Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
The Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra (CSPO) labor dispute continues with little change from where they were months ago. What this means is while other orchestras are tooling back up for performance activity and moving ahead, the CSPO continues to shrink in their rearview mirror. While both sides in the dispute remain in arbitration, there is no progress to report. What has changed is an increase in local attention where KKTV recently …
On 3/11/21 the musicians of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic (CSPhil) issued a press statement announcing the orchestra has been placed on the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) International Unfair List. This decision is the latest waypoint following the employer’s decision to use force majeure to cancel the union contract. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this went over like a lead balloon and since then, tensions have systematically increased. Musicians have volunteered to waive an …
On Monday, 12/7/2020, we learned the Federally mediated bargaining between the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra (CSPO) and its musicians had broken down. At the time, the musicians issued a press statement that indicating they expect to pursue independent arbitration to address the illegal cancellation of their CBA. I reached out to the CSPO bass trombonist and Chair of the Players Committee, Jeremy Van Hoy, to learn more. “We have two grievances that …
After multiple weeks of Federally mediated bargaining, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic musicians released a press statement on 12/6/2020 to announce those efforts have failed to resolve the ongoing labor dispute. The dispute was triggered in October 2020 when the employer decided to terminate an existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and replace it with non-union work contracts. According to the musicians, they used mediation to offer sizable concessions to help the organization …
It appears mediation in the Colorado Springs Philharmonic labor dispute is running into difficulties. The musicians released a public statement on 11/5/2020 to inform supporters that their recent offer to waive an entire season’s salary made was rejected. Most recently, working with a federal mediator, we offered to accept the total loss of our guaranteed salaries for the entire period of the pandemic and for six months beyond the end of the pandemic. …
