from the musicians of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Friday, October 4:
Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra musicians, members of Local 161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians ratified a one year agreement today at a 2 PM meeting.
The ratification vote will ensure there is no Musicians' work stoppage at the Kennedy Center. The Opera House Orchestra provides music for John F. Kennedy Center ballet and musical theater performances as well as opera under a separate agreement with Washington Opera.
"We are very pleased that the membership ratified the one year contract", stated Gregory Drone, chairman of the orchestra negotiating committee. "We are pleased that patrons of the Kennedy Center will not be inconvenienced by a work stoppage."
According to the musician's attorney, Leonard Leibowitz, "no one should interpret this decision as anything more than a band aid remedy for a terminally ill patient. If there are not substantial restorative and preventative measures taken in the next year, the patient will perish. Ballet performances have fallen from 13 weeks a annually to 7 weeks last year. Next year, the decline will continue. There will be only 5 weeks of ballet. Plus for the first time in many years there will not be a Nutcracker in December," according to Leibowitz.
"Further signs of trouble at the Center," according Leibowitz, "is the Center's failure to retain the Washington Opera within the performing arts center. The move of the Washington Opera across town to the Woodward and Lothrop building will leave the Center without any resident opera company. The Center will be hard-pressed to make up the loss of the Washington Opera's 18 weeks of performances. Coupled with the near total disappearance of ballet at the Center's Opera House, one has to wonder if the current management has ever read the Center's mission statement."
The Musicians' prior one year contract expired at 12:01 AM, September 1, 1996. The musicians had been working on a week to week contract extension. On September 25, 1996, the musicians received a "lock out" notice from management that would "terminate the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the John F. Kennedy Center and the Opera House Orchestra, effective the close of business October 4, 1996."
The new Musicians' contract provides for a 3.5% salary increase. Yet, that salary increase is offset by a reduction in the musicians annual performance guarantee amounting to 6% . The result will be a net loss to the musicians annual income.
"We ratify this contract only to prevent a lockout, a work stoppage, and a disruption to next weeks performances of the San Francisco Ballet. It is our hope that in the next year we will have the opportunity to discuss with James Johnson, newly appointed Kennedy Center chairman, ways to improve the standing of the Opera House Orchestra at the Center. And to ask him to review programming changes Kennedy Center President Lawrence Wilker has made that we feel are detrimental to the Center and the orchestra. James Wolfensohn, former Kennedy Center chairman, took a personal interest in the development of the Opera House Orchestra. His departure from the Center last year to the World Bank has left the orchestra without a strong advocate in management," according to Drone.
In 1995-96, 61 tenured musicians were guaranteed a minimum $28,451.36 per year salary from the combination of Kennedy Center and Washington Opera. Of that amount $14,250.88 is earned from the Kennedy Center and $14,200.48 is earned from the Washington Opera.
The Musicians were on strike in 1978 and 1985, were locked out in 1991
by the Washington Opera and were on strike 6 weeks in 1993 protesting Kennedy
Center's attempt to eliminate the orchestra and replace the musicians with
the National Symphony Orchestra.
Back to News Page