Minnesota Musicians Ratify Substitute Pay Disparity Through 2020

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On 5/19/2015, the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra (MOMA) ratified a 3.5 year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with their employer, the Minnesota Orchestra Association (MOA). The new agreement begins 2/1/2017 and expires on 8/31/2020; at the beginning of the 2019/20 season, the base musician annual salary with electronic music guarantee (EMG) will by $110,604 and the number of salaried musicians will increase to 94 (although the CBA continues to define the …

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A Crisis Of Conscience Inside The AFM

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The topic of equal pay for equal work as applied to substitute musician wages has been an uphill examination over the past year. We began exploring the topic in the wake of the Minnesota Orchestra settlement that ended their season-killing lockout after learning the agreement failed to maintain wage parity for substitute musicians and even when the option of achieving parity through direct action was available, the musicians and their Local …

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MN Patron Group Mute On Substitute Equal Pay For Equal Work Topic

Last week’s pair of articles (part 1 and part 2) examining the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) musicians’ decision to go public with concerns over artistic integrity in the wake of extended austerity measures produced an intriguing byproduct related to the topic of equal pay for equal work. On one hand, BSO president and CEO, Paul Meecham, proclaimed that the orchestra has managed to “attract high quality substitute players without any difficulty” …

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A Gig Of Last Resort. Part 2

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In Part 1, we discovered that there’s something not quite right at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) where frustration has given birth to disenfranchisement. The musicians feel the institution’s overall commitment to artistic integrity has slipped below acceptable levels whereas BSO president and CEO, Paul Meecham, feels that the group is making tremendous strides and is as competitive as ever for both salaried and substitute musicians. Ultimately, the only people in …

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A Gig Of Last Resort? Part 1

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There’s an interesting article by Tim Smith in the 3/8/2015 edition of the Baltimore Sun that examines the unusual decision by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) musicians to engage the services of a public relations firm. Although hiring a PR firm isn’t unusual in and of itself, it is typically reserved for times of active bargaining but the BSO’s current master agreement doesn’t expire until the end of the 2015/16 season …

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