Facing a $3 million debt and an endowment down a quarter, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra announced Monday a second round of salary cuts. Its 95 unionized musicians will see their paychecks drop by 5 percent through 2010, with a 3.8 percent cut in 2011.
The ASO's four-year savings plan is expected to save $4.2 million. The cuts now extend to all members of the ASO family, from president Allison Vulgamore and music director Robert Spano to the administration and the musicians.
The first round, announced last month, had Vulgamore, who earned $436,738 in 2006 (the most recent tax forms available), taking a 7 percent salary cut. That figure was in line with the recent pay cuts for other Woodruff Arts Center executives. Monday, however, Vulgamore's cut jumped to 10 percent.
Conductor Spano, who made $619,315 in 2006, will miss 7 percent of his salary in 2009 and 14 percent in 2010. The ASO's four vice presidents will take a 6 percent cut and the 68 other administrative staffers will take a 5 percent cut. After June 1, the administration will take unpaid leave, ranging from 13 to 18 days.
To change the musicians' terms, ASO leaders had to crack open the union's collective bargaining agreement, which was locked through 2011. In the new plan, a year was added to the contract. Before the current cuts, the musicians' base pay was $82,420, with section principals making substantially more.
"We hope our community will take notice of these extraordinary actions," said cellist Daniel Laufer, who is president of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players Association, "and we are confident in an even stronger Atlanta Symphony moving forward."
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