Another Layer Of Legalese From Louisville

It seems that the Louisville Orchestra (LO) labor dispute has moved to a new level following a letter signed by LO Chief Executive Officer Robert Birman and addressed to each of the orchestra’s musicians (Hat Tip to Jon Silpayamanant). In a nutshell, the letter explains that unless the recipient returns a signed statement that they are willing to “participate in future Louisville Orchestra concerts and rehearsals” the organization will interpret such response as a “voluntary refusal to work.”…

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If It Were Only That Easy

There’s a post by Seth Godin from 6/16/2011 (HT Bruce Hembd from Horn Matters) where he discusses the perils of negotiation brinkmanship amidst the current period of intense financial distress. Not only is it short and sweet but it sums up much of the root problems from some of the headline dominating labor relations disasters this season. At the same time, it demonstrates how the same approach was actually productive back in the day…

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A Fresh Look And Ponder Worthy Philly Thoughts

InsideTheArts.com has a brand new look; there’s a slick new homepage slider for featured articles, each of the authors has the two most recent articles listed on the homepage and (wait for it) all of the terrific What’s Bothering Jeff? videos are back up. In fact, even though they are hosted on YouTube, iPad and iPhone users can watch <gasp>…

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A Legacy Of Mistrust In Detroit

The 7/5/2011 edition of the Detroit News published an article by Lawrence B. Johnson that examines the ongoing impact fallout from this season’s prolonged strike at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). In particular, Johnson focuses on the growing list of musicians who have decided to take jobs in other orchestras, retire, or simply up and leave as a result of an overwhelming lack of confidence in the orchestra’s leadership… All in …

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