Just in: NY Phil players win $205k pay deal
OrchestrasThe interim management of the NY Philharmonic has offered the musicians a 30 percent pay raise, taking the basic minimum wage in the strings to $205,000 a year. Players in other sections automatically earn more. The musicians will vote today on whether to accept the deal, which will be phased in over three years.
‘This is a restorative settlement that brings our musicians to the level of their peer orchestras,’ acting CEO Deborah Borda told the parish paper.
‘Our members deserved this raise,’ said Local 802’s Sara Cutler, who said yesterday that players could not afford to pay their bills on a mere $153k a year.
That’s a massive pay increase.
And well deserved! Congrats my friends and colleagues!
I wonder if nurses and pilots and other people upon whose services we depend can anticipate such raises.
Not when you take into account inflation since 2019!
They got hosed!
From 2019 to 2024, the cumulative inflation was 22.70%.
So a raise of 30% over the next 3 years is just (1) making up for what they lost in inflation over the last 5 years, and then (2) keeping up with inflation in the next 3 years.
And that’s based on an optimistic guesstimate that inflation will average 3% over the next 3 years, when it averaged 4.2% in the last 5 years primarily under Biden.
(And not to inject more politics in this, but if Deep Blue New York votes Harris, you can bet your ass inflation won’t dip in the next 4 years, but your income tax with certainly rise in the next 4 years, especially because now you’ll make more than $200K per year, but hey, I digress)
Reject it! Veto it! Don’t let Deborah Borda sucker you into a terrible deal.
Inflation has already returned to pre-crisis levels below 3% annually. That said, if your buddy Trump gets back into power, most reputable economists predict a return to higher inflation levels as well as significant costs passed on to Americans through his planned tariffs on imports.
And if the Harris spending that she’s proposed is put into action, inflation will be out of sight. She, and the administration she “serves” is most responsible for the incredible inflation that has been faced these last several years. And much of the Biden spending has been wasteful and useless. People are struggling—badly. Even if inflation is now 3%, that is after the massive inflationary costs that haven’t come down—the rate has just slowed. Voting for Harris is voting for more of the same—and worse.
What staggering ignorance.
the RATE of inflation has slowed, but the prices have not returned to 2019 levels. The massive inflation price increases are still there.
Inflation is currently 2.9% and falling. Harris promising not to increase taxes on earnings up to $400K (but of course NY State taxes may go up). The musicians deserve competitive compensation which they seem to have negotiated. In addition they deserve backdated combat pay for working with JVZ for several years, ameliorated by the pandemic shutdown.
Bingo. Adjusted for inflation, they’ll be making the same in 2027 as they did in 2019 in terms of purchasing power.
Housing is up 30%, food is up 30%, gas is up 30%, even the NYC Subway fare is up 30%.
You have to admit that the politics practiced in China (post-Mao) have allowed it to become one of the world’s biggest economies. So forms of leftism may not be such a bad thing. Maybe NYC and NY state just need to modify a liberal ideology a bit.
The indoctrinated are impervious to facts.
There are worse things than inflation.
If inflation is the price of not having deluded old man who paints himself orange because he thinks it makes him look sexy and whose every decision is blurted out with no thought to what happens besides soothing his ego for the next five minutes… I’ll take the inflation.
Well, you did inject politics into it. The current administration has spent the past 3+ years working to get inflation back down to normal levels, which has finally happened. So why would you think Harris would cause it to go back up? She’s also more likely than the other guy to continue aggressive antitrust enforcement, which should help rein in prices.
Of course, in New York, the big cost is housing. That’s not a function of inflation, but of limited housing supply. That’s on the people of the city and state who regularly fight efforts to expand housing supply.
“Normal levels” are those experienced under Trump. Inflation began its painful rise in March 2021. Trump was out of office then, and Biden/Harris had just spent several trillion dollars financed by the Federal Reserve.
Under Trump the economy shut down thanks to his incompetent response to COVID. That killed demand so prices of a lot of things fell. Meanwhile a lot of people were out of work and parking lots at schools and stadiums were lined with people in cars picking up free meals.
The U.S. had less inflation than other developed nations, so how was the Biden COVID money the cause?
Looks like SD readers are no smarter about macroeconomics than the average yokel on Yahoo.
According to the NY Philharmonic, this boost was needed to attract good players—well, don’t give your hopes up that all the current players will suddenly practice their parts.
All the top tier orchestras Cleveland, Boston, now New York got great deals because they deserved them. The New York Phil fills the hall, has an incoming superstar music director, fantastic programming, a compelling vision; in short: a future.
Compare that to the CSO, which has become a lower tier organization under Muti-Alexander: that diminished orchestra, whose quality has been systematically damaged by more than a decade of Mutian snake oil, had to settle for a 3% pay rise. https://slippedisc.com/2023/09/chicago-musicians-settle-for-3-annual-rise/
Their hall is often half empty, they have arguably no consequential recordings in the last ten years, their programming is maddening for repetitiveness; top musicians have been leaving or even been kicked out. They get on the news only for the moronic rants of their md emeritus for life who either complains about metoo, or about young conductors; all while rehabilitating a Putin’s supporter. (Read: Riccardo Muti & Putin Supporter Ildar Abdrazakov Team up For ‘Attila’ in Japan https://operawire.com/riccardo-muti-putin-supporter-ildar-abdrazakov-team-up-for-japan-attila/). Not even the fantastic Klaus Makela will be able to save them.
A side note on the CSO union negotiators. The 2019 lead, Steve Lester, a big Muti boot kisser, 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 more recent spokesman, J Smelser, has been a key Muti ally in getting the exceptional David Cooper out of the orchestra.
The NYP got a massive raise because they lagged other top-tier orchestras in terms of compensation. Badly. Chicago has been at or near the front with Boston and LA, so there was no justification for much more than a ~3% annual bump. San Francisco used to be in that group but has sadly dropped off the radar. Y
New York is the most expensive city in the US on which to love. And don’t forget all the shit that Ny’ers put up with thanks to Biden.
Don’t be fooled by inflationary money.
It’s funny money, like during the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany, they were minting 5 Million-Mark coins.
Everyone was a millionaire!
If it makes you feel better, convert $205K to Yens. Everything sounds better in Yens.
“NY Phil musicians will be making Thirty-Two Million, Nine Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand, Seven Hundred Twenty-Six (32, 975, 726) Yens per year”
Calm down everyone, yes the salary increase is just keeping up with the Joneses, but that’s the best they can hope for, and get, in this industry.
Landing a job in a Big Seven is still grabbing the Brass Ring in classical music.
Excepting a handful of superstar soloists, the Michael Jordans of classical music, there is nothing better out there for mere mortals.
So, different base pay based on section? Then what exactly is base pay if it differs?
As is standard in many major orchestras, base pay is the minimum scale for everyone. There is often negotiated overscale that can depend on a number of factors, such as length of tenure with the orchestra, seating (i.e. principal players earn more), etc. There may be different caps on overscale for different chairs, which is what allows the concertmaster to be paid much more than, say, the bass clarinet player. All of this would be fleshed out in their contract.
also extra pay if they do recordings and/or broadcasts
I really hope they’ll be able to manage now.
Still only a fraction of what the executive time pocket
So now they’ll double the price of tickets to $412 for the least expensive to $868 (10/4/24). What a night out at a concert.
The concert is nearly sold-out; only expensive tickets are left.
You are cherry-picking your example. If you want to make a cogent point, you should cite the price of an average concert, not a special event.
NICE!
Good news! Well deserved.
The European mind cannot comprehend this, but these wages are on the low end of what a skilled, successful professional makes in that city. A kid of friends of mine just took a starting salary right out of college of 380K at Amazon. Big law typical starting salary about 200K now before bonus. Don’t know about you but I value symphony musicians above corporate lawyers, and I’m happy to see this.
I’d be suspect that your friend’s child has a starting salary of $380K right out of college; even at Google in Manhattan.
Salaries at for profit and non-profits can’t be compared. Apples and oranges.
I make $400k a year and have difficulty paying my bills. So I sympathize with them.
It looks like Borda is creating as many reasons as possible to dissuade any worthwhile candidate from considering that job. A 30% increase in this day and age in any industry is untenable.
This is excellent news. Truly, they shouldn’t be paid less.
Can’t pay their bills at 153k a year? What? Are you kidding me? Stop eating out at Peter Luger’s every night. I make half that and can pay my bills just fine. Smh.
Keen’s is better than Peter Luger
Funny comment. Kudos. I prefer pizza. cheaper.
Do you live in Manhattan?
Yes. 45 years. Anon–while the Peter Luger example was a bit off (it’s a tourist trap)–is not that off base.
The city has much to offer for all income levels.
Wonderful news ❤️