ENO apologises for (not) firing musicians
NewsEnglish National Opera has just sent out this message to supporters about the hapless events of Thursday last. Even as a damage-limitation exercise it exposes deep levels of company incompetence:
On Wednesday we reached final agreement with the Musicians Union that as we move to a shorter London season, our musicians would be made redundant from their current London contracts and then rehired on a new seven month contract.
As part of this agreement it was noted that ENO would be legally required to issue redundancy notices on 15 February. We want to make it very clear that none of our staff have been fired, will all be guaranteed an offer of re-employment on a new permanent contract of work, and the redundancy notices issued were a disrect result of the agreement reached.
Nevertheless, the unintentional manner in which some of these notices were distributed during the course of Thursday, particularly the timing, was regrettable and caused understandable upset. We have apologised to all of those impacted. We are truly sorry – the last thing we would want to do is cause any further undue stress at a time of anxiety for the entire organisation.
Unintentional? The statement just said it was legally required.
The timing? Likewise says it had to be done on anĀ agreed date.
Those impacted? The musicians who learned they were redundant while in the throes of performing an opera.
It just gets worse and worse.
It reminds me of my (many many ) years employed as a full time orchestra musician, the management live in a world of their own, they are unaware of the product. I once went into the office, after working full time in this particular orchestra for over 20 years, to be asked by the girl at the computer, “well, who the hell are you?”.
As was said by the administrator of 1 UK opera company, “running this company would be easy without musicians and singers “.
Members of the ENO chorus have received NO apology from the management for the timing of their redundancy emails.
What an absolute joke. After acting in the most callous manner, they actually double down by insulting their own audience’s intelligence. Do they actually think any reasonable person would believe such spin? Such attempts at damage control are truly pitiful. Unintentional? Every single thing these people do is intentional and calculated. The mask just came off, and it’s not good for business. Pathetic.
This gross mismanagement will go down in the history books as incompetence and disrespect towards those musicians who made this once glorious company special.
It’s the end for a so called English NATIONAL Opera as it was once known.
Who would want to work for the new northern/touring company after this debacle??
The current management will never be trusted again.
Sack the lot of them and all those who’s allowed this mess to happen in the first place
But Opera North tour the north of England, and they are struggling to get audiences. ENO is not needed in the north of England – end of, and ACE and the ENO management should all be sacked. It’s a total disgrace as what has happened, not only disrespectful towards the artists that are there night after night on the stage, but also total disrespect to the audiences that support them and the artist achievement the audiences witness. Total mismanagement and none of them seem to care.
reads as: we are entitled w****** but still give us money, pretty please, so we can maintain our own salaries at the expense of others.
right up there with “The dog eat my homework”. Pathetic.
Play while we sink ya.
7/11?
No, necessarily 7/12!!
Take it or leave it.
Take itļ¼
then
crawl back in,
do Play it again, āgangā;
Leave itļ¼
Take ya bloody gear n bugger off.
Seven months’ guaranteed work for any London musician right now would be a considerable plus!
Yes, I do understand your ironically-put answer. The saddest thing is that that is how things are going towards, having been made worse by the pandemic and now the dreadful cost of living crisis. Northern Ballet, a very fine company, is in a mess too in Leeds. It is not just London, but when London as the capital city runs into these kinds of financial problems, not a lot of hope for anyone else. Then the future throws up the question: is there a profession out there to join ie make a secure living? You wonder. And then you have the whole thing about audiences or the lack of them – but not in London, apart from ENO audiences, audiences are not quite so loyal when so many visit as tourists as well and there are millions living and working in London. Leeds is hardly a centre of tourism, lovely vibrant city as it is, but opera and ballet are not central to so many lives. I worry for the future of Opera North as well.
See below.
“A ballet company’s decision to ditch its orchestra in favour of recorded music has been labelled as “cultural vandalism” by a union. Northern Ballet has announced “with deep regret” that it would axe live music for some productions from April 2024 due to rising costs. The Leeds-based ensemble said it had also had to lay off some staff.
Northern Ballet music cuts are cultural vandalism – union – BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-66961618
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-66961618
I think it would have been much better if every musician affected were contacted before Tuesday explaining the union agreement reached, guaranteeing new contracts and that the redundancy given before (not during for God’s sake) the performance was just red tape. (Unless they really were to be sacked…)
They were. They also had individual meetings with line managers informing them of the way forward. The letter was a simple legal requirement, that had to be delivered by the 15th. There is a lot of misinformation being put about and it is making a very painful situation for all concerned a great deal worse. Please stop.
True. If you had to put your company through such a painful process though, don’t you think you’d adhere to the basic good practise (and to demonstrate respect to beleaguered staff who you actually NEED in order to generate your business income) and deliver the revised contracts immediately after the redundancy notice? Instead these poor people have already waited a week for their bew contracts and are subject to a gagging order, so they can’t tell you about it themselves. It’s utterly shameful and there is ZERO excuse for treating loyal employees like this.
But of course none of the staff have been fired.
There have been several redundancies across administration already
Two honest and sincere questions….How many is “several”? What is the number of people in the administration (before and after redundancies)?
Yes, the right question to be asked, and no shortage of admin jobs in London!
I’ve just counted 184 in management from their org chart. I believe 2 of these are to be made redundant.
Two, I believe, from a pretty bloated management team, looking at their org chart. As opposed to the entire orchestra, chorus and crew.
They have had redundancy letters which come into effect at the end of March when the current season ends. A week after receiving these they STILL don’t have their revised 7-month contracts. Why? Firstly because ENO management have a clear culture of treating their creative teams with a level of contempt that means they are not interested in looking after them at all. Secondly because the MU engaged in possibly the most inept negotiation ever over this “deal”, and – as well as playing right into ENO’s hands on offering the minimum possible months of work – failed to demand a date by when the new contracts would be in place.
So, to compound the 18 months of stress and uncertainty following ACE’s disastrous initial decision, these poor musicians have now been sold down the river by both their company and their own union. You really couldn’t make it up.
This is unbelievable course of incompetence and all management positions should be questioned. All of these musicians families have been greatly affected and this abuse should be stopped.
I understood they were cutting the Orchestra and Chorus numbers so not all will be rehired?
Nothing changes at ENO back in 1999 the crew where invited to the auditorium to be told by Production Manager, ” No one will be made redundant” 3 days later we all received redundancy offers in the post !!!
“MADE” = compulsory redundancy.
“OFFER” = voluntary redundancy.
If you genuinely can’t understand thd difference, ask anyone it to explain to you slowly.
And if no-one takes up the ‘offer’….?
Then compulsory redundancies are ‘made’.
[say it slowly.]