Labor Negotiations Update

san antonio symphony players association
contactus@sasmusicians.org

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By now, as a member of the San Antonio community, you have probably received or read about the Symphony management’s lengthy justification of their negotiating positions. While obviously biased, it does hint at the willingness to try new things and create a stronger organization and a more integrated arts community. However management needs our input and industry knowledge to successfully innovate and implement change.

Since the bankruptcy four years ago the Symphony management has balanced its budgets and expanded our reach across South Texas. We know they are ready to achieve more and go further toward full recovery. But the proposals they have outlined, especially the re-introduction of the idea to cut thirteen jobs from the orchestra, go beyond overly cautious to regressive. Management has requested that we to continue negotiations and we are cautiously optimistic that they will show flexibility to reach an agreement.

The musicians were hit very hard by the bankruptcy. The players, after a fifteen-month layoff due to the bankruptcy, agreed to concessions that reduced our annual salary by 1/3! Our difficult sacrifice has helped the Symphony Society to pay its debts, restore donor confidence and end donor fatigue, while we have continued to provide our valuable service to the public at the same world-class standard we did prior to bankruptcy. After three seasons of bankruptcy-imposed hardship, the musicians – all of the musicians – need economic relief.

The musicians are keenly aware that the San Antonio Symphony is emerging from bankruptcy. Our proposals are reasonable and show that we are patient.

We are confident that the Symphony will continue to operate in the black and grow. The symphony is not a risky place to invest but rather a community asset that should be supported. Many people including the musicians, the board, and our supporters, are committed to a plan for the Symphony’s long term health. It is time the community, board, and management find a way to restore professional integrity to the musicians by offering us a contract that reflects the high quality standard that San Antonio expects from its professional orchestra.

As a point of comparison, we present this table of the seven largest cities in the United States in order of population size, and their symphony players’ base annual salary.

Comparison Chart of San Antonio and other largest cities

*Population Date compiled from www.census.gov

# Salary & Budget date compiled from Wage Scales and Conditions of the Symphony Orchestra, 2006-2007

To further show why San Antonio has the ability to fully sustain a symphony, we present data concerning the rankings of the largest Metropolitan areas in the United States. Though San Antonio in this category drops to the ranking of 29^th, there are other cities ranked below San Antonio that have very prosperous symphony orchestras.

Comparison Chart of US Metropolitan Areas and Orchestras

What solutions have the musicians already found and proposed to management or agreed to?

1. Electronic Media Guarantee, which will greatly expand opportunities for broadcasting our concerts to the south Texas community

2. Facilitation of Outdoor concerts

3. Increased Open rehearsals

4. Deadlines for annual employment contracts

5. Increased flexibility in scheduling services

6. A memorandum of understanding that will allow a Pops concert to take place on an important religious holiday

How have negotiations gone?

The San Antonio Express-News Editorial page recently stated (8/24) that “the management has shown… a willingness to compromise in its negotiations with the musicians.”

There was no compromise from management for twelve weeks of negotiations. Management only offered its first monetary increase after we had already significantly reduced our proposed agreement several times. Their first movement came after twelve weeks of negotiations and the introduction of a federal mediator. It took them twelve weeks to show any willingness to negotiate with us.

The Editorial page also stated that “the sides have closed much of the gap.” That is not entirely true. The musicians have closed much of the gap.

After three months of dropping our demands well below our comfort zone in our effort to reach agreement, management finally offered its first small increase. We believe that the city of San Antonio deserves more opportunities to hear its great symphony, and we have proposed adding more weeks of work at essentially no increase in our weekly rate.

Should the orchestra consider a two tiered contract?

The ambition to build a Performing Arts Center must be paired with the ambition to grow the orchestra that will reside there and bring it to life. Since its inception the SAS has been a fully professional organization. There is no need to reduce it to a semi-professional orchestra.

A two tiered model would not attract top level talent, it would compromise the artistic level of our performances and it would discard loyal musicians who have served the San Antonio Symphony for decades. It would be a step backward, not a cautious step forward toward recovery.

Should the musicians consider contingency pay increases based on management’s effectiveness?

Marketing and Development are two of the chief tasks of management and we look for continued growth and improvement in these areas. While musicians are willing to help with these efforts, as we have been in the past, any benefit from increased production should go to further these efforts rather than pay a bonus to musicians who, no matter how much effort they expend in helping with marketing and development, do not and should not have direct control over these most important management functions.

We believe that our concerts are best presented by professional musicians of the highest training and caliber, and marketing/development are likewise best executed by professionals with training and experience in those fields.

Are musicians active in the community?

Playing in the SAS is the reason we have come to live in San Antonio. The Symphony anchors the musical community, and many other organizations benefit from our presence. These other activities enrich the whole community.

It is our responsibility to our art to teach, passing on our knowledge of music to the next generation of musicians and audiences. Each of us enjoys the opportunity to interact with young musicians and help them learn to express themselves through music.

Nevertheless, our primary responsibility is to present the highest quality artistic product in our concerts, and we need to be able to focus our efforts in this service to our employer. This is the logic behind paying musicians a salary in the first place - so that we have the time available to fully prepare for concerts, rather than scraping together a living doing whatever we can.

How much do we work? (What work are we paid for and what aren’t we paid for?)

Unlike employees in many other fields, we are not paid for all the time required to do our jobs but are only compensated for the time we are actually rehearsing or performing. Each program requires us to spend many additional hours preparing for the rehearsals independently, without pay. Just as a business person spends hours preparing for meetings, so we spend hours preparing for rehearsals.

Inflation adjusted annual salary

In every profession, employees rationally expect raises and cost of living adjustments. Our annual salary has shrunk especially when inflation is taken into consideration.

How does our weekly salary compare?

Management has argued that our weekly salary is quite high compared to other orchestras in our budget range and that we should not expect improvements because of that. While our weekly rate is competitive, the number of weeks we work is inadequate. Simple multiplication shows that there is no comparison between the compensation a musician earns in San Antonio and most peer orchestras.

We have offered a freeze in the weekly rate to start the next contract in order to facilitate added weeks.

What does it cost to add a week to the season?

An added week of performances is also an added week of revenue through ticket sales for ticketed events and sponsorships for free events. The cost can be offset by the increased revenue and even exceeded.

How do we compare to other Texas Symphonies?

Management’s own chart shows that we are doing better with less than any peer Texas orchestra. The percentage of income derived from ticket sales is the highest of the four orchestras while we have the smallest budget, the shortest season and the smallest percentage of endowment income.

We are confident that the Symphony Society can grow its budget in the slow, steady and reasonable manner the musicians have proposed. It would be a very meaningful commitment to its employees who have sacrificed greatly for the organization and it would be a first step toward serving the San Antonio community in the way it deserves.

We have been patient. We continue to be patient. But we are not complacent. Management’s offers show a lack of interest in growing this organization. Our offers grow the organization at a rate that is achievable and sustainable. It is time to stop looking backward at the mistakes of the past and start making good decisions for a stronger San Antonio Symphony. It is time to gain momentum and move forward.

Brian Petkovich, Chairman SASPA

Emily Watkins Freudigman, 1^st Vice Chair

Amanda Stewart, 2^nd Vice Chair

Mary Ellen Goree, Secretary

Steve Zeserman, Treasurer