“Two days of contract talks between the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association and its musicians’ union ended with the performers rejecting a second counteroffer, union President Ken Krause said Wednesday,” writes Barry Shlachter in Wednesday’s (10/21) Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Tex.). The musicians’ contract expired on July 31. The orchestra is continuing to play during negotiations. “The symphony had rejected the union’s opening offer of $3.5 million in wage increases spread over three years. It also turned down a revised offer by musicians that postponed the raises until after a one-year freeze…. Neither side would provide details of the management’s latest counteroffer. The latest round of negotiations ended Tuesday and will resume in two weeks…. The musicians’ recently expired agreement, signed in 2012, included a 3.5 percent salary increase over the life of the contract and a 46-week concert season, plus increased flexibility in paid and unpaid leave in summer.… [Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Amy] Adkins has called for reduced pay, citing nagging deficits of $200,000 to $458,000 in recent years, and a $5 million drop in the orchestra’s endowment funds over the past seven years.”
Posted October 22, 2015
