San Francisco Symphony musicians threaten to strike

[alexwill]

Press Release from Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony:
San Francisco Symphony Musicians Unanimously Vote to Authorize Strike In
Advance Of East Coast Tour

Vote Comes One Day After Musicians Call on Management to Open All Financial
Books, Which Has Yet to Happen

Seek Agreement That Will Allow For Symphony To Maintain Excellence And
Compete With Chicago And Los Angeles

San Francisco, CA- Last night the Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony
voted unanimously to authorize a strike if contract negotiations with
management continue to stall. Management is seeking freezes in Musician's
wages and pension, and cuts in medical benefits, while the Musicians have
proposed an agreement that will maintain the excellence of the Symphony and
help to compete directly with their higher-paid peers in Chicago and Los
Angeles.

Yesterday, the Grammy-Award winning musicians, who have been negotiating for
eight months and performing without a contract for thirteen weeks, called
for management, which has awarded itself significant raises and is pursuing
a building expansion at a cost of more than half-a-billion dollars, to once
and for all publicly open its financial books in an attempt to get a clear
understanding of the Symphony's financial picture, including how Management
allocates the $2.6 million of public money it receives. The musicians have
set next week as the deadline to get a deal done, which is when the Symphony
will embark on a high profile tour of the East Coast, including Carnegie
Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The
Musicians have never left on such a tour without a contract.

"Given the amount of tax-payer funding involved, the Musicians and other
stake-holders deserve to have all the financial documents open to the public
so we can understand how Symphony executives can on one hand be giving
themselves significant raises and embarking on massive spending programs
while on the other hand be asking the Musicians to make major sacrifices,"
said Dave Gaudry, Chair of the Musicians' Negotiating Committee. "The
Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony just won our fifteenth Grammy, but
our ability to continue to be a top tier symphony and compete against
Chicago and Los Angeles will be directly impacted if Management continues to
pursue an agreement with such draconian cuts."

The musician's contract expired on Sunday, February 10th, the very same day
the Symphony won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance of 2012.
With an endowment that has increased in value by 83% over the last ten years
and currently approaching $300 million, the San Francisco Symphony has the
second largest endowment of any symphony in the country.

Management has rewarded itself with salary increases substantially greater
than provided for musicians; has developed plans to embark on a major
redesign and renovation of the Davies Symphony Hall at a cost of up to a
half billion dollars; and has increased the budget $11 million over last
year for a Centennial Celebration party -- while demanding a wage freeze and
calling for increasing the costs to be borne by the musicians, including
benefit reductions.

In their letter to San Francisco Symphony Executive Director Brent Assink
yesterday Tuesday, the musicians said, "We fear that Management has lost
sight of its mission.If the Symphony is financially strong enough to pursue
a renovation of up to half a billion dollars in the name of providing a
world class venue and can increase the compensation of top Management in
order to maintain world class managerial talent, it certainly ought not to
be seeking to reduce the compensation and benefits of the working
Musicians."

Management asserts that the wage freeze and benefit reductions are needed
because of the financial condition of the Symphony, but they refuse to be
transparent about the Symphony's finances. Musicians have asked for specific
information related to how Management allocates resources, including the
relationship between the endowment and budget, the amount spent on
programming and where the public money is spent, including a breakdown of
how management spends the approximately $2.6 million in public support
provided to the Symphony.

The musicians stress the importance of agreeing to a contract that enables
the symphony to maintain its status as one of the top orchestras in the
country. The letter to management states that the contract must ".preserve
our ability to continue our artistic excellence including the capacity to
compete with our already higher paid peer orchestras such as the Los Angeles
Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony, both of which operate in cities with
significantly lower costs of living. When it comes to attracting and keeping
the musical talent needed to maintain the artistic quality of the orchestra
and earn future Grammy Awards, San Francisco's extraordinarily high cost of
living and our lower compensation already make us vulnerable, even without
adopting the regressive contract terms you have proposed. As you are well
aware, next season we are losing a world class timpanist, David Herbert, to
Chicago, which would be like the San Francisco Giants losing Buster Posey to
the Dodgers. The Giants have won two World Series in three years not because
they had a world class stadium to play in, but because they had world class
talent."

The Symphony's endowment has increased in value by 83% over the last ten
years as more than $145 million in new endowment and special programming
funds were raised during the period encompassing the greatest recession
since the great depression. In the ten-year period from 2001 through
calendar year 2011 top symphony leadership received salary increases in
amounts substantially greater than the increases provided for musicians. The
salary for the Executive Director increased by 79% -- over 50% more than the
increases for the Musicians over the same time frame. According to the
latest IRS 990 forms, in 2010 the Music Director was paid $2.4 million, 18.5
times more than the guaranteed base pay for musicians.

The San Francisco Symphony increased its budget by almost $11 million last
year for the Centennial Celebration party. The improvements that the
Musicians are seeking in the next contract will cost less than the
Centennial Celebration cost.

[alexwill]

http://www.musiciansofthesanfranciscosymphony.org/?p=841

[alexwill]

SFS Contract Talks on Short Fuse

http://www.sfcv.org/article/sfs-contract-talks-on-short-fuse

[gstump]

Hang in there.
President Emeritus, Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local 5
_________________
Schilke B5
Couesnon Flug (1967)
Funk Brothers Horn Section/Caruso Student

[alexwill]

http://www.sfsymphony.org/About-Us/Press-Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CONCERT SCHEDULED for 2:00 PM MARCH 14 CANCELLED DUE TO WORK STOPPAGE BY MUSICIANS

SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, 2013 – Due to a work stoppage by the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), the concert scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled. Patrons can obtain up-to-the-minute information on concerts, ticket exchanges and customer service by calling the Symphony Box Office at (415) 864-6000 and on the Orchestra’s website at www.sfsymphony.org/press.

The Musicians Union of San Francisco, Local 6, American Federation of Musicians, representing musicians of the San Francisco Symphony, have rejected proposals from the Orchestra administration for a new three-year contract that would have kept the musicians among the three highest paid orchestras in the country. The administration notified the musicians that a revised proposal would be presented Thursday, March 14 but the musicians decided to strike rather than continue negotiations overseen by a federal mediator.

The latest administration proposal offered a minimum base yearly salary of $141,700 in the first year, with multi-year increases to $144,560 by the end of the proposed contract. During the most recent four-year contract, the musicians’ base minimum pay increased by 17.3%, an average of 4.3% per year. In addition to the minimum base salary, other musician compensation such as radio payments, over-scale, and seniority raises the current annual average pay for SFS musicians to over $165,000.

The administration’s most recent offer also maintained all current benefit payment levels including 10 weeks paid vacation, a maximum pension of $74,000 annually upon retirement, paid sick leave, and a full coverage health plan with no monthly contribution for individual musicians.

“We are disappointed that the musicians have chosen to strike and deeply regret any inconvenience to our patrons,” said Brent Assink, Executive Director of the San Francisco Symphony. “We will continue to work hard to develop a fair agreement that gives our talented musicians a contract that reflects our stature as one of the top orchestras in the country but also one that sets a prudent financial course for the future.”

Providing affordable health care options for musicians remains a key goal. With the rising cost of health care, SFS administration proposed health care plan changes but still offered a health care plan option with no monthly contribution for individual musicians. The latest proposal also maintained a maximum $74,000 annual pension for retiring musicians, with a slight increase in retirement age to draw full pensions.

In the current economic environment, the San Francisco Symphony is facing the same challenges that other major American orchestras around the country are facing. For all four years of its most recent collective bargaining agreement with its musicians, operating expenses have outpaced operating income. While concert and related revenues have increased 2.4% compounded annually during the term of the four-year agreement, concert production expenses have increased 8.1% compounded annually. The Orchestra has incurred an operating deficit in each of those years.

“Many of America's top orchestras are facing similar challenges with increased concert production, pension, and health care costs currently outpacing revenue growth. We are developing a multi-year plan to achieve a balanced operating model, including identifying and growing new sources of revenue and at the same time reducing the growth rate of expenses,” said Assink.

As a non-profit organization, the Symphony provides transparency about its finances in fully audited and publicly available documents in accordance with the law. The administration responded to all of the union’s specific requests for information in a timely manner throughout the negotiations. Since September, this has included over 50 formal requests for which were delivered over 500 pages of documentation.

Patrons with tickets to the March 14 concert may exchange them for an upcoming concert, may donate their tickets, or receive a refund. Patrons can obtain up-to-the-minute information on concerts, ticket exchanges and customer service by calling the Symphony Box Office at (415) 864-6000 and on the Orchestra’s website at www.sfsymphony.org/press.

For more details on the negotiations please visit www.sfsymphony.org/press or contact Oliver Theil, SFS Director of Communications at (415) 264-1241 otheil@sfsymphony.org

[tpter1]

Damn.
_________________
-Glenn Roberts
"Character is the backbone of human culture, and music is the flowering of human character". -Confucious

[alexwill]

The SF Symphony Musicians website is now updated.
http://www.musiciansofthesanfranciscosymphony.org/?p=2273

[tritrumpet]

What in the world are they striking for? Very few people in any job anywhere in the world could do better than the current offer.

[Brian Moon]

[jpbartel]

[jpbartel]

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeel45fhdj/the-worlds-25-highest-paid-musicians-3/

Here's the top 25 paid musicians in the world, if you can call some of these musicians.

[cjl]

Fine.

[andybharms]

[cjl]

fine

[jpbartel]

[MattC]

I heard both from sides this morning on KQED's Forum show. They still sound respectful.

I wish them well.

[eoliver]

Anyone see this?

http://alfidicapitalblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/fire-all-striking-san-francisco.html?m=1
_________________
Eric Oliver, RRT
www.trumpetwitheric.com
trumpetwitheric@gmail.com

[rockford]

[tpter1]

Shows a complete lack of understanding of what it takes to play professionally in an orchestra at the highest level- including how to get there. I bet the same writer supports athletes who earn 8 times that amount. Not that they don;t earn it also. But let's think about this for a moment. What happens when a pitcher goes into a slump? He gets a hot tub, a personal trainer, medical attention, counseling perhaps if it's stress-related, a masseuse. What would happen if Mr. Clean went into a slump? My guess is he'd be fined or called into the MD's office. (I know, I know... he's LA, this is San Fran... but his name came to mind first). Way to go, SFS board. These guys earned a grammy. Now you treat them like this?
_________________
-Glenn Roberts
"Character is the backbone of human culture, and music is the flowering of human character". -Confucious

[Steve A]

When people write things this (obviously, and easily disprovably) stupid, I think it'd be better if we all just ignored them. This guy doesn't deserve the attention he's going to get for writing this arrogant, ignorant garbage.