Chicago musicians settle for 3% annual rise
NewsMusicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last night ratified a three-year wage agreement in which they will receive a three percent pay rise every year.
The deal comes at a time when two other orchestras – Philadelphia and San Francisco – have let their agreements lapse and are in deadlock over a new deal.
Quotes from the CSO press release below.
The members of the CSO and the CSOA Board of Trustees voted today to accept the
terms of the new contract. Under the terms of the newly ratified agreement, CSO
musicians’ annual salary will increase by 3% in each of the three years of the
contract. All healthcare, insurance and retirement benefits will be retained. A number of
changes to the agreement were made that improve working conditions for the
musicians, and create revenue opportunities, cost reductions and managerial
efficiencies for the CSOA and Ravinia Festival.
“The Chicago Symphony Orchestra remains a cultural beacon in the world today.
Known for its extraordinary artistry, the CSO is an important ambassador for the arts,”
said CSOA Board Chair Mary Louise Gorno. “The Trustees recognize and celebrate the
incredible musical gifts shared by the musicians of the CSO with our audiences in
Chicago, in the U.S. and around the world. On behalf of the Board, we express gratitude
to the teams who worked collaboratively and productively to secure this new agreement
that provides financial sustainability for the organization while retaining the highest
artistic standards.”
“This is an important moment for the CSOA and the members of the CSO,” said CSOA
President Jeff Alexander. The atmosphere of cooperation and partnership that was
sustained through these negotiations underlines a foundation that has been
strengthened in recent years and recognized priorities that will not only benefit the
orchestra and the organization, but the artform and community we serve. I look forward
to continuing to work together with the Members of the Orchestra and the Chicago
Federation of Musicians to advance the legacy of this great Orchestra.”
“The Musicians of the CSO are very pleased that an agreement for a new contract with
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has been reached,” said James
Smelser, Chair of the CSO Members’ Committee. “We are appreciative of the Trustees
and the Administration and their efforts, and this agreement demonstrates the strong
support by the Board for the Members of the Orchestra. Their commitment to the
Orchestra allows us to continue the tradition of sharing great orchestral music at the
highest level with our audiences in Chicago and across the world.”
3% is way below current inflation rate, so effectively a pay cut.
Income to orchestras is not growing at the inflation rate. For most, revenues have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The current headline inflation rate is between 2 and 3% and likely to fall further, so it’s more like maintaining status quo than a cut. What the increase does not do, is compensate for the months of high inflation between May 2021 and September 2022.
Maybe the musicians can ask Joe Biden for a smidgen of the tens of billions he’s squandering on Ukraine.
So, you prefer the funding of orchestras to become a federal responsibility? Perhaps the federal government should take over the cultural sector altogether?
Better than funding wars…
Or some of the ~800 billion that Congress allocated for the military, and will continue to add to year after year
It’s more nuanced than that.
The cost of healthcare is always rising and rising fast. According to the press release, there will be no changes there, which includes the musicians having to pay a greater share of the costs. That means management is paying 100% of all increased health insurance costs over the next three years. That’s a win for the muisicans, and most people probably care more about no changes to their health insurance than arguing over a 3 to 5 percent pay increase.
It’s also hard to pass judgement without knowing the details of the other benefits which too were not altered. If they have a robust benefits package, then it’s not surprising why they’d agree to 3 percent in return for no changes to it.
I assume, then, in years like 2014 and 2015, when inflation was 0.8% and 0.7% in the United States, you’d be a-ok a commensurate raises under 1%?
Blame “President” Joe Bidon.
“A number of changes to the agreement were made that improve working conditions for the musicians, and create revenue opportunities…”
Read: you get more time off to hustle on your own, whether it’s a teaching gig, or playing concertos in Taiwan.
Awww, a change a little too late for some….
Not necessarily increased time off but it could be. There are also other kinds of changes to the contract which could improve working conditions for musicians-just one example could be modification of typically rigid or inflexible scheduling parameters in the master agreement that could make the working schedule better. There are any number of things aside from increasing paid time off that could improve working conditions for the musicians. Read an orchestra master agreement sometime and you will understand. It’s most certainly not all about having more time off.
Tangentially, the current offer to SFS musicians includes 10 weeks paid time off. Essentially you work for only 80% of your guaranteed pay, and yes, you’re free to earn substantially more teaching festivals and masterclasses or whatever. Or not.
This agreement is terrible for the musicians, but could have been even worse. The cost of living adjustment does not come close to recover the steep concessions they made during COVID or the high inflation of recent, current and forecast periods, but it allows them to at least save face.
The musicians know the reality so the did not go on strike this time. Tickets sold by the CSO in 2021/2022 were 210,227, a ~40% drop against the 347,502 tickets sold in the 2017/2018 season. Remember that the CSO went on strike in 2019, so really the 2017/2018 represents their true pre-Covid level. You will be shocked when you see the 2023 numbers. The 2023/24 ticket sales are scary. The musicians see the half empty hall at every concert, and know that their 2019 strike, along with the disastrous leadership of Muti, alienated a good portion of the audience, who in the strike and in the iconic Muti picket line picture did not see an honest labor fight but only elitist entitlement.
If the CSO were not sitting on probably the biggest endowment of any symphony orchestra, this new agreement would have been much worse. But the sinking ship is taking on more and more water, no matter how Alexander the Greaet is trying to spin it.
A side note on the CSO union negotiators. The 2019 one, Steve Lester, was the “genius” who helped secure the benefits of the old guard, negotiating the permanent blow up of the legacy pension plan for new and future members. The current spokesman, J Smelser, has been the key Muti ally in getting the exceptional David Cooper out of the orchestra.
Yes… the “genius” Steve Lester who the vast majority of the orchestra voted against having on the committee the last 2 times there was a committee election.
It is widely known that the Boston Symphony has the largest endowment of any orchestra in the world. This has been true for many, many years.
And who was Muti’s ally in getting him out of the BPO?
3% is about the average most “union” workers are settling for these days! Hey, welcome to the “still overworked/underpaid club”!
Clearly no viola players on the committee.
This does not bode well for SF players. They’ve all had front-row seats to see the half-full (at best) venues the past several years, and are desperately reaching for the stars today, knowing their position will only be weaker next time around.
The repeated tone-deaf emotionally manipulative public statements and letters from the musician’s group don’t help. Whoever authors them should be sidelined, or at least introduced to some of the millions of other people this articles notes have also trained their whole lives to be the best they can be, while incurring risks far greater than falling off an orchestra chair.
Oh yes the angry jealous mob of keyboard warriors, lead by the demented rodent of Chicago, showed up to tell us how it really is. Frankly, reading what’s in the contract, getting a 9% raise over the next three years when projected inflation is around 2-2.3% per year seems reasonable. The rest is pretty much “we gave them few Sundays for additional time off elsewhere” type of thing and very importantly the musicians didn’t lose any benefits or no changes were made to those. I’d say that’s a contract well negotiated. Those of you, including the pest from the sewers, who think this is some kind of saving face or accepting reality kind of deal, I’m sure y’all would love to be making the nearly 200k with full healthcare, 11 weeks of paid vacation, 7.5% 401k match and all the other perks the job comes with. Well too bad, maybe you should have practiced more when you had the chance.