Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.
-Ulysses S. Grant
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For up-to-date coverage of the WCO strike situation, be sure to visit the musicians’ website (not the management’s site): wcomusicians.wordpress.com
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As I write this post (October 1, 2008), the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is on strike. Here’s a summary of the the issues precipitating this strike:
THE MUSICIANS OF THE WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA-
WHY WE ARE ON THE SIDEWALK THIS EVENING INSTEAD OF THE STAGE
The musicians of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra have a deep commitment to the WCO, and in particular to you, our most loyal audience. Our wages and benefits are meager – only $10,000 – $15,000 per year – but our dedication to music in the Madison community is large. For years we’ve had a positive and respectful relationship with management, and we’ve always resolved our contract negotiations without incident.
What’s different this time? The Board’s outside negotiators are insisting on extreme positions that would put Madison out of the mainstream:
· Work rules that would make it impossible for WCO musicians to fulfill their obligations to the WCO and to their music students, teaching jobs or other music endeavors. All over the country, orchestras like the WCO have rules that allow their musicians to patch together a living by adding income streams from teaching and other engagements to their small orchestra salaries. Why won’t WCO do the same?
· Travel reimbursements far, far below industry norms.
· Refusing to implement a fair system of peer review on musical performance – systems that are accepted throughout the nation in large and small orchestras.
We have, in good faith, tried every known method to reach an accord with the WCO on these and other issues, and we believe that our Executive Director, Doug Gerhart has done likewise. We do not understand why the Board of the WCO has, in our opinion, allowed the outside firm of Foley & Lardner to create obstacles to agreement, to force WCO out of the mainstream, and to jeopardize the once-excellent relationship between the musicians and management.
It is our desire to resolve this dispute and to get back to performing for you, our loyal audience. You can help us with our situation; please write Executive Director Doug Gerhart at douggerhart@wcoconcerts.org and urge him to come to a reasonable accord on a new contract with the WCO musicians. Thank you for your continued support of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and its musicians!
Sincerely,
The Musicians of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
By the time you read this, the situation may have been resolved. As a fellow performing musician struggling to make ends meet with a variety of part-time jobs, I stand in solidarity with my colleagues in the WCO. What I hope to accomplish with this post is to take a step back and look at the situation from an outsider’s perspective. How did things come to this?
Let’s find out.
Why Single Out the WCO?
I tend to avoid singling out specific ensembles in my writing, for two main reasons:
1. While I usually have one particular ensemble or organization in mind when I write a post, situations I write about usually apply to many other groups. If it’s not necessary to single out a specific organization for something negative, I tend to keep their name out of it.
2. My site has a lot of “Google juice”, meaning that posts from this blog tend to show up prominently in web searches for that particular topic. Sometimes they will even show up above the organization’s website. I don’t want my little story about some wacky thing about group x, y, or z to pop up above the group’s actual website when patrons are searching!
The tangled web of problems surrounding management’s treatment of the musicians in the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra have been making headlines in local papers, and I have many colleagues that play for this group. I’ve also had many people forward information about this group to me over the years. I’ve therefore decided to weigh in about this ensemble and the prickly labor situation in which it is enmeshed.
The most puzzling thing about this dificult situation is how arbitrary many of the demands that management makes seem to an outside observer. I work with many ensembles with a season and operating budget similar to the WCO, and I just want to scream “WHY?!?” when I hear about the scattered and capricious demands placed upon the musicians by management.
My Perspective…..Take Two
I’ve actually written (complete with snarky illustrations and testimonials) and then discarded a lengthy post about this ensemble recently, deciding that it was too catty and negative in tone. I get kind of irrationally annoyed at the practices of the management in this group.
Here’s the thing–this orchestra is made up of a great bunch of musicians and really great people. The ensemble is well-supported by the community. They have a beautiful new hall in the tony Overture Center located in downtown Madison. There is absolutely no reason why this couldn’t be a positive experience for all involved. The culture and attitude of this group’s management is utterly baffling to me. To me, it’s a perfect example of how to not manage an arts organization, and it’s remarkable how those at the “helm” of this organization are able to take such a potentially good situation (great musicians, good community support, new facilities) and make it so bad.
Bad Management
Rather than being a positive experience for musicians, however, working for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is a frustrating experience on a variety of levels. The management of this ensemble seems to go out of their way to make the experience difficult for the musicians. Why? It’s unclear, but this group has had rough labor/management relations for many years. In fact, when the phrase “Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra” is uttered in the company of northern Illinois or southern Wisconsin freelance muscians, people roll their eyes and groan,
“Oh no, not those guys…..”
Why is there such a negative impression of the WCO management in the region? We’ll get to that in just a bit….
Give a Little, Take Away a Lot
A relatively recent WCO contract featured a substantial pay raise–the per-service scale nearly doubled in a few short years. Awesome, right? Well, the problem was that this raise came at the expense of many other factors, some of which are causing real trouble for the orchestra members.Can a high pay scale make up for everything? It’s an important factor, but certainly not the only one. Where is the tipping point? For the members of the WCO, it may have already been reached.
The Facts
Here’s a summary of the current labor situation for the WCO. Principal bassoon Todd Jelen sums up the issues in question in this news item. Things have gotten worse since this was published, but it’s a good summary of their pre-strike concerns:
WCO contract negotiations stall; strike possible
September 24, 2008
Just over a week before opening its Masterworks Series on Oct. 3, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra could be faced with a musicians strike.
The contract for the core group of 34 orchestra members, not including substitutes and extra players, expired on Aug. 31. It has not been renewed due to several sticking points, including a pension plan for musicians and a requirement that they attend 90 percent of all rehearsals and concerts.
Todd Jelen, principal bassoonist and a member of the chamber orchestra players committee, said the two sides — orchestra members and staff — have been negotiating since early March. They’ve even invited a federal mediator, which apparently did little to help.
Now, it’s getting so that a musicians’ strike is possible.
“If they stonewall us, (a strike) is a very real possibility,” Jelen said.
Or, musicians could opt to continue to play under the old contract, which is what they’ve been doing since the end of August.
Management could impose a “best and final” contract offer if a resolution is not in sight, at which point Jelen said the union stewards could elect to ratify it, or move toward strike.
Doug Gerhart, the new executive director of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, said in an e-mail that his staff is working “in earnest to arrive at a new contract for our musicians.”
The two sides have several meetings next week prior to its opening performance on Friday, Oct. 3, featuring Kyoko Takezawa playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor. The orchestra is scheduled to play in the Capitol Theater at Overture at 8 pm.
The problem with the 90 percent attendance requirement, which perhaps appears reasonable to non-musicians, is that professional musicians often hold several jobs at once. Since orchestras typically don’t pay a living wage to anyone but the conductor and concert master, musicians often teach during the school year and play for several different resident symphonies, sometimes in different states.
Section players and principals generally make $13,000 -14,000 a year (per orchestra), Jelen said. He lives in Akron, Ohio, and plays in three orchestras including the WCO.
For that reason, the 90 percent attendance requirement is “unheard of” and “impossible to maintain,” Jelen said. The WCO produces 29 concerts annually, including the six Concerts on the Square, the Masterworks series and five holiday concerts.
“Orchestras our size expect a little more flexibility,” Jelen said, and in the beginning, they had it. The first year of the recently expired five-year contract allowed them to attend 65 percent of all rehearsals and performances. It gradually went up to about 75 percent per year, then to 90 percent, which has been the requirement for two years.
Another problem is a pension plan for professional musicians. The American Federation of Musicians’ and Employers’ Pension Fund collects contributions from individual orchestras and then pays out of the larger pool to musicians who are members of those orchestras. Jelen said the WCO is currently not participating.
Gerhart came to the chamber orchestra on June 1 as executive director. He said in an e-mail that the group’s policy is “not to comment in the press” on these issues.
“My hope is that these are productive meetings and that we can come to agreement on the outstanding items,” Gerhart said in the message.
Jelen doesn’t conceal his frustration, saying orchestra staff is “stalling” and focusing on inconsequential things. Still, both sides claim to want to negotiate in good faith.
“We’ve said if they have any progressive proposals, we’ll read and consider them,” Jelen said. “Honestly, we’re prepared for really bad things, but we hope it doesn’t come to that.”
The Issues
Here are the primary issues of concern from my (outsider) perspective. Many of these were mentioned in the preceeding news item. For me, the first two points are the ones that really make my blood boil:
1. 90% attendence policy – Todd summed up the problems with this policy in the preceeding paragraphs better than I ever could. By any standard, expecting 90% attendance for a part-time orchestra that pays $13,000-14,000 with no benefits is completely unreasonable. Anyone actually attempting to earn a living as a performing musician will quickly realize that it is nearly impossible to make such a service requirement. WCO members must find other means of income, and while the most practical option is to become a member of two, three, or more regional orchestras with similar schedules, this extraordinarily restrictive attendance policy makes regular membership nearly impossible. Only folks in metro Madison without other musical employment would be able to satisfy such demands, and even these individuals are likely to run into problems.
90% of such a low number of services essentially means that a musician can’t even take one series off. With many weeks of summer employment (and only a few services for those weeks) but a regular season of only a few weeks of masterworks concerts, missing even one service is significant.
There is a dark side to this 90% attendance policy that I am not going to go into here. Let’s just say that some dirty tactics have been used by managment to coerce WCO musicians in the past….
2. Half pay for subs -As an outsider to the WCO, this point sticks in my craw the most. The per-service rate for non-members is approximately half of what it is for members.
Half!
Maybe subs should only play half the notes…or half right notes and half wrong notes. Is that an equitable arrangement?
I find this kind of pay disparity extremely offensive and disrespectful to both members and non-members. It indicates both that this ensemble doesn’t value the musical contributions of non-members and that it pretty much doesn’t care who fills a vacant chair. I know that the musicians of the WCO don’t have this attitude. As for the management, er, well…..
This amounts to a substantial savings for the WCO when as sub is employed. Since it’s a per-service gig, there’s no time off pay, sick pay, or anything of the sort. There’s therefore no rational justification (outsde of pure greed) for this policy.
This half-pay policy is in effect even for musicians (like the tuba position) who play nearly every concert but play instruments not designated as “member” chairs. Lovely, huh? Makes you feel warm all over about this group, huh? Still wonder why this organization conjures up jeers and sneers in the greater professional musician community?
The remaining points on this list are more like minor to moderate annoyances, but they still bear mentioning:
3. The five minute “grace period” – Rehearsals are allowed to run five minutes overtime before any extra pay kicks in. Guess what that means? Yup–WCO rehearsals tend to run five minutes long as a rule, not an exception. Not cool.
4. Misleading advertising or unwillingness to publish complete information – When attempting to place an advertisement announcing WCO vacancies in American Federation of Musicians trade publications, the group was informed that they needed to include the onerous 90% attendance policy in the advertisement as full disclosure to potential applicants. They elected to not place any advertisements rather than include this information. Nice. How are folks supposed to find out about vacancies? And what does this indicate about how management feels about this attendance policy? If it’s a fair policy, why not include it in any audition announcements?
5. No housing allotment – A significant percentage of the musicians in this ensemble are from out of town. Some even travel from Ohio or Pennsylvania to perform with this orchestra. Many part-time orchestras in other regions of the country provide accomodations–either a hotel or a homestay arrangements with orchestra patrons–for out-of-town musicians. The WCO doesn’t. Getting a hotel for a week’s worth of services takes a healthy chunk out of a musician’s final paycheck.
6. Low mileage reimbursement – As stated in the preceding news items, the mileage reimbursement is far below the Federal mileage rate.
7. Hostile management attitude – This has been effectively covered in both the news items and in my descriptions of the methods management has used when dealing with the WCO musicians.
Things I’d get in trouble for publishing
There’s more (a lot more) going on behind the scenes here, but I don’t feel that it’s appropriate to go into any more specifics. All that I’ve written about is public knowledge, and I’ve betrayed no confidences by presenting this to you. Also, keep in mind that this is my personal opinion about the WCO situation. I do not speak for the musicians of this ensemble, and I welcome any commentary and elaborations in the comments section for this post.
Also, keep in mind that this is a blog post that you’re reading, and while I’ve made every effort to publish only factual information, I do so with a clearly stated bias. I’m a musician. A freelance musician. I therefore have a very sympathetic attitude toward the plight of the WCO musicians and a relatively hostile attitude toward this orcanization’s management. In other words, think of this post as a call to action for you. Do some research, learn more about this ensemble, and come to your own conclusions.
Why?
I find this situation to be utterly bewildering? Aren’t we all here to make music? Management’s actions convey disrespect and indifference to the needs of their musicians? Why make full-time demands on a job that pays $13,000-14,000 with no benefits? Why gouge subs when the group isn’t paying the absent members anything? Why have such a draconian attendence policy for a part-time gig?
Thoughts?
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This sort of thing scares me, as I’m sure it would scare many people in my situation, just about to head out into the world, looking at an orchestral career. Thankfully, in Australia, I haven’t heard of anything like this. However, as I know at some point it may be likely that I head over to the US for work, this does scare me. If the orchestra is going to impose a 90% attendance record on their orchestra, I feel that they should at least be paying their orchestra enough to live.
Treat the musicians with a bit of respect, please, otherwise you won’t have an orchestra.
Maybe you should check your facts. Sarah Reiter is no longer the chairperson of the WCO board. And you have published her email in your article. A simple call to the orchestra office could have led you to the correct information.
All I did was paste the strike announcement into this post. This same info has been forwarded to hundreds of musicians. Sounds like you must be affiliated with the WCO since you’re providing this information. Are you on the WCO staff? What do you think about the strike?
For the record, I am not affiliated with WCO staff. But if you are going to cut and paste something and create the potential for people to send emails to the board president, then the information should be correct.
Unfortunately I have a WCO story. I was asked to play the 6 weeks of summer concerts a few years ago. Of course I was getting paid half what contracted players were making but it was a dry summer so any work was welcome. During the first week I got a call for some work on PBS. I told the personnel manager (she’s no longer employed by WCO) that I would not be able to play week 4. She then lectured me on loyalty. Ummm, I’m a sub. I told her that this other work paid more than the remaining 5 WCO weeks combined and was less than 5 miles from my apartment (in Chicago) so she should let me know whether I should show up the following week. I ended up playing the remaining weeks (minus week #4). My one regret is that I wasn’t thinking fast enough to bring up the fact that it had been 4 or 5 years since I had been called by WCO. What was that about loyalty?
The strike announcement refers to Sarah Reiter as the board chairperson, while on the WCO’s website the head of the board carries the title “president”. So is it “president” or “chairperson”? The meaning of these two titles can be very similar or vastly different, depending on the organization. Semantics aside, the WCO website currently lists Mrs. Reiter as the board president. I do not know about Mrs. Reiter’s present board status, nor have I called the WCO office to find out (why bother? The website is supposed to readily provide this information). However, if Mrs. Reiter is no longer board president/chairperson then the webmaster for WCO should be held accountable for not updating the site. Pointing the finger of blame towards the author of this blog is rash and unjustified.
Just how many total services (rehearsals and performances) are there total? In other words, what exactly does 90% equate to time wise?
To LLG, while I am sympathetic to your decision to take the higher paying gig I am of the opinion that if you agree to one gig you shouldn’t cancel it to take another. First come, first served, and I have turned down better paying gigs so I could stick with the person I promised first.
It is perfectly reasonable for a freelancer to sub out a gig with two to three weeks notice. This ability to sub out gigs you have “agreed to” is exactly what at is issue in this strike- when something comes up that pays significantly more and/or involves much less commuting (and thus leaves more net pay), you need to be able to get a sub and not jeopardize your position. This is how a living is cobbled together in this cursed business. Turning down high paying gigs in order to stick to some sort of arbitrary ethical code is how you end up doing something else for a living.
Here’s a “good one” from my other blog. What do you folks think of this guy’s response? Maybe patrons like this are why the WCO management has the attitude it does. Is this how non-musicians feel about the strike?
-from Arts Addict comments:
I am a subscriber to the WCO Masterworks series and, hence, immediately affected by the whole affair, if not in the way the musicians are affected. Like everybody, I regret that no agreement has been reached. I am also convinced that the WCO is made up of musicians of the highest standards. But I do NOT wholeheartedly support the claims of the musicians.
To begin with, I consider it outrageous that musicians from places as far as Pennsylvania play in the orchestra and still expect to be reimbursed for their traveling expenses. Such a thing may be feasible in a trade where money abounds (consulting firms, etc.), but in this context it is outrageous. If you cannot pay for your travel expenses, either move here or don’t join the orchestra. (If my job did not support me and looked for another one in addition to it, I would limit myself to southern Wisconsin and maybe Chicagoland.)
If the musicians want to attend only 70 per cent of rehearsals, lower their salaries accordingly. Then let them decide whether the extra effort is worth the money or not.
As to the payment of extras, I hold that no more money can be spent than is earned. If there is enough money to pay them more than 50 per cent, then do so. If there is no such money, let it be.
Classical music is not, and has never been, a democratic art. If it does not receive generous subsidies, whether from private donors, from corporations, from the government (whichever) or, in former jurisdictions, from the respective sovereign, it cannot thrive. But this does not justify uneconomic management.
I find that the comments by the patron most interesting. I played for a cycle a couple of years back. What this patron does not understand is that even from Chicagoland, it is a rather substantial drive to Madison. Because thw substitute pay was so low, I couldn’t afford to give up a weeks worth of teaching to play there. In the end, I made approximately $300 that week…oh…with $250 travelling expenses. No you ask, why not get a hotel room for 4 days – 4X$35 for a meager room is still $140, nearly 1/2 the wages. Groups such as Southwest Michigan Symphony & even Illinois Symphony in Springfield, IL (a non-union orchestra) still pay better milage and have aplace for musicians to stay free of charge. You cannot instill loyalty from any musicians with these pay disparities. I would ask this patron to do a Madison to Chicago commute 4-5 days in a week, drive back or get a hotel & see how this affects the pocketbook, morale (numbers of hour a commuting each way). When you exclude good musicians coming from elsewhere, you sacrifice musical quality EVERY TIME! On another thought, don’t attack Jason for putting up official information from the WCO, when it is their information that is faulty. Dialogue is important, but a hateful spirit of blame solves nothing (sounds like a contract disagreement right?).
Thanks for the support Ron 🙂
I do my best not to back out and leave someone in a lurch but between doing a job 3 miles away and 3 HOURS away? That’s a no brainer, especially with more than 2 weeks notice.
In regards to the patron’s comment that Jason added… I think it would be in the musician’s best interest to not use the term salary. ‘Salary’ has different implications than ‘per service’. It sounds like the patron assumes that a 70% attendance policy would not effect the musician’s ‘salary’. The contracted musician does not get paid for the services they do not play. When they are absent a sub is hired (at half the pay) so why is the board against this?
As I understand it (please correct me if I’m wrong) missing ONE concert cycle can put them under the 90% requirement. So the 90% attendance policy is really 100%.
One member of the orchestra was called to sub with the CSO but it meant missing a WCO cycle. Hmmmm, CSO or WCO… which would you choose? She was fired for choosing CSO. (She was later reinstated because of the uproar.) And yes the WCO knew why she wouldn’t be there but refused to make an exception.
I agree 100%. Full-time loyalty for part-time rates is one of the themes running throughout the 2500 posts on this blog, and it is one of the things that non-musicians frequently don’t understand. This is a difficult business that forces musicians to make tough choices, most of which happens out of sight from the audience.
For more on this topic, you all can check out doublebassblog.org/articles.
I have added these questions on the WCO musicians blog also:
I only have a couple of questions. How many hours are actually required, if you make the 90%? Because I have had part-time jobs that I have worked 15 to 20 hours a week and still did not make $10,000 to $15,000 a year. I also have to travel to get to my full time job and they do not cover my travel. What are the musicians asking for?
An additional question for this blog:
The housing provided by other, how are those expenses paid and what kind of place do they stay?
I am sad about this issue, but I am having trouble sorting out the info because I don’t think all the facts are not out. And I also think that all the facts can’t be know unless you are sitting in on the conversations and getting both sides without bias.
Hi all,
I am the member of the WCO who has the misfortune of traveling to the job from PA. I would like to have a say here, as most people in their right mind would not travel that far for most gigs. My husband and I moved from Chicago because we wanted to start a family, Since we were both freelancing, all our health care expenses were out of pocket. Not a good environment to raise a baby. So my husband sought out employment at a university,and the best thing we could come up with was in western PA. I was extremely apprehensive about leaving my network and friends in Chicago, but we had our reasons. And, just in case we had the chance to return to Chicago, I held on to my job with the WCO. I love that orchestra. As most of you know, we don’t just win orchestra jobs we love every day. So I travel. I feel privileged to be a member, and I know the per-service is very good. As for travel, well, I personally do not expect anyone to cover me entirely. Sure, it would be nice to have industry-standard mileage, but I am not complaining. What I am fighting for personally is not about more money, but about job security and flexibility. Regardless of where I live, I am a freelance musician. I sub with several different orchestras to make ends meet, and to give a full-time commitment to a part time job is financial and career suicide. And please don’t think that because my husband has a university gig, I don’t need the money. He is staff, not faculty, and not in a tenured-track position. As for the job security, we in the WCO are trying to create a contract that has fair and, again, industry-standard rules for firing musicians. I don’t think anyone can argue that this attempt at stability is too much to ask.
THE LOCAL ORCHESTRAS SHOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO COORINATE THEIR SCHEDULES SO THAT THERE ARE NO SCHEDULE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE MAIN MUSICAL EMPLOYERS. I used to live in Eugene Oregon and there were no conflicts between the professional orchestras within a 60 mile radius.I don’t know what the situation in Madison is but the local ones hopefully are coordinating.
What I don’t think people understand is that generally musicians who have a contract with a part-time orchestra that pays a good per service rate (like WCO) and is a pleasant and satisfying work environment and good performances are very loyal to the orchestra and miss very rarely. Most are really dedicated because it is a good gig that they like. Most when given an option of missing 1 or 2 concert sets a year will not miss, and if they must they probably have a good reason. It’s amazing the patron didn’t understand that musicians don’t get paid when they aren’t there.
Subs should be paid the same. They should not be disrespected since they are not lower quality. Usually they have to audition as well. I think it is scandalous that they are paid half.
As far as who pays for housing. Often it is a homestay situation, where one stays with orchestra supporters. This can lead to really satisfying relationships between musicians and supporters. Sometimes orchestras do pay for a hotel room. I suspect many have group rate deals with the orchestra. Usually, you share with a roomate free of charge or around $20/night is deducted from you paycheck if you have a single.
Lastly, classically trained musicians have spent years obtaining the eduction for their craft. They start training well before the collegiate level, and have degrees. Many have graduate degrees and beyond. They spend many hours a week outside of rehearsal practicing to maintain their craft and prepare for rehearsal–in addition to commuting–so their hourly rate is actually quite a bit lower than the per service rate. They almost always have a much lower salary than equivilently- educated people in many fields. To provide certain accomodations to make a reasonable living from a number of jobs is not too much to ask, since you cannot maintain the same high level of skill on an instrument if you are not a full-time musician.
Reading through this post and the comments again (I followed the link from the 3/3/09 post, I think) makes me so thankful that I work for an orchestra who tries to take all the above concerns of the WCO into consideration – travel, amount of services, amount of services required to be played, accomodations, etc. We are also lucky to (so far) have a balance between our salaried, core players and our contracted (tenured!) per-service players and our subs beyond that (who get paid the same base rate as per-service).
I also would like to add that where I work, we have several orchestras within 50-100 miles, both full time and part time (ICSOM and ROPA). There is no way we could coordinate our calendars. Each orchestra serves a different purpose in each community. And it does cause problems sometimes as we do not have a large pool of freelance, highly qualified musicians here and the personnel managers are sometimes fighting for the same players for the same week and it causes a headache for everyone. Thankfully, when a substitute or extra commits, they do not bail unless it is an extreme circumstance. I believe that my colleagues in the other orchestras could say the same. Pain in the butt for those searching for players? Yes, but I appreciate that once a commitment is met is it honored.
It is an interesting time we live in, thank you for your blog and the opportunity to comment and share.