It seems that the board of the Richardson Symphony Orchestra (RSO) has decided to discontinue bargaining with their musicians in advance of the current collective bargaining agreement expiration date of August 31, 2010. They also informed patrons in a letter dated 7/1/2010 that in addition to suspending negotiations, they “will not be renegotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Musician.” UPDATE: 4:00pm CT, 7/2/2010 – AFM places Richardson Symphony Orchestra on their International Unfair List…
Labor Relations
Charleston Musicians Reject Latest Contract Offer
Since cancelling the end of their 2009/10 series, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has been negotiating with their musicians with the goal of securing an interim collective bargaining agreement while the organization engages in what it calls a restructuring of its organizational and operating model. The latest waypoint in that process took place on 5/20/2010 when the Players Association of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (PACSO) voted down the CSO’s latest proposal…
The Sound Of Fury
Have you ever wondered what labor trouble sounds like? Anyone in this business long enough likely has a story or two of inappropriate public behavior and/or actions on part of musicians and managers alike but these sorts of things usually remain in-house. But in the digital age you can bring the indoors out and that’s precisely what happened in the Richardson Symphony Orchestra as music director, Anshel Brusilow, was captured in an audio recording allegedly using rehearsal time to chastise the musicians and call one player out in particular over a labor action…
If You Can’t Join ‘Em, Beat ‘Em
In an interesting turn of events in Charleston, one of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) concert sponsors has decided to present a cancelled pops concert on their own. The First Federal bank will be presenting the May 1st Starlight Pops concert using members from the recently-suspended CSO under the director of Alex Agrest (CSO core member). First Federal is selling tickets directly through their website as well as at the gate on the day of the event…
Contract News Out Of Detroit
The 3/18/2010 edition of the Detroit Free Press published an article by Mark Stryker about the ongoing negotiations between the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and their musicians. The big news is although both sides were engaged in talks for nearly a year to modify the existing contract before its expiration date, they haven’t been able to reach an agreement. Since the expiration date is this August, both sides agreed that it makes better sense to simply roll the talks over into regularly scheduled negotiations. On the surface, this might seem troubling, but it’s actually a good sign…