Progress was made on one major issue, but none in another, after nearly 40 hours of federally mediated negotiations over the last three days between Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians and ASO and Woodruff Arts Center administrators, according to the ASO Players’ Association.
Leaders of the musicians’ union released a statement in the wee hours Friday morning saying that “significant progress” was made on the issue of health care, but none was achieved regarding the size of the orchestra going forward.
In the two-year collective bargaining agreement signed in 2012, the orchestra's "complement" (number of full-time musicians) was cut from 95 to 88. ASO and Woodruff (WAC) leaders seek ultimate control over the ASO's size as a strategy to help halt 12 years of orchestra deficits, including $2 million in fiscal 2014.
“The WAC leadership continued steadfastly to refuse to support the need of a world-class orchestra for a minimum fixed number of musicians,” the Players’ Association statement said.
The musicians said there are now 77 full-time musicians after departures, retirements and deaths. While most of those transitions occurred in the off-season, before the lockout began Sept. 7, clarinetist/bass clarinetist Alcides Rodriguez recently resigned to join the New York Philharmonic.
“While the orchestra has been reduced by departures to only 77 musicians … the WAC refuses even to commit to 77 musicians,” the statement said.
The Woodruff Arts Center, the orchestra’s parent nonprofit, limited its response Friday morning to the statement’s headline: “WAC WALKS AWAY FROM ASO TALKS.”
“To say we ‘walked away’ is not the truth and the union knows it,” management said. “We will respond to their proposal later today.”
The musicians said that they suggested a health care plan that will save the WAC/ASO more than $250,000 annually over the one that management cancelled on Oct. 1.
The statement also said that musicians proposed annual pay increases of one to two percent over a four-year contract, with average pay over the final season at $87,357.07.
About the Author
