Musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra have voted unanimously to authorise a strike if no agreement is reached with management before their current contract extension expires on 23 September.
The vote was announced on Thursday outside Severance Music Center, as negotiations between the musicians and the Cleveland Orchestra Musical Arts Association continue. Talks over a new contract have been under way since July.
The musicians say their main concerns are compensation, working conditions and their role in artistic decisions. They are seeking pay that keeps pace with inflation and with other leading US orchestras, stronger rules aimed at preventing work-related injuries, and a more substantial voice in the audition and hiring process.
Elayna Duitman, a Cleveland Orchestra violinist and chair of the musicians’ negotiating committee, said compensation has fallen behind that of peer orchestras and has failed to keep pace with inflation. The musicians have also raised concerns over health-care costs and vacancies within the orchestra, which they say increase the workload on remaining players.
The Cleveland Orchestra said negotiations were continuing in good faith, pointing to an agreement reached on 2 September to extend the existing contract through 23 September. “We do not comment on ongoing negotiations, and we do not negotiate in the media,” the organisation said in a statement reported by local media.
The strike-authorisation vote does not mean that the musicians are currently on strike. It gives the union the authority to call one if negotiations fail to produce an agreement before the extension expires.
A strike would be a rare event in the orchestra’s history. Cleveland musicians last walked out in January 2010 during a dispute over pay and the ensemble’s ability to remain competitive with other leading US orchestras. That strike lasted less than two days.
The current negotiations come at a particularly significant moment for the Cleveland Orchestra, which is preparing for Franz Welser-Möst’s final season as music director after more than two decades with the ensemble.
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