That was quick
Maybe not the shortest orchestral strike on record, but likely close to it: They entered the negotiating room in the Chicago Symphony Association’s lawyer’s office at 2 p.m. Monday, and by about 6:45...
View ArticleA bad settlement in Atlanta
The musicians of the Atlanta Symphony voted to ratify a tentative settlement that was pretty much what ASO management (or perhaps the Woodruff Center) wanted all along: Symphony Orchestra accepted a...
View ArticleThe curious incident of the Boards in the night-time
These have been dreadful times for the musicians of the orchestras at the epicenter of the current epidemic of radical salary-slashing. Those orchestras’ audiences have been affected too, as have...
View ArticleWhy no impasse in Minnesota?
One of the continuing mysteries of the Minnesota Orchestra dispute (for me, at least) was why the management chose to lock out its musicians rather than declare impasse and impose its proposal. Drew...
View ArticleNLRB happens
In a nice example of synchronicity, the Jacksonville Symphony musicians, with the assistance of their counsel, Liza Medina, proved my point about the dangers of an employer declaring impasse within...
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Jazz Fights For Justice
Classical music organizations and musicians are not the only ones facing labor disputes, contract negotiations, and pension issues. This recent article from the AFM‘s International Musician tells the...
View ArticleWhat happens in Vegas might matter to you
The first Convention of the American Federation of Musicians since 2010 begins today. As a local officer, I will be attending as one of two delegates from Local 8. I’ll also be continuing a tradition I...
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The Role of the Orchestra Committee vs. the Local
An interesting musician session at the League’s June conference featured a panel discussing “The Role of the Orchestra Committee and the Local Union.” The panelists were Robert Levine, Principal...
View ArticleThe latest bad news from Minnesota
There have been several developments in the trench warfare that goes by the name of “Minnesota Orchestra negotiations” recently. The first, and (to my mind) least consequential, was DomainNameGate....
View ArticleCharleston decertifies
I was reminded yesterday of a classic newspaper headline that combined obviousness with a complete lack of useful information: Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say Something similarly went...
View ArticleMisconduct in and out of the workplace
Many years ago a colleague of mine was pressured by management to retire after allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public. I remember being bothered about that at the time, as the...
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Memphis Symphony Crisis Management
Michael Barar is a violist with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and serves as their representative to ROPA. Exactly one week ago from the time I am writing this, the board of directors of the Memphis...
View ArticleA Disgusting New Low
This post originally appeared on the blog Mask of the Flower Prince. It is reprinted here with permission. You know, over the course of the Minnesota Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera labor disputes,...
View ArticleIs tenure good for musicians?
An interest in the law inclines me to surf amongst the legal waves on the Internet, leading to the occasional odd discovery relevant to my day job. This post from the blog Lawyers, Guns and Money...
View ArticleSomeone else discovers gender discrimination in orchestras
Long-time readers of this blog might remember an article I wrote in 2009 on the subject of discrimination in orchestras. I thought at the time that my survey of the rosters of ICSCOM orchestras...
View ArticleStupid music director tricks, part the 11,347th
Those handful of us in the orchestra blogging community can always count on some conductor, somewhere, doing or saying something really dumb to rescue us from having nothing to write about. Our latest...
View ArticleMore on Dallas
One of the things that mystified me about the Dallas situation was the involvement of the NLRB; generally disputes between the union and management over contract administration are handled through the...
View ArticleThe religious liberty wars come to the orchestra world
Even casual followers of employment law know that the issues around religious liberty and the employment relationship in the US are becoming more contentious; the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision and...
View ArticleThe latest bad news from Minnesota
There have been several developments in the trench warfare that goes by the name of “Minnesota Orchestra negotiations” recently. The first, and (to my mind) least consequential, was DomainNameGate....
View ArticleCharleston decertifies
I was reminded yesterday of a classic newspaper headline that combined obviousness with a complete lack of useful information: Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say Something similarly went...
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