SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Symphony resumed mediated negotiations with Musicians Union Local 6 on March 29 after the orchestra’s East Coast tour, including stops in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center, were canceled due to a labor dispute.
The canceled performances included stops at NYC’s Carnegie Hall on March 20 and 21, the NJ PAC in Newark on March 22 and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC March 23. Because of the late notice, those venues remained dark on those dates.
An additional four concerts planned for March 14-17 in San Francisco were also affected, along with events set for March 29 and 30 — “An Evening with Bernadette Peters” and a March 30 Bobby McFerrin concert; the latter two were postponed, respectively, to July 23 and Sept. 23, 2013.
Local 6, which represents the orchestra’s 103 musicians, went on strike on March 13. Along with more generous pay raises, union members are resisting changes in retirement and health-care benefits.
Prior to the strike, the San Francisco Symphony’s management offered a pay raise of 1 to 2 percent following a pay freeze for the current year. The compensation offer also stipulated a higher retirement age and changes to health care benefits.
The labor dispute in San Francisco is one of several cases where orchestral performers have locked horns with symphony management during the 2012/2013 season, with strikes and lockouts silencing shows and leading to performer pay cuts or freezes in Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis and Atlanta.
