Fort Wayne Philharmonic Musicians on Strike

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

For those still interested in supporting the musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, here is an update regarding contract negotiations:

From the Journal Gazette:

"Still no agreement between Philharmonic musicians, management
Another bargaining session between Fort Wayne Philharmonic management and the orchestra’s musicians was unsuccessful as the players prepare for their strike to enter its second month.

The two sides met at 10 a.m. Thursday for their second day of talks this week, and negotiations ended shortly before 5 p.m.
Campbell MacDonald, chairman of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Players’ Association, was sharply critical of the organization’s management in a statement released after the session wrapped up.

Management “has filled much of this week’s negotiations with wasted time, smokescreens and misrepresentations,” MacDonald said, “stalling our earnest attempt to reach an agreement.”

The two sides also met Tuesday for more than eight hours.
Management said the union’s representatives didn’t offer a counterproposal Thursday and asked for higher wages and benefits than in previous bargaining meetings. This has moved the two sides further apart in negotiations, according to a news release from the Philharmonic.

The Philharmonic’s most recent wage proposal is a 33.4% raise over three years, but MacDonald said that wage “remains low by any standard.” Full-time Philharmonic musicians now earn $22,060 a year, an amount union members describe as a significant cut from their 2020 salary of about $26,000.

MacDonald also criticized the organization for an “unwillingness to engage in meaningful bargaining.”
“The Philharmonic has not budged from their unjustified demands for cuts to positions in the orchestra, erosion of bargaining rights in the workplace and control of our personal time,” he said.

MacDonald said that for decades, the musicians have kept 4 to 7 p.m. on weekdays as personal time – time when the Philharmonic can’t require them to work. During negotiations, though, MacDonald said management is “insisting on access to that time.”

He also criticized some of the organization’s proposed cuts, including the elimination of three full-time positions – the orchestra’s third French horn, its principal harp and principal tuba – as well as removing another part-time contract position.
According to management, no current full-time Philharmonic musicians would lose their core positions. However, three full-time seats will move to “per-service” status, and one per-service seat would also move to that of an “extra” over time as current seat-holders leave or retire.

Musicians and management have met at the negotiating table several times now since the work stoppage began Dec. 8. Disagreements between the two sides date back years, and the musicians had been performing under the terms of a contract that expired Sept. 1.

The strike has caused the cancellation of the bulk of the Philharmonic’s December schedule and could threaten its shows in early 2023 if no agreement is reached in the next month. The Philharmonic’s next concert is scheduled for Jan. 28, with additional performances planned in February and March.

The next meeting between the two sides is set for Wednesday, MacDonald said."


Thoughts by Christopher Guerin, former President of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic:

Having watched literally dozens of difficult negotiations and work-stoppages across the country over the past 40 years, I can see that the Philharmonic board and management are very close to resembling attempted “union busters.” Their insistence on changes of things that have been in the contract for decades, especially changes that wouldn’t save money or change the way the organization operates, have the look of red herrings, misdirections intended to steer the players away from the real goals of management — a smaller, cheaper, and poorer orchestra of significantly lesser quality.

If I’m right, then the board woefully underestimates the strength and resolve of the musicians of the Philharmonic. I should know. I’ve sat across from them in negotiations for eight contracts.

My guess is that the lawyer is calling all of the shots and the board is meekly following along. Past pro bono labor counsel provided by the sterling firm of Barnes and Thornburg, didn’t tell the board and management what to do. At least the fine man I worked with didn’t. And while I was the spokesman for management then, the board’s attorney calls all the shots now.

As Chairman of the Players’ Association Campbell McDonald was quoted, management “has filled much of this week’s negotiations with wasted time, smokescreens, and misrepresentations.” All straight out of the playbook of any ambitious for-hire attorney. Red herrings.

Why the focus on eliminating a few full-time positions? The savings would be nominal. Loss of the harp, 3rd horn, and the tuba as full-time musicians would put three ensembles, the harp-percussion ensemble, and the brass and second wind quintets, out of work.

Yet, management wants access to 4pm to 7pm scheduling. What could those hours be used for except ensemble performances?

Players need those hours to practice, and to be able to regularly schedule lessons to supplement their meager incomes.
With all of the services the organization is already not using, why do they need these additional time slots? Another red herring.

The real goal is clearly to reduce the full-time complement of the musicians by slow but steady attrition. I’ve written already about the huge reduction of concerts. Orchestral concerts down from 80 to 27, total concerts of all types down by half from 480.

I think of Borders Books. When their sales started to decline, what did they do? They drastically reduced inventory. Today Borders Books doesn’t exist. Reducing inventory is certainly not what you’re seeing on Highway 30, with huge new warehouses for Sweetwater and Amazon.

The resolution to this conflict is very simple. Pay the players a living wage ($32,000), double or triple the number of concerts next season, and let the rest of the contract alone. It’s worked for 40 years. Anyone who thinks that the changes being proposed will enhance the organization in any way doesn’t understand the symphony orchestra business.

[YorkNumber3.0]

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[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Another update in the form of official statements by both the Philharmonic and the Musicians. Sorry it's a long one.

Fort Wayne Philharmonic January Update

After today’s negotiation session, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and Local 58, Fort Wayne Musicians Association could not come to an agreement. The union’s requests in recent sessions, even with the assistance of a Federal Mediator, have moved backwards. This lack of meaningful progress over the last four sessions has prompted the Philharmonic to file charges of failing to bargain in good faith against the Musicians Association with the NLRB. The Philharmonic hopes that this action will lead to reinvigorated bargaining and movement towards a deal.

Out of respect for our patrons and the many people who work on our events (guest artists, venue staff, stage hands, etc.), a resolution will need to be reached by January 10 at 11 p.m. or the Philharmonic will have to cancel the next concert, January 28, due to the required time to prepare and present concerts using the full orchestra. The Philharmonic and union plan to return to the bargaining table on Saturday in an effort to reach a deal before the deadline.

During today’s session the Musicians presented the Philharmonic with another offer which repackaged the prior day’s proposal and included less than .2% change in the overall financial impact. The Philharmonic once again bargained against themselves raising their offer to 42.5% over four years. The union failed to offer a response to the Philharmonic’s most recent proposal before departing negotiations at 2 p.m., a change from the anticipated end time of 6 p.m. that was agreed to by both groups.


Contract Offerings
The new 4-year contract being offered by the Philharmonic creates a generous 30-week concert season for the next 4 years. This contract for core Musicians includes healthcare, pension contributions, HSA options, FSA options, maternity leave, and regular audiology consultations for aural health screening and protection. The hours this contract covers include 487 hours of paid work per season spread across 30 weeks and provides for salary increases that exceed pre-pandemic wages in year one. These contract hours are chosen with the intent to leave ample time for personal musical development, work with other organizations, and teaching private lessons.


Year 1: 24.3%
Year 2: 8%
Year 3: 8%
Year 4: 3%


Wages, Compensation, and Attendance
The total financial impact of the generous compensation offer to Musicians results in cumulative salary increase of approx. $749,000 over the 4-year contract period and places the beginning base salary for core Musicians at $27,420 in year one and ending at $32,942.10 by year four. Of the 44 core Musicians employed, over 24 Musicians are already making rates above base salary through advanced positions in the orchestra with final Principal Musician salaries ending at $39,695 by year four.

The Fort Wayne Philharmonic is proud of our Musicians and the value they bring to our community. While many Musicians have more than one source of income earned from various employers, the Philharmonic recognizes our role in providing a portion of their annual income. With that recognition comes a responsibility of the Philharmonic to be respectful of Musicians who take other employment by scheduling rehearsals in late evening, giving notice of services over 30 days in advance, and giving musicians the ability to self-schedule rehearsal time for ensemble performances.

The proposed contract also provides for a minimum guarantee of 81 services a season at a rate of $140.62 per service for 19 per-service Musicians. Per-service Musicians are not members of the core and do not receive healthcare, HSA options, FSA options or maternity leave. They do, however, receive pension contributions and audiology consultations for their health and safety from the Philharmonic.

The offered contract creates an attendance policy for the first time in the history of the orchestra. This policy would require each member to commit to 75% of the services scheduled that season. This policy will ensure that with the generous offer of increased wages, Musicians spend more time playing together, meaning stronger sections, stronger presence in the community, and ultimately a stronger orchestra.

An additional benefit of the attendance policy is to assist the Philharmonic in controlling costs associated with hiring substitutes when needed to perform with an in-school or community engagement ensemble. Each time a core member is not available for a service, the Philharmonic is required to hire a substitute from outside our community. Along with additional compensation costs to engage a substitute musician, the orchestra also incurs mileage expenses to bring that replacement in.


Work Rules and Scheduling of Musicians
The proposed contract includes additional flexibility for the Philharmonic to schedule services for the Musicians during after-school activities. Previously, there were three hours in the evening when the Philharmonic could not schedule services. Extending the working hours in the afternoon from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., a one-hour increase, would allow the Philharmonic the opportunity to perform during after-school activities, and with local partners such as the Boys and Girls Club or YMCA’s.


Management Rights
Included in the contract is a management rights clause that reserves the Philharmonic the right to manage the operations of the organization on all other aspects not outlined in the terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement. This allows the Philharmonic the flexibility needed to deal with unanticipated circumstances that might arise in the future and act on them in the best interest of the organization. Examples of these rights in action include purchasing new equipment, upgrading lighting and sound systems, and making choices in the interest of public safety.


Attrition of Three Core Seats and One Per-Service Seat
Equally important is the fact that in the Philharmonic’s proposal, no current Philharmonic player will lose his or her core position or benefits. Over time, three full-time core member seats will move to per-service status, and one per-service member seat will move to an extra, only after the current seat holder leaves or retires. No current Fort Wayne Philharmonic players will lose their core positions.

The attrition of these core seats was based on the utilization of the instruments during an average season. For example, on average, a core Musician could be engaged for 195 services a year. In the 18-19 season, these three seats were only engaged for an average of 145 services. Though these seats will no longer be core positions, any time one of these instruments is called for in a musical score, the Philharmonic will hire a professional Musician on a per-service basis to fulfill that role. The financial savings of these seats will then be spread across the orchestra for the benefit of all and is an important aspect in the way the Philharmonic can make the wage increases financially viable.


Financial Impact
Unlike other local non-profit organizations, the Philharmonic does not receive consistent public support from the city or county. It is up to the Philharmonic to generate all operation costs through ticket sales, generous donors, and income generated by the organization’s endowment that the community has worked hard to build. The Philharmonic’s endowment represents the generosity of hundreds of donors over many years who have given with the specific expectation that their gift be a sustaining, permanent asset of the Philharmonic. While the Philharmonic is on average drawing $1.3 million from the endowment earnings, this does not cover the entire Musician compensation budget for each season. The recent cancelation of the December concerts has incurred the Philharmonic a gross loss of over $300,000; compounded with the increase to musician wages that the Philharmonic will now need to support. It is only with the assistance of generous donors and the designation of special funds to be used towards Musicians' salaries that these increases can be offered.

The Board of Directors has a legal and fiduciary obligation to the Philharmonic, Musicians, and Fort Wayne to put the health and safety of the organization and its endowment first when making decisions. As a board that is made up of unpaid volunteers, they have put forth an offer that is exceptional. The Philharmonic Board and Management have creatively worked towards a solution to offer our Musicians a more than generous wage, which aligns with and exceeds other comparable orchestras in the Midwest, while only requesting minor changes to the contract. The Philharmonic is disappointed this show of generosity has not been accepted by the Musicians.

For years, the Philharmonic has been working with an operating deficit, this year, that number totals $323,000 before the addition of losses caused by the strike. Adding a cumulative figure of approximately $749,000 in additional costs over the next four years is calculated risk only viable if the Philharmonic is given the flexibility to be creative and innovative in its management of the orchestra.

The Philharmonic remains ready to welcome back the Musicians when they are ready to return to the stage with a new contract. 


Current Position of the Musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic

Why Are We On Strike?

Our most recent contract with management of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic expired on August 31, 2022. Though negotiating talks with the Philharmonic began in August, nothing was settled and we began the 2022-23 season under the terms of the expired agreement. We were “playing and talking.” We wanted to perform for our community even though we had yet to agree to terms of a new contract with Philharmonic management. This has happened before, but this time it became clear after months of negotiating that the Philharmonic was aiming to make drastic changes and continue to make major cuts to our orchestra. These cuts included unfairly low wages, the elimination of nearly half the concerts compared to four years ago, and the elimination of full-time positions, all leading to an orchestra that would be unable to serve our community in the way it deserves. We Musicians oppose the continued degradation of our orchestra, and therefore our work, by Fort Wayne Philharmonic management. On December 8, 2022 we went on strike.

To fully understand the starting point of this current negotiation, it is important to revisit Fort Wayne Philharmonic management’s cuts to Musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, we were in the middle of another contract negotiation with the Philharmonic. When COVID hit and concerts were canceled around the world, we sought to negotiate COVID-specific terms that would keep our music alive through other possible means (recordings, live streams, video calls with schools and nursing homes, living room performances, etc). Many American orchestras had come to similar agreements amidst this challenging time, but Philharmonic management appeared uninterested. Not only did we not reach an agreement, but Philharmonic management furloughed Musicians without pay for the entire 2020-21 winter season. In late 2020 the Fort Wayne Philharmonic was placed on the American Federation of Musicians “International Unfair List,” a list akin to a “no-fly zone” for musicians. Despite this “no-fly zone,” and as a blatant insult to the Musicians, the Philharmonic hired outside musicians to perform one-off concerts under the Philharmonic banner. This allowed the Philharmonic to use some of the federal COVID relief funds they amassed, while continuing to justify a smaller orchestra – “Why pay our full orchestra of contracted Musicians, when we can hire a soloist for much cheaper with the same public benefit?” was the clear message.

Throughout the COVID pandemic, Fort Wayne Philharmonic leadership continued a massive (and silent) fundraising campaign that ballooned its endowment by over $10 million to close to $30 million. The Philharmonic secured not only federal COVID relief funds, but saved approximately $2 million by not paying Musicians during the furlough. When negotiations resumed for the 2021-22 season, Musicians had just gone unpaid for an entire season. The Philharmonic offered a curtailed season of 28 weeks (down from 33), with only 7 Masterworks programs (down from 10). Gone was the Chamber Orchestra series, which makes use of all full-time musicians - musicians the Philharmonic is already paying, thus not costing them anything extra to engage. We acknowledged the uncertainty of COVID-related challenges to our industry, and agreed to a significantly smaller season. This one-year contract allowed us to get back to work and bring live music back to Northeast Indiana. 

It is clear that Philharmonic management intends to carry forth with the cuts made during the pandemic and make them permanent. The Philharmonic’s recent proposals indicate a continuation of reduced concerts and cuts to Musicians, all as a means to justify a smaller orchestra with fewer full-time, salaried players. Accepting these cuts will continue to reduce the impact of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in our community. We want to perform for our audience. Fort Wayne Philharmonic leadership has reduced our ability to do so.

The following components of the Philharmonic’s contract proposals to Musicians are unreasonable: 

Wages

Employer access to Musician personal time

Workplace rights

Cuts to three full-time positions (Principal Harp, Principal Tuba, Third Horn)

The Philharmonic’s initial wage offer was the same as the COVID-impacted contract in 2021-22: $22,200 for a full-time Musician at base pay. Before COVID, base pay for a full-time musician was a modest $26,000. In addition, the Philharmonic is planning to continue the same truncated number of Masterworks programs as in the 2021-22 season: 7, down from 10 before COVID, and no Chamber Orchestra series. This makes it painfully clear that the Philharmonic seeks to cut concert offerings to the community in order to justify cutting the orchestra size. Before our strike began on December 8, 2022, the Philharmonic’s best wage offer was for $23,420 in the first year of the contract. That represented a cut of more than 12% from our pre-pandemic wages and is less than full-time Musicians’ wages in 2009. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, $1 in 2019 is worth $1.17 in 2022. Accepting a wage proposal that does not account for inflation and increases to our cost of living related to our 2019 salary would be agreeing to a massive wage cut.

Attached to the Philharmonic’s low wage proposals to Musicians are demands for more of our time. For more than 50 years, full-time Musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic have been available for work 6 days a week, in the morning, afternoon, and evening, with only a few periods of time off-limits to scheduling. 4-7PM on weekdays is currently unavailable to management so that we may take care of personal business. With so many of our mornings, days and evenings available for scheduling, we maintain that this is OUR time. Whether it is to practice, teach private lessons (another way we keep music alive and thriving in the community) or spend time with our families, these three hours on weekdays are the few that are our own. Without explanation, the Philharmonic wants us to make that time available to them.

The Philharmonic also wants to limit our bargaining rights and protections, and wants to limit our access to the grievance process. As this process is our method of seeking redress if the Philharmonic does not uphold its contractual commitments, it is of utmost importance to us and unreasonable for the Philharmonic to seek to limit this fundamental right.

As if these demands by the Philharmonic are not enough, management continues to seek the elimination of three full-time positions by attrition: Principal Harp, Principal Tuba, and Third Horn. Were we to accept management’s proposal, these full-time jobs would become part-time if vacated for any reason. These eliminations would take resident musicians out of our community and would be devastating to the artistic standards of our orchestra. Eliminating these full-time positions would also affect the makeup of three of our educational ensemble groups: the brass quintet, harp/percussion/string ensemble, and the wind quintet. These ensembles have reached thousands of people in schools, senior living facilities, and health centers across our region. Without these full-time players, whose job definitions include these small ensemble roles as well as their performance in the orchestra, the reach of these groups would be drastically diminished. We do not “buy our raises” with the elimination of jobs, present or future. 

Fort Wayne Philharmonic management has held tightly to these unnecessary and hurtful demands. By maintaining their unnecessary non-economic demands and by offering unacceptably low wages, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic is not advancing negotiations to an agreeable and successful conclusion. This is blatantly unfair to the Musicians, insulting to our community, and intolerable. Until the Philharmonic amends their destructive position, Musicians will continue to be on strike for a fair contract.

[TubātōTubŏtō]

While this situation is unfortunate, I do appreciate seeing the transparency of the process laid out here, as I don’t recall seeing it this clearly in the past on prior forums.

Best of luck to those musicians involved!

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

While this situation is unfortunate, I do appreciate seeing the transparency of the process laid out here, as I don’t recall seeing it this clearly in the past on prior forums.

Best of luck to those musicians involved!

I also appreciate the statements that are being made by both sides, although the Philharmonic has been less forthcoming than the Musicians with that information. That said, when you give the statements written by the Philharmonic a close read, I think that it is important to note that they intentionally omit a significant amount of context. A few examples:

- when mentioning their intent to cut positions through attrition, they do not specifically state which instruments will be affect. The musicians do, and it is Principal Tuba, Principal Harp, and Third Horn. The Musicians also point out that these three specific instruments are integral to three chamber ensembles, and cutting them will severely impact those ensembles abilities to engage with the community.

- when elaborating on their generous wage offer (they use the word "generous" quite frequently in this statement), they emphasize a 24.3% raise in the first year of the contract, bringing the base pay back to pre-pandemic levels. Context given by the musicians reminds us that this number is based off of their most current contract, a temporary post-pandemic contract that was never meant to be long-term. Compared with their previous pre-pandemic contract, the first year raise is closer to 4%. Not nearly as generous.

- lastly, the Philharmonic gives us no frame of reference for the specific finances and performance of the orchestra over the past year. What are the ticket sales numbers? What are the donations numbers? How have costs increased? The Philharmonic points their finger squarely at the Musicians demands and mentions nothing else.

- there is one bit of financial information that we do know: during the 2020-2021 season (when the musicians were furloughed without pay, and the Philharmonic chose to hire other musicians while theirs were on strike), the Philharmonic was able to conduct a highly successful fundraising campaign and increase their endowment from $20 million to $30 million.

So as far as we can tell, the support and money is there, the administration just chooses not to invest it in their musicians.

[Mary Ann]

I know nothing about orchestras except from having played in them many years ago. Academic questions follow.

So is this a corporation with stock holders? I realize that is probably a dumb question, but I can't figure out where the money is going, and my experience with working for a standard corporation is that the CEO is hired to make as much money for the stock holders as possible, and the squeeze is put on everyone in every way in order to achieve that goal. So given it likely it is not that same kind of structure, what IS the structure? Who is getting the money, and what does that $30M endowment actually do other than sit there?

[Mark]

This orchestra is a non-profit organization. Most non-profits are required to file an IRS Form 990 which is available to the public and contains a lot of financial information. The most recent 990 I could find was for 2019. Here is a link: https://www.dogandtuba.com/Tuba/FWPO.pdf.

[Mary Ann]

So "revenue less expenses" was about $480k. I'd want to know where that was going and why. The "salaries" part did surprise me, in the $3M+ region. That's 150 $20k salaries. So unless the number of non-musician employees is quite large, those people are making a lot more than the musicians are. It would seem they are most interested in lining their own pockets. ???
I'm no accountant (must be the most boring career on the planet) but -- it would be interesting to get into that kind of discussion and I wonder if that is totally avoided. Many musicians are fully capable of that kind of discussion. If all the two sides do is sit there and make demands, naught will occur.

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

In the 990, you can also see what their conductor is paid: $155,000. He is listed as an independent contractor, so I'm not sure if it falls under the salaries category of the balance sheet or somewhere else. The orchestra is also busy enough that they also employ an assistant conductor whose salary I don't know. The main conductor not living in town also contributes to this.

Oh, and while the musicians were furloughed without pay during the pandemic, he continued to receive his pay...

[Three Valves]

I've never seen so much effort put forward just to show up to work and make $20 an hour.

[Mary Ann]

Based on my own experience, a conductor whose rapport with the audience is stellar can make quite a difference. The major concert band that I play in is quite good for an amateur group, but it's the conductor who draws the crowd because there are several other bands in town. He is now 85 and we don't know how much longer he's going to last, but when he has to stop, there will be a major change here. Other groups have a following but this one has a very, very strong following. However he is unpaid and does it just for the love of the music, the musicians, and the audience. Concerts are free. He's a retired high school band director, but also conducted the union Tucson Pops for 30+ years. This guy could draw an audience for people playing kazoos, I think, just because of who he is. Dad jokes and all. Yeah I'm loyal to that group and delighted to play horn in it.

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Based on my own experience, a conductor whose rapport with the audience is stellar can make quite a difference. The major concert band that I play in is quite good for an amateur group, but it's the conductor who draws the crowd because there are several other bands in town. He is now 85 and we don't know how much longer he's going to last, but when he has to stop, there will be a major change here. Other groups have a following but this one has a very, very strong following. However he is unpaid and does it just for the love of the music, the musicians, and the audience. Concerts are free. He's a retired high school band director, but also conducted the union Tucson Pops for 30+ years. This guy could draw an audience for people playing kazoos, I think, just because of who he is. Dad jokes and all. Yeah I'm loyal to that group and delighted to play horn in it.

My post regarding their conductor was in no way intended to suggest that conductors are not an incredibly important component of the orchestra. They are, and the right conductor with the right orchestra can truly do marvelous things for the community.

It was intended to point out the disparity between how much they are willing to pay their conductor and how much they are willing to pay their musicians. It looks even worse when you take into account how they handled pay (or lack thereof) during the pandemic.

[bort2.0]

I think one difference is, if that conductor already lives out of town, if they cut or reduce that salary, that person is gone and never coming back, and will find their new success elsewhere. Then, the orchestra not only needs to figure out a path to profitability again, but also needs to find a new conductor. And with the crap show of auditioning even for a single tuba position in some groups, I don't think that a conductor search would go any more easily. Not to mention, how much would a conductor search cost anyway? I'm a very well just be a cheaper to keep that person situation.

And I can't tell you if that person's salary is high or not, but if they are an independent contractor and paying their own way for healthcare, retirement, and any other benefits.... That big number gets cut down to size real quick. And if that person gets benefits through a different job, then they did a nice job negotiating their salary for this contract.

I haven't read all of everything here, but I agree that this is an awful lot of to do on both sides for a relatively small amount of money. Even the gas station down the street starts at $16 an hour, with unlikely worker strikes or furloughs or layoffs, and benefits.

And not to speak disparagingly about a group that I don't know or understand, but do most people see this as a place where they want to be long-term? Or is the sort of like a training ground orchestra, where people will stay for a few years and then audition for bigger and better positions? Or, is this a philosophical change underway at this orchestra?

That could be one reason to keep the salaries low, to keep membership turnover high. If there's no expectation of longevity there, people will spend less time arguing about salaries, and accept the lower salary for a shorter amount of time... And then they leave, and then the next person comes in who will accept the lower starting salary for a few years, and so on.

And although that stinks for the musicians, the Orchestra patrons are not likely to notice, as long as the quality is good enough for them to feel entertained and that they didn't overpay for their tickets. Butts on chairs playing songs.

Sounds like minor league baseball. It's fun to go, but you don't expect to see the big stars on that team for very long, because they'll move on to something else more fitting to their talent level, and earning potential. And the pay just isn't good enough for people to stick around long term if they don't have bigger career aspirations. I guess you could play as long as you want just for fun and be paid to play... But you would have to go into it knowing about the financial struggle and time you're committing to.

[windshieldbug]

They're back to work.

https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/fort ... 30%20weeks

[bloke]

Some people aren't going to like this post but I'm sort of responding to @bort2.0
I've heard confidential reports of music director applicants for open positions offering to work for half salary, which really appeals to tin-eared/penny-counting boards of directors (far more than the competence of any director applicants, or even director applicants history of being able to raise funding for past orchestras for which they have worked).
As much as we tend to verbally insult/joke about music directors and discount their value, they really do make a tremendous amount of difference, and incompetent ones are just about the worst factor in the level of an orchestra's performance. A really competent music director probably knows about a hundred times as much about a piece of music as any of the individual performers. Whereas amateurs are going to mostly notice and comment on stick technique, there are actually things more important than that.
Something even more awkward to discuss is the obvious fact that music directors - now more than ever - are chosen for how youthful and handsome they may be, and with even things such as the hue of their complexion trumping other considerations. All of that having been said, it seems as though a large percentage of orchestra boards are looking to cut costs, reduce services, and - if full-time - reduce to per service. As civilization retreats, high art (and the display of it) is obviously going to retreat with it. Just because a large percentage of orchestral musicians are in denial of the obvious fact that civilization is retreating doesn't mean that it is not.

[Mark]

An interesting detour: 2021 Orchestra Compensation Reports: Music Directors.

[tofu]

.