Symphony faces labor deadline

If an agreement is not reached, a spokeswoman for the ASO administration said it is committed to continue negotiating. Neither side could be reached for comment, so it was not clear exactly what might happen if midnight comes without a deal. There is a possibility of some kind of work stoppage that could threaten the Oct. 4 season-opening concert.

While vocal in the weeks leading up to the deadline, both sides were conspicuously quiet this week. A spokeswoman for ASO president Stanley Romanstein -- who had earlier compared rising labor costs with a game of Russian roulette — would only say that negotiations were ongoing.

Several calls and emails to leaders in the musicians' union late this week were not returned.

Drew McManus, an orchestra consultant based in Chicago, has been watching the negotiations from afar. Having seen orchestras in Philadelphia and Detroit recently go through similar turmoil, he is not optimistic. "I would think they are going to go into a protracted labor dispute and work stoppage," McManus predicted.

The last bit of substantial news to surface was 10 days ago when the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players Association proposed that total musician compensation and staff compensation each be reduced by 11 percent, which they say would have saved almost $5 million over two years.

"We have offered to reduce the size of the orchestra, reduce the individual compensation of musicians, reduce the number of work weeks, and share health care costs with management," ASOPA president and cellist Daniel Laufer said at the time. "Our comprehensive solution calls for the staff to share the reduction with us in the coming seasons to help stabilize the future of this great orchestra."

The orchestra leadership replied that it has made substantial pay cuts and other cuts in recent years.

Like many other arts groups in a down economy, the ASO has had its share of financial struggles. Last year, while it brought in $40 million in revenue, it spent $45 million. Over the past decade, as revenues have increased at least 4 percent a year, expenses have doubled to an average of around 8 percent a year over the same time period.

ASO management has sought concessions from the musicians, whose starting base salary is $88,400.

"Today's economy requires that we reshape our business so that musicians partner with management and share in sacrifices as well as success," Romanstein told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this month.

In an Aug. 9 ASOPA letter to the ASO board, musicians wrote that the strife caused by the impasse is having a negative impact on the orchestra. They wrote, "Your actions will determine whether the ASO remains the prize-winning orchestra in which so many people have lovingly invested for many decades."

They said several musicians might move to other organizations and three had been invited to play with the New York Philharmonic this coming season.

"Since it has been demonstrated that players can leave and will for less money [in a more stable situation]" McManus said, "that is something [the ASO administration] would have to consider."

But Romanstein touted Atlanta as a "career destination for musicians" and predicted there would not be mass defections to other orchestras.

The musicians' letter also accused management of threatening to lock them out and cancel their health and dental insurance if no deal was met at the deadline. Romanstein denied that charge. "We haven't threatened anything," he told the AJC. "Three scenarios could happen: a newly ratified contract, a musician strike, or an expired contract. It is our sincere desire to reach an agreement soon."

But a memo penned earlier this month by the ASO's executive vice president for business operations Donald Fox and obtained by McManus, said: "I remind you that unless an agreement is reached by midnight, Aug. 25, we have no authority to continue income for musicians, either pay or benefits, beyond that date."