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Musicians in one of the country's premier orchestras have gone on strike. The Cleveland Orchestra says it's having financial problems and it's asked musicians to take a temporary pay cut. Instead, they walked out last midnight, saying that any cut would endanger the quality of the ensemble.
Dan Bobkoff of member station WCPN has the story.
(Soundbite of music)
DAN BOBKOFF: The Cleveland Orchestra kept its promise to play its free annual Martin Luther King Day concert last night to a sold out crowd. Then, at midnight, with no agreement with management, the musicians kept another promise: They went on strike.
Unidentified Man #1: Double reeds. They're both double reeds.
Unidentified Man #2: Yeah.
BOBKOFF: This morning, about half of the orchestra's players stood outside Severance Hall, telling the public why they stopped working for the first time in 30 years.
Mr. JEFF RATHBUN (Oboist, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra): The purpose of the whole institution is to put a world-class ensemble on stage.
BOBKOFF: That's oboist Jeff Rathbun, who heads the musicians' negotiating committee. At issue here is management's proposal that the musicians take a one-year, five percent pay cut. Management points to a $2 million deficit and dwindling endowment as reasons for the musicians to accept concessions. The union proposes maintaining players' current salaries through August, arguing that they've already made numerous concessions over the past few years.
But Rathbun says accepting the new cuts would be the beginning of the end of the orchestra's status as a destination orchestra.
Mr. RATHBUN: We will go down a slippery slope of not being able to attract the best talent here, just like any sports team wouldn't be able to attract the best talent if they were trying to build a championship team.
BOBKOFF: Until now, the Cleveland Orchestra's reputation thrived both here in Cleveland and around the world. But as finances have been hammered both by the economy and by diminishing interest in classical music, concerts now rarely sell out.
Gary Hanson is the orchestra's executive director.
Mr. GARY HANSON (Executive Director, Cleveland Orchestra): We've been struggling against the economy of this community and then with the global economic downturn. In 2008, our situation became one in which everybody needed to make a sacrifice.
BOBKOFF: Hanson and the rest of the management staff took pay cuts last year, and he says the union musicians should share in the sacrifice. The players, who generally make in the low six figures, say their pay has fallen behind their peers. The orchestra currently ranks seventh in compensation behind those in cities like Boston and San Francisco. But Hanson says Cleveland's low cost of living should also be considered.
Mr. HANSON: Financial stability is at least as important to artistic excellence as is compensation comparisons with musicians in larger cities.
BOBKOFF: The Cleveland Orchestra isn't the only one with a labor dispute. The Seattle Symphony musicians may also strike soon.
At last night's concert, Clarence Gilmore seemed to support management's side of the dispute.
Mr. CLARENCE GILMORE: Everywhere in the United States we have to take some sort of concession or cut and it's happening all over. So I don't see why the orchestra or people in Northeast Ohio think that they could be exempt from it.
BOBKOFF: But Brenda Ellner says the musicians need support at all costs.
Ms. BRENDA ELLNER: We have to dig deep. If this is what the musicians need, we need to find a way to reconcile this.
BOBKOFF: Longtime music critic Tim Page is a professor at the University of Southern California. He says a strike like this could cause lasting damage.
Professor TIM PAGE (Journalism and Music, University of Southern California; Music Critic): Strikes tend to leave long memories between players and management. They're never good things and a lot of healing is necessary.
BOBKOFF: The strike has already canceled tonight's planned concert at Indiana University, part of a new residency program there. And next week, the orchestra is scheduled to travel to Miami for its lucrative annual concert series. That, too, is now in doubt.
For NPR News, I'm Dan Bobkoff in Cleveland.