Philadelphia Orchestra musicians voted Saturday night to authorize a potential strike as negotiations over a new labor contract stalled, raising the possibility of a tense standoff weeks before the start of a new season.
Of those who took part in the vote, 95 percent decided to authorize the strike. In a news release, orchestra members said the vote was necessary because they felt group managers were ignoring their demands for better pay, retirement benefits and working conditions.
“The musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra have declared that enough is enough,” said Ellen Trainer, president of Local 77, the union that represents the musicians, in a statement. “Management has shown that musicians are an expense to be hidden, rather than the most valuable asset.”
The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Kimmel Center Inc., which as a joint entity oversees the orchestra, expressed dismay at the musicians’ strike authorization.
“We will continue to negotiate in good faith toward a responsible fiscal settlement that ensures the economic and artistic future of musicians,” Ashley Berke, a spokeswoman for the organization, said in a statement.
The dispute has heated up in recent weeks as musicians have become more outspoken. They demanded more generous vacation policies, as well as better pay, for themselves and for freelance musicians. And they called on the orchestra to fill 15 vacant positions.
Earlier this month, musicians wore blue union T-shirts to an open orchestra summer residency rehearsal in Saratoga Springs, NY. and a member of its administration, also wearing one of the shirts.
The Philadelphia Orchestra has been hit hard by the pandemic, forcing the group to cancel more than 200 concerts and lose about $26 million in ticket sales and performance fees. In 2021, the orchestra announced that it would merge with its owner, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, as part of an effort to streamline operations and establish new sources of revenue.
Audiences have been slow to return since live performances resumed in the fall of 2021, although there have been signs of hope in recent months. Attendance last season was about 64 percent of capacity, compared to about 75 percent before the pandemic.
The orchestra has gone through other difficult times in recent decades. It declared bankruptcy in 2011 after the financial crisis, but has since balanced its budget and worked to rebuild. Despite cost cuts and bankruptcy, that hasn’t been easy: In 2016, its musicians staged a brief strike that began on the opening night of the orchestra’s season.
The upcoming season is scheduled to begin in September. 28 in a concert conducted by Nézet-Séguin, and featuring star cellist Yo-Yo Ma.