Todays NY TIMES: Met Opera Prepares to Lock Out Workers By MICHAEL COOPERJULY 23, 2014 The labor strife at the Metropolitan Opera took on a new urgency Wednesday when its general manager, Peter Gelb, sent the company’s orchestra, chorus, stagehands and other workers letters warning them to prepare for a lockout if no contract deal is reached by next week. In letters to the company’s unionized workers, Mr. Gelb, who is seeking to cut pay and benefits, wrote that “if we are not able to reach agreements by July 31 that would enable the Met to operate on an economically sound basis, please plan for the likelihood of a work stoppage beginning Aug. 1.” He added, “I sincerely hope to avoid such an unfortunate event.” Mr. Gelb said in an interview, “If we haven’t reached agreements, the Met really has no option in my opinion but to impose a lockout.” The contracts of 15 of the company’s 16 unions expire on July 31, and several unions bitterly denounced Mr. Gelb’s warning. The Met Orchestra Musicians said in a statement that they were “dismayed that Peter Gelb has pursued a cynical strategy calculated to result in a lockout of his artists and craftspeople and imperil the upcoming Met Opera season.” Alan S. Gordon, the executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents the chorus and others at the opera house, said he thought that the chance of reaching an agreement by next Thursday’s deadline was “zero.” “He has no intention of actually reaching an agreement by Aug. 1 unless it’s his agreement,” Mr. Gordon said of Mr. Gelb. He also said: “Once he locks out employees, his relationship with the performers at the Met is over. They will never respect him again. He’ll be the captain of a ship where the crew is just waiting for a chance to mutiny.” Mr. Gelb, who has said that he is open to counterproposals as long as they save money, said in the interview that the unions representing the chorus and orchestra had made “no effort, really” to negotiate recently. (The union representing the chorus has sparred with management over where and when to meet, while the musicians have complained that the administration has not provided them with all of the financial information they sought.) “I don’t know what the operatic equivalent of it taking two to tango is, but that’s sort of where we are,” Mr. Gelb said. Negotiations are scheduled to resume with those unions in the coming days; talks with other unions have been continuing. D. Joseph Hartnett, the assistant department director of stagecraft at the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which has six locals at the Met, said the unions “certainly haven’t given up” trying to reach a deal. “The members of I.A.T.S.E. want to save the Met, that’s why we will be at the bargaining table in coming days hammering out an agreement that works for all,” he said in a statement. “A lockout would be a serious setback, an opera tragedy likely resulting in a lost season and a long-term loss of operagoers for years to come in Lincoln Center and on theater screens around the globe.” The Met, which has struggled at the box office in recent seasons and drawn heavily from its endowment, which is no longer sufficient to cover a year’s expenses, wants to cut labor costs. It says it needs to reduce expenses, so it can convince the donors it is increasingly reliant on to build up its endowment. The unions are resisting the proposed cuts, and several have questioned Mr. Gelb’s management, noting that ticket sales have declined despite new initiatives that helped increase the company’s budget to more than $300 million a year. While opening night is not until Sept. 22, when a new production of Mozart’s “Nozze di Figaro” is scheduled, a work stoppage would disrupt the company’s preseason rehearsal schedule. The chorus is already back at work rehearsing, and technical stage rehearsals of a new production of a double bill of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” are set to begin next week. A work stoppage would be the first at the Met since 1980, when a labor dispute with the orchestra led to a bitter 11-week lockout that delayed the opening of the opera season until December. The Met previously had a strike in 1969. A lockout would have perils for both sides. It took years for the Met to recover the subscribers it lost during the 1969 strike. More recently, an angry 16-month lockout damaged the Minnesota Orchestra. But a lockout at the Met would also leave its union workers without paychecks and benefits at a tough time. The Met’s letter contained an attached memo from the its human resources department saying that in the event of a work stoppage, unionized workers covered by the Met would lose their health insurance unless they decide to pay for insurance under the federal Cobra law, which would cost $1,255.33 a month for individuals and $2,793.10 a month for families. It said that depending on how people are paid, their last paycheck would come either on July 31 or Aug. 7. Another letter to non-unionized administrative staff advised them to “arrange their own food provisions as the Met cafeteria will be closed, although the vending machines will continue to be stocked.” Asked if there was a chance of averting a lockout even if no deal is reached next week, Mr. Gelb said that “anything is possible” but that there would have to be real movement in the talks.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 11:14:07 +0000
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