web site<\/a>:<\/p>\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n
April 25, 2008<\/p>\n
Columbus Symphony Musicians Unanimously Vote to Reject Board’s “Final Offer”<\/p>\n
Last night, the members of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra unanimously voted by secret ballot to reject the CSO Board’s “final offer” for a new contract which would take effect next season. The offer called for a 40% annual salary cut from all 53 Full-Time Musicians with no restoration in additional years. The current minimum annual salary is $55,200. Under the Board’s proposal it would be slashed to $33,000. The Board’s offer would also require Musicians to pay 30% of their monthly health insurance premiums, up to $480 per month for Musicians with family coverage. In addition, the wages per rehearsal and concert for part time Musicians would be reduced from $150 to $100. The value of these cuts from the Musician’s pockets would be approximately $1.4 million for next season.<\/p>\n
Previously the Board rejected the Musician’s proposal to accept a 6.5% annual salary cut, to reduce monthly health insurance payments in return, but to share in future premium increases, and to leave vacant any non-principal chair during long term leaves of absence throughout the contract. Depending on the final number of vacancies, this would result in savings next season of approximately $500,000. Three years ago, the Musicians agreed to an 11% annual salary cut which resulted in total savings over the past two and a half years of $1.3 million.<\/p>\n
Early in the negotiation process, the Musicians proposed that a third party consultant who specializes in orchestra management be selected by mutual agreement and brought in to evaluate the situation and to make recommendations to both the Board and the Musicians. The Board immediately rejected that proposal insisting that no assistance was needed to resolve matters. They later offered to accept the assistance of a consultant, but only in the future after a new contract is reached.<\/p>\n
The Board has told the Musicians that there may not be enough money to continue operations beyond the end of this month without agreement on a new contract for next season. Because the Board’s proposal was presented as a “final offer”, they will not consider any further proposals from the Musicians.<\/p>\n
Douglas Fisher, President of the Central Ohio Federation of Musicians, Local 103 AFM, the union which represents the CSO Musicians stated, “We are disappointed that the Board has rejected immediate assistance from an orchestra management consultant to advise both them and the Musicians. The longer this crisis continues the more Musicians we will lose. So far we have lost four high-profile Musicians to other full time jobs next season and that number will likely increase. It has taken decades for this small group of Musicians to develop into the high quality ensemble that it is today. Because there are only 53 full time Musicians, losing even a small number of them has a profound effect on the orchestra’s quality.”<\/p>\n
Jim Akins, Chair of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Committee and Principal Tuba said, “Key economic data even in today’s economy proves that central Ohio has the means to support this orchestra at an even higher level and that our region is as strong economically as the four major cities which surround it. Yet the orchestra’s annual budget is two to three times smaller than the orchestras in those cities. Central Ohio deserves an orchestra of high quality and I hope that those who care will step up and refuse to let it die”.<\/p>\n
For further information please contact Douglas Fisher at 614-783-3684 or Jim Akins at 614-361-1481. Also, please visit www.symphonymusicians.com, the official website of the CSO Musicians for detailed financial information on the CSO and how it compares to surrounding cities.<\/p>\n
####<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It appears that we may be on the verge of whatever will happen in Columbus, if this results in an impasse. Press release from the CSO musicians’ web site:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[186,2],"tags":[463],"class_list":["post-943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-issues","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-columbus-symphony-orchestra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-fd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/27\/columbus-recording-its-own-memorial\/","url_meta":{"origin":943,"position":0},"title":"columbus recording its own memorial","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sad, but true: Douglas Fisher Member, Columbus Symphony Orchestra President, Local 103, AFM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2008 Columbus Symphony Musicians Vote To Allow Live Recording Next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Columbus Symphony Orchestra program will be recorded live for the international recording company Denon, which will release it on compact disc.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":965,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/13\/columbus-symphony-circling-the-drain\/","url_meta":{"origin":943,"position":1},"title":"columbus symphony circling the drain?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The news from Columbus seems to be getting more dire by the day, and those with the power to change the situation seem unwilling to do so (or to be charitable, unable to do so). Here's a collection of posts from around the classical blogosphere concerning the situation in Columbus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":865,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/18\/cso-musicians-management-begin-talks\/","url_meta":{"origin":943,"position":2},"title":"cso musicians & management begin talks","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Columbus Symphony musicians and management met at the negotiating table today for the first time since proposed cuts of musicians and weeks of the season (by 22 musicians and 12 weeks, respectively) were first presented to the musicians on January 17, 2008 (a presentation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/15\/columbus-situation-dire\/","url_meta":{"origin":943,"position":3},"title":"columbus situation dire","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This was posted on the CSO facebook group yesterday: Friends, things are not going well. I beg your attention for a few minutes while I report the \"unreported\" events surrounding the arts crisis in Columbus. These are my opinions and not the official view of our committee representatives. I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/30\/columbus-symphony-musicians-respond\/","url_meta":{"origin":943,"position":4},"title":"columbus symphony musicians respond","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Columbus Symphony musicians have issued a formal response to the planned cuts of both season and personnel by the Columbus Symphony Association. Central Ohio Federation of Musicians Local 103, AFM 1585 Bethel Road, Suite 100 Columbus, Ohio 43220 614-457-6371 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2008 HUNDREDS FROM AROUND THE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/19\/more-columbus-analysis\/","url_meta":{"origin":943,"position":5},"title":"more columbus analysis","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Robert Levine*, at his blog Abu Bratsche (best blog name I've seen in a long, long time!), points out that the problems that are coming to a head in Columbus are not financial in origin. The management and board of the Columbus Symphony have released a document with the Orwellian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}