-arts- ... ns-lockout" target="_blank" target="_blank

This petition is clearly one-sided. If the musicians would agree to not strike and continue negotiations while playing, I would sign it.

[windshieldbug]

If you agree with the text I invite you to sign the online petition to end the lockout in Atlanta.

https://www.change.org/p/woodruff-arts- ... ns-lockout" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

This petition is clearly one-sided. If the musicians would agree to not strike and continue negotiations while playing, I would sign it.

Uh, the lockout is by definition one-sided... and the Board has not even accepted arbitration!

[tbn.al]

The musicians are not a party to the petition. It was started by a patron who like me is not as interested in the political stuff as the missing music. I just want to hear the music again. If the lockout was ended then hopefully the music could continue while the negotiations proceeded. Of course there is no guarantee that would happen given the political situation. I just miss the music.

[Mark]

If you agree with the text I invite you to sign the online petition to end the lockout in Atlanta.

https://www.change.org/p/woodruff-arts- ... ns-lockout" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

This petition is clearly one-sided. If the musicians would agree to not strike and continue negotiations while playing, I would sign it.

Uh, the lockout is by definition one-sided... and the Board has not even accepted arbitration!

Yes, the lockout is one-sided and management should not have done it. However, this does not preclude the musicians from going on strike if the lockout is cancelled. Either way, ASO patrons suffer.

[doublebuzzing]

I wonder what the boss of an insurance agency would do if he had an agent working for him who (after being told that sales commissions are going to have to be cut) demanded,

"I'm not willing to sell policies for only __%. I demand __%."

Would that agency owner "negotiate" with that salesman, or would he wish that salesman the best, change the lock, and look for another salesman?

There are people qualified to sell insurance (and do it very well) other than that person making those demands, and there are people qualified to play written-down pitches and expression markings (and do it very well) other than some musicians who make similar demands.

========================

If (after wishing the former employee well and changing the lock) the former employee starting insisting, "This is MY job and I WON it!", what might the insurance agency owner do then?

Oh, of course the agency owner wouldn't dare do that because that would result in losing irreplaceable talent and the standards of the art would drop as they all flock to other companies.

[tbn.al]

And that happens. My insurance company shut down an entire state and eliminated hundreds of salesmen because it was not profitable to continue there. Folks had to find other companies. Salesmen leave on their own and also get sent packing. Their individual customers don't get a say when their favorite salesman chooses to leave or gets fired. They simply have to go looking for another company. That is where I find myself with the Atlanta symphony orchestra music today. There are other orchestras, I play in one, but none that matches the quality I want to hear in my area. As a consumer I am left to find what music I can wherever I can and I don't like that. Unions be damned! Management be damned! Politics be damned! I realize that is a selfish position but that is where I find myself. End of rant!

[tbn.al]

The Atlanta paper today ran an interview with Douglas Hertz the chairman of the Woodruff Arts Center board of which the ASO is a part. I can't give you a link because you have to have a subscription to get in. I will copy and paste the last portion of the interview. I think this illustrates how far apart the two sides, businessmen vs musicians, really are. He also has some rather pointed verse directed at the conductors. I fear for the worse.

On feedback from the musicians, seconded by Spano and Runnicles, that management controlling the number of full-time players would destroy the ASO’s sound: “Well, it’s my impression that our symphony orchestra got the same artistic reviews over this past year as they have had in previous years. We had 116 separate musicians that played with our orchestra (who were) not part of our (88-musician) complement — 116 additional musicians who sat in just last year. Yet no one’s told me that artistically that we were any better or worse.”

On music director Robert Spano showing support for the musicians when maestros are typically neutral in labor disputes: “Again, we’re criticized for not wanting a great symphony, right? But we signed Robert to a five-year contract (that’s just beginning) with a raise. And Robert’s getting paid. And we signed (principal guest conductor) Donald Runnicles to a three-year contract. He’s getting paid. So don’t criticize WAC management or the WAC governing board for not wanting to put our money where our mouth is. Maybe Robert’s feeling a little bit guilty because he’s getting paid and the musicians aren’t. But he could be a big help in solving this.”

On how Spano could help: “Ideas (for developing a more sustainable model for the ASO). Encouragement of the musicians to come back and talk. But he hasn’t been particularly constructive to this point.”

On the governing board’s fiduciary responsibility to all four Woodruff divisions: “We’ve got a division of the arts center that threatens the ability of the other divisions (the Alliance Theatre, High Museum of Art and Arts for Learning) to produce the great work that they’re doing. We owe it to everybody to make sure that everybody is pulling their weight.”

On if he’s concerned that negative coverage of the lockout will set back fund-raising in the long run: “Sure, I mean if it lasts too long it will. (But) a contract ended. We lost over $2 million (in fiscal 2014). Don’t forget, when you have earned ticket revenues of only $5 million and have salaries and benefits just for the musicians of $10 million to $11 million, you’re losing money from the very beginning. …

“Every day, we lose money.”

[bisontuba]

Hi-
The above excerpts from the article are very troubling...it founds like a very weak BOD that doesn't understand the industry.....
Mark

[windshieldbug]

Don't know what contract negotiations YOU'VE been to lately, but the ones I know involve a shrinking pie, boards not feeling the need to provide much of anything for their community, and musicians who are not feeling ENTITLED, but think that, for the communitie's sake that there should be SOME DISCUSSION about what level and type of culture should be provided for the citizens. I don't know of ANYONE who thought they were granted any level of employment security. Even in the good ol' days a musician with tenure could be fired for cause.

The sooner this us v. them mindset stops, the sooner orchestras can be "right sized" in both personnel, services and programming.

[windshieldbug]

No, but if the goal of the organization is not to provide value to some group besides itself, then I question the continued existence of such a "non-profit". What you are describing is a group of casual amateurs who pick up their marbles and go home after their done holding their breath and turning blue.

[bort]

Depends what country you move to... where did he go?

[tbn.al]

Both sides have finally agreed to have a federal mediator in their discussions. Mediation starts tomorrow. I know very little about the process but I have hope that this is the beginning of something good. This is the same mediator that helped end the Met Opera's contract standoff.

http://artsculture.blog.ajc.com/2014/10 ... g-tuesday/" target="_blank" target="_blank

[tbn.al]

The talks have stalled over the size of the orchestra. More of the season in jeopardy. See the link for more.

http://artsculture.blog.ajc.com/2014/10 ... stra-size/" target="_blank

[bisontuba]

Tentative settlement...FYI..Mark

http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/1294653 ... en=RSSFeed" target="_blank

[tbn.al]

Whoopee! Thanks Mark, I hadn't seen this.

[tbn.al]

All patrons got this email today, and reading the article in the paper this morning it looks like the musicians got about everything they initially asked for. Makes you wonder what management was thinking in the first place. A member of the ASO board who resigned right after the lockout was quoted as saying, "This could all have been avoided. The lockout should never have happened. There were better ways to solve these problems"

[bisontuba]

Let's hope that lock-outs like this virtually never occur, and lock-outs of Washington popularity-contest-winners and bureaucrats by The People begin occurring - and with great frequency.

Hillary will fix all in a couple of years...
Mark