Walk Out at the Detroit Sympony Orchestra

[Hannah Bell]

Detroit on Strike
By DAVID MACARAY

When people hear that workers are on strike in Detroit, they automatically think of the United Auto Workers...But the strikers this time aren’t the beleaguered UAW. This time, they’re the 84 members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians. The DSO members have been on strike since October 4, opposing management’s efforts to rip out the heart and lungs of their contract...

In addition to demanding an immediate 33-percent cut in base wages for current members, and a 42-percent cut for new members, DSO management is calling for major concessions in basic benefits (pensions and health care) and asking that long-standing work rules be changed. In other words, they’re intent on eviscerating the union contract...

But there’s been a surprise or two with this DSO strike. For one thing, the musicians aren’t the wimps or dilettantes the company thought they were. Indeed, they’re behaving like old-fashioned UAW members.

For another thing, and in something of a surprise, the citizens of Detroit have been supportive of the strikers. In fact, so disappointed and angry are civic donors with management’s harsh treatment of the musicians (who are living off a $150/week strike fund, plus money earned from fund-raising concerts), citizen groups have formally protested, and donations to the Orchestra have plummeted...

David Macaray, a Los Angeles playwright and author (“It’s Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor”), was a former union rep. He can be reached at [e-mail]

http://www.factoryrat.com/factoryrat/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=13974

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[woo me with science]

2. Don't mess with musicians.

Recommended.

[yawnmaster]

3. curious...where does an orchestra such as the DSO get its funds?

Are they a for profit organization?
Does their revenue come mainly from ticket sales? or are there other revenue generators (obviously, donations would be one as they are mentioned above)?

[Gaedel]

4. They rely on.......

a mix of ticket sale revenue and large donations from philanthropists.

Like many symphony orchestras, operas, theatrical playhouses, and other organizations dependent on philanthropy, they have seen their revenues plummet.

The musicians union is walking a tightrope here. If they hold firm, there may be no symphony orchestra in the future.

[yawnmaster]

5. Thats why I wanted to understand the funding. There is a negative feedback going on...

If a large part of the funding is donations and people aren't donating in support of the strike,
I don't see how that can make things better, but then I don't have much experience with union/company dynamics.
I do have experience with control systems (elect/mech/thermal) and a negative feedback analogous to this could, potentially,
cause catastrophic failure.
There may be something I'm missing, such as the orchestra having a large buffer fund, or that outside help (public funds?) are available.

Is this a lose/lose situation, or is there some way for the musicians to achieve their goals here?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Given what else is going on in Detroit, you are correct

it is lose/lose and it may well cost Detroit its orchestra

[Withywindle]

20. They're pretty much all not-for-profit, as far as I know.

Ticket sales are usually less than half the revenue - donations make up the rest. And that varies a lot depending on how healthy the city is as a whole. Donations are generally always tax deductible. Most orchestras do a fair amount of education and outreach work behind the scenes.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for example (I work there) has a lot of large donors and corporation and foundation grants--but it also has tens of thousands of small individual donors, who are also *very* important.

I don't know if Detroit even has that kind of population base left. :(


I think the striking musicians absolutely deserve support and solidarity. Reputation counts for a lot in the classical music world, and you don't get that when your players are being dissed.

[Starry Messenger]

6. recommend.

[myrna minx]

7. K&R in support of unions. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

8. In general musicians' unions have been beleaguered for decades.

Until the Seventies, the union received really good pay, great benefits, etc.

But now, for example, if you are a freelance musician in the NYC region (maybe all over the country), the contractor gets a big chunk of your pay and you get $150 which is easily spent on gas, tolls, parking, dry cleaning/laundry (you need to wear a tuxedo or whatever the job tells you to wear), and pretty soon, you come home with $50-75. And with a degree from a conservatory.

Or were you aware that a LOT of Broadway or Vegas shows now can run a loop of tape for their musicals and have maybe 10 musicians in the pit instead of a full orchestra?

The musicians' union incrementally given away their rights over the years.

I'm in solidarity with Detroit's AFM. They have a backbone.

[MuseRider]

15. I am with you.

We don't even have a musicians union in this state anymore. For a short time I was on the local board, some time after we lost it entirely. No one is union here, our orchestra is not union however if they cut our pay we would have no pay at all! We are not full time, not even half time so....still, it would be nice to have the union back. I enjoyed the money I made off of the MPTF funds split with the city for the summer concerts we used to do.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. David Macary is either a union rep who left the job for a while and then returned, or . . .

is dead after a career as a union rep, or the writer of this piece is using grammatical redundancy as some new, avant garde literary device.

As to the substance, who ever thought classical musicians, ballet dancers or any other artists are wimps doesn't know any classical musicians, ballet dancers, or other artists.

[madinmaryland]

21. As an aside, Stinky, did you realize that we here at DU have a DU'er

who is a member of the Columbia Orchestra? She is quite talented!

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Might we know who this is?

:)

[maryf]

11. k&r nt

[bobbolink]

12. Good for them! They could also take a lesson from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra

which reformed after the Denver Symphony folded, and now RUN the CSO. One of the few in the nation.

[FarCenter]

13. Why would Detroit have a symphony orchestra?

Even Motown Records moved away.

And classical music is so over...

[Missy Vixen]

14. Classical music is only "so over"

to those who don't listen to or play it.

God forbid that the people of Detroit would be able to enjoy a symphony, too.

:eyes:

[Coventina]

16. The DSO is a world-class institution. You are embarrassing yourself

by displaying your ignorance.

[FarCenter]

17. Was -- they haven't been playing since October 4

http://www.afm.org/locals/info/number/5
http://www.detroitmusicians.net/
http://www.detroitsymphonymusicians.org/

Apparently a symphony management with an edifice complex built an addition to their building and now can't pay the musicians.

[Coventina]

19. I confess, I wrote that post sloppily. The MUSIC-related side of the

DSO is a world-class institution. Obviously, not the management side. I've been following this story for awhile.

[Omaha Steve]

18. K&R!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

23. In very similar circumstances, the Honolulu Symphony just folded

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/111725319.html

Comments are interesting to read as well

[newtothegame]

24. Orchestra musicians have pensions?? Holy hell, I'm in the wrong business.

A pension is considered a basic benefit?

[Ron Green]

25. Any player good enough to hold a chair in a major orchestra deserves a pension

as a basic benefit.

If American society valued musicians' talent and work as much as it values athletic ability, they could all make a living.

[Hannah Bell]

26. everybody deserves a pension. nothing to do with being "good".

old-age support = human right in my book.

not a criticism of your post, just an observation.