Category Archives: Labor Disputes

As we gear up for a hearing on January 23 that will focus on the economic impact of the NHL and orchestra lockouts, here is a post I wrote on my SOTL Facebook page (which, by the way, you should “like” if you haven’t already).

Orchestrate Excellence asks, “How has the Minnesota Orchestra lockout affected you personally or economically?”

Here are some facts about the economic impact of the Orchestra’s lockout…

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Hey, kids! It’s time for another edition of Analyze This Press Release! As always, “Analyze This Press Release” is brought to you by Song of the Lark, the Minnesota Orchestral Association, and my obsessive nature.

The press release I’ll be analyzing today is the MOA’s most recent:

Minnesota Orchestra Board outlines four points to initiate progress in negotiations with Musicians’ Union

This headline makes it sounds like the musicians have been unwilling to talk, off on a tropical beach somewhere playing volleyball and sipping tequila, but…okay. If you need to save face by making the MOA look like the hero, be my guest.

 The Minnesota Orchestra Board Negotiating Committee and Musicians’ Union representatives met this afternoon in a productive three-hour session, the first held since contract talks broke off on September 30. On December 21, the Orchestra Board invited the musicians to a meeting in early January, with no preconditions, in order to restart negotiations.

How generous of the MOA!

Something else happened on December 21st, too…I’m trying to remember exactly what…oh, yes, that’s right, the MOA replied to fourteen angry state representatives who had contacted the MOA in early December wanting to know if the MOA had misused public money. But I am sure there is no connection whatsoever between these letters and the MOA’s new offer. Do carry on.

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Graydon Royce’s latest:

Fresh talks signal thaw in Minnesota Orchestra dispute

The rhetoric softened noticeably on Wednesday. “I was encouraged by the meeting,” said board chairman Jon Campbell.

A spokesman for the musicians said only that the players “agreed to a fresh start.”

The board offered a four-point plan for musicians to consider:

• Return to the organization’s former mission statement, with two changes to emphasize community service and financial stability.

• Share more financial data with musicians, including forecasts through 2015.

• Invite musicians to submit a proposal for a “mutually agreeable independent financial review” to verify the orchestra’s financial condition.

• Offer a schedule of dates for more meetings.

“We had good dialogue around the four ideas that we had, and agreement on the concepts of financial sustainability and artistic quality and the fresh start,” said Campbell.

A fresh start

I need to sleep on the news and mull it all over. But obviously the first thought that struck me…

Five weeks ago, financial review = a frolic and detour

But now, apparently financial review =

A fresh start

So, hmm. What happened in the interim…. I wonder…

Anyway, I’m sensing a new SOTL catchphrase, folks! One that would be at home in an advertising campaign for deodorant or detergent.

What do you think? Are we being played? Is pressure being applied behind the scenes? Is the MOA scared of the state legislature? What do you think? Unfortunately right now my cynicism meter is on high. So I’m waiting for the trick and the catch.

More analysis to come, after I dream of “mutually agreeable independent financial reviews.” Whatever those are.

Here’s a sequel to my Layman’s Guide to the Lockout. The first Layman’s Guide covered events from August to mid-October. This one will summarize events from mid-October to late December.

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After the extraordinary sold-out gala concert at the Convention Center on October 18, there was a vague hope among patrons that maybe negotiations would start moving again. But unfortunately, if anyone thought that the Minnesota Orchestral Association, or MOA, would stop canceling concerts, their hope was misplaced.

Prior to canceling the next stretch of shows, the MOA put up a new page on their website called “Misrepresentations vs. Reality.” I fact-checked the MOA’s statements in an essay called “Misrepresentation, Reality…Misrepresentation of Reality.” In that essay, I asked:

The only interesting thing about this crap is the fact that management found it necessary to post it. Is this a sign that they’re having difficulty winning over their public? Or that they’re gearing up to pull an SPCO and cancel concerts through December 31st within the next few days, and they want to be prepared for the surge of confused PO’d patrons who will be coming to their website looking for an explanation?

On November 8, the MOA canceled concerts clear the way to the end of 2012. As I wrote in my next blog entry, “Either I’m psychic, or management is laughably transparent.” A flood of patrons surged to the Minnesota Orchestra’s Facebook page, expressing their anger and frustration at the stalemate. Most of them laid the blame squarely at the feet of the MOA.

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