Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians get 3-year contract
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Pittsburgh Symphony Inc. and orchestra members of Local 60-471 of the American Federation of Musicians have reached an agreement for a new three-year contract nearly three months ahead of schedule.
The current three-year pact will expire Sept. 4, and the new contract, which includes a 9.7 percent reduction in wages, will take effect Sept. 5 and run through Sept. 1, 2014.
"[It is] remarkable that an orchestra would ratify what one would call a concessionary contract 2 1/2 months ahead of time," said Richard P. Simmons, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra board chairman. "It says a lot about the orchestra and this community and how we want to maintain a world-class orchestra. This agreement confirms to me that we have a great relationship between the orchestra management and board."
The contract, ratified Saturday night, calls for a 9.7 percent across-the-board cut in musicians' salary in its first year -- one of the biggest wage reductions in the orchestra's history. Annual base salary will be $100,110, down from $110,764 this season, but musicians paid above scale will give back more. Wages will be frozen the second year of the contract.
The final year will be a "wage-opener," for which the 99 PSO musicians and management agreed to negotiate salary for the possibility of an increase. If both sides cannot agree, they will enter into binding arbitration. The musicians also agreed to contribute $100,000 to the orchestra's annual fund in each of the first two years of the contract, adding roughly $2,000 from each musician's pocket, and consented to a shift in pension benefits.
"This agreement, and our donation of $200,000 over the next two years, demonstrate a deep love for our orchestra and a commitment to the City of Pittsburgh," said Joseph Rounds, a PSO horn player and musician spokesman.
The cutbacks in salary are in response to the continuing financial struggles of the PSO, which finished the fiscal year 2009-10 with about a $2 million deficit on an approximately $31 million budget. But it comes in a midst of economic strife for nonprofit performing arts groups across the country.
In the past 18 months, several major American orchestras have faced financial turmoil. In April, the Philadelphia Orchestra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra ended a bitter six-month strike. In January 2010, Cleveland Orchestra musicians staged a one-day strike. Orchestras based in Honolulu, New Mexico and Syracuse have shut down recently.
First Published June 13, 2011 12:00 am
