Although it comes as no real surprise, the Louisville Orchestra (LO) board of directors rejected the musicians’ latest offer on Tuesday, April 3, 2012. In response, the musicians’ media contact released a statement announcing they will conduct a press conference today at noon (CT) to discuss their now rejected proposal. There’s nothing earth shattering there but there is something of interest by way of the final two sentences from the letter issued to the musicians by LO attorney, James Smith.
Negotiations
More From Louisville: Ball's In Your Court
It appears that we didn’t have to wait very long for the next move in Louisville following the Louisville Orchestra (LO) board’s decision to re-engage the musicians in bargaining. On 3/29/2012, the Louisville Orchestra Musicians Association (LOMA) issued a press statement indicating that they are willing to return to work vis-a-vis a one year agreement, but only under the following stipulations.
Hurry Up And Wait In Louisville
It seems news may be brewing in Louisville; however, the key word there is “may.” According to the 3/26/12 edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal in an article by Elizabeth Kramer, the Louisville Orchestra (LO) board of directors have decided to send the musicians a new proposal. And with the one year waypoint for the LO operating in the dark rapidly approaching, this could be a significant development or the latest in a string of “hurry up and wait” developments.
Louisville Musicians Reject Arbitration Then Miss An Opportunity
On Thursday, 2/16/2012 the Louisville Orchestra (LO) Musicians formally rejected an offer from management to enter binding arbitration. This comes as no real surprise in that the offer had a number of provisos tailored to ensure that any decision would conform to financial and operational parameters contained in their previous proposals, all of which have been previously rejected by LO musicians. Moreover, the lack of any input on selecting the pool …
Well This Is Interesting: KO Conductor Steps Down From Production
Although we haven’t been following the details at the Kentucky Opera (KO) as closely as the Louisville Orchestra (LO) labor dispute, the two groups are intertwined in that they share the same musician pool. And whereas the LO has not yet staged performances with replacement musicians since their work stoppage began several months ago, the KO did stage a production with piano accompaniment and the next scheduled performance includes plans for replacement musicians.