As in any industry, competitive compensation, good benefits, and fair treatment attract the highest quality workers. The changes to the musicians’ current contract will have devastating results. If there was ever a time to release more endowment funds in order to support the company while its artists work to reinvent the way we share music, a global pandemic is indeed that time. We are told that the Opera Board considers these changes necessary, though the company has amassed a Quarter Billion Dollar endowment. Nor is management sharing equitably in the sacrifices it is imposing on its musicians, chorus and other employees.
The reverse will not be true-management’s generous compensation is not tied to its sales or to the performance of the orchestra. The musicians are not invited to collaborate on artistic decisions or marketing strategies, and yet our compensation will nonetheless remain reduced for years if management fails to do its job of selling tickets. Everyone agrees that the San Francisco Opera Orchestra consistently meets the highest performance standards. Both of these modifications are unrelated to the pandemic and outside the musicians' control. The modified contract leaves key orchestra positions vacant for seven years, and ties the musicians’ compensation to ticket sales.
Had we rejected these cuts-including 50% of our weekly salary for the fall season and deep but graduated cuts for the ensuing 2 years-we would immediately have been without any income or the guarantee of health coverage. Tonight, the musicians of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra voted to accept devastating changes to our existing contract. For an art form that weaves tales of love and betrayal, magic swords and magic rings, a global pandemic that brings the world to a halt would hardly be too dramatic for the stage.
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