Negotiations

Just as things were beginning to look especially dark, the Woodruff Arts Center (WAC) and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players’ Association (ASOPA) managed to reach an agreement on terms for a new four year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that officially brings an end to the nine week lockout that silenced the orchestra’s 70th anniversary season. Terms were finalized on Thursday, 11/6/2014 while the employer and employees officially ratified the CBA over …

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The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) lockout approaches its latest in a series of deadlines this weekend and if they fall short of reaching an agreement, you can expect another round of concert cancellations. According to an article in the 10/5/2014 Journal-Constitution by Howard Pousner, mediated negotiations resumed that day but at the time this article was written, an agreement as failed to materialize. Barring considerable movement on key issues of wages …

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After three weeks of mediated negotiations, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO)/Woodruff Arts Center (WAC) are no closer to an agreement with their musicians than before they locked them out on 9/7/2014. According to an article by Jenny Jarvie in the 10/24/2014 edition of ArtsAtl.com, the WAC remains firmly entrenched, failing to modify their previous offer while a press statement from the musicians indicates that have offered concessions from previous proposals on …

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It appears that mediation is having little impact at resolving the lockout between the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO)/Woodruff Arts Center (WAC) and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players’ Association (ASOPA). The 10/16/14 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Arts & Culture blog featured a post by Howard Pousner which reports that the ASOPA has become frustrated after what they characterized as intransigence wrapped inside delaying tactics from WAC negotiating representatives. As a result, …

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The 10/8/2014 edition of The Washington Post published an article by Geoff Edgers that examines the ongoing Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO)/Woodruff Arts Center (WAC) lockout. Of particular interest is the response from WAC Governing Board Chairman Douglas Hertz to questions about whether or not he regretted characterizing the ASO musicians and conductors as “a bunch of crazy people.” “Why? It does make me wonder,” [Hertz] said. “I’m not calling them crazy. …

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