La crisis no da tregua...... El Met continúa achicando su plantel.... Met Opera Cuts 22 Nonunion Jobs, Mainly Through Layoffs By MICHAEL COOPERSEPT. 12, 2014 The Metropolitan Opera, which promised to match the pay cuts that its major unions agreed to last month with equivalent cuts to its nonunion payroll, said on Friday afternoon that it was eliminating 22 of its 254 administrative positions, mostly through layoffs. The company said it had eliminated nonunion positions across the opera house, cutting jobs in its artistic, finance, marketing, development, and technical departments — through attrition in some cases, but primarily through layoffs. “The reductions are part of an ongoing effort to make the 131-year-old organization leaner fiscally, but without diminishing the production values of its presentations onstage,” the Met said in a statement announcing the staff cuts. The Met has struggled financially in recent years, with dwindling box office revenues and rising expenses leaving it more reliant on a small number of wealthy donors, and on its endowment fund, which it has tapped to cover operating costs. The Met’s board of directors said it would begin a campaign to double the Met’s endowment over the next five years if the company took steps to curb expenses. The Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, sought major concessions from its unions when their contracts were up this summer, causing a bitter labor battle that threatened the season. In the end, the unions agreed to their first pay cuts in decades — but the cuts were smaller than those that Mr. Gelb had sought, and the employees succeeded in preserving work rules that management wanted to eliminate. The orchestra and chorus agreed to an immediate 3.5 percent cut in wages, followed by another 3.5 percent cut in six months. Mr. Gelb agreed to an “equality of sacrifice” provision, calling on the Met to trim an equal amount from its nonunion workers. The labor agreements that the Met signed noted that it could cut costs for administrative employees “through the same aspects of compensation as well as through headcount reductions.” Met management also agreed to find efficiencies to trim $11.25 million in each of the next four years from the company’s annual operating budget, which has grown to more than $300 million in recent years. And both sides agreed to create a new role for an independent financial analyst who would report to both labor and management. All told, the labor savings and cost reductions are expected to save the Met some $90 million over the next four years. Finding ways to cut expenses will be part of the expanded job description of Diana Fortuna, for several years the Met’s assistant general manager for finance; on Friday, the company named her to the new position of deputy general manager. The Met said that the post would give Ms. Fortuna “increased financial oversight and further prioritize the company’s commitment to controlling operating expenses.” M.M N.Y.Times
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 12:02:59 +0000
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