The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is back! (sales, compensation, ticket)

[ForStarters]

Detroit Symphony musicians offer to return -- with binding arbitration | Detroit Free Press | freep.com (http://www.freep.com/article/20110301/ENT04/110301063/Detroit-Symphony-musicians-offer-return-binding-arbitration?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE - broken link)

So glad they're going to make it. Can't wait to hear them play.

[Remisc]

I knew it'd happen sooner or later.

[Coldjensens]

Good to hear, but I suspect that it is too late. The rest of the season is already cancelled. People are disgusted witht he whole thing. Even if they get back part of the season, ticket sales will be way down and some donors will hold back. Meanwhile the orchestra has an unmanageable debt that they could not pay even without this disaster. The orchestra members picked a very bad time to strike. I think that the strikers may have shot themselves in the ehad with bad timing. Perhaps they can readily find jobs elsewhere and they do not really care what happens to the DSO.

I really hate to see the DSO fail, but I cannot see them surviving more than a year or two, perhaps not even to the end of this year, unless some donor with tens of millions suddenly appears.

[Remisc]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Good to hear, but I suspect that it is too late. The rest of the season is already cancelled. People are disgusted witht he whole thing. Even if they get back part of the season, ticket sales will be way down and some donors will hold back. Meanwhile the orchestra has an unmanageable debt that they could not pay even without this disaster. The orchestra members picked a very bad time to strike. I think that the strikers may have shot themselves in the ehad with bad timing. Perhaps they can readily find jobs elsewhere and they do not really care what happens to the DSO.

I really hate to see the DSO fail, but I cannot see them surviving more than a year or two, perhaps not even to the end of this year, unless some donor with tens of millions suddenly appears.

I don't know what they expected out of this strike, though.

Due to the orchestra being far from an essential service, this didn't accomplish a whole hell of a lot.

[ForStarters]

Originally Posted by Remisc

I don't know what they expected out of this strike, though.

Due to the orchestra being far from an essential service, this didn't accomplish a whole hell of a lot.

I had heard somewhere that orchestra managements nationwide have been trying to break the musicians' unions to lower compensation levels. There was some indication that the DSO was being pushed by other musicians' unions to take a staunch stand, because as one of the best orchestras in the country, other musicians were afraid that a precedence would be set.

[the_muse]

First, the orchestra is not back to work. This is a proposal from the musicians. Management has not yet said if they accept or reject it - they are reviewing the terms.

For Starters is correct - this is about a lot of politics behind the scenes.

EDIT: At first, I'd posted a lot of information about how things got to this point, and where things stand today. I've decided to edit this down, rather than rehashing the mess that has occurred, to focus on the possible solution.

Here is a fair editorial in the Detroit Free Press. http://www.freep.com/article/20110302/OPINION01/103020318/0/ENT07/Editorial-Arbitration-may-point-way-out-protracted-DSO-strike?odyssey=nav (broken link)

I hope that management will agree to this arbitration and that the situation will be settled. We can't afford to lose the DSO.

[the_muse]

If you'd like to hear the Musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra perform, you have many opportunities to do so. Here's a link to their upcoming concerts: Upcoming Events (http://detroitsymphonymusicians.org/upcomingevents.html - broken link)

I should note that I am not a member of the orchestra - just a very close observer of the situation who understands the orchestral business quite well.

[Coldjensens]

THank you. I want to go see them and bring the kids before they are gone.

[the_muse]

By the way, DSO management turned down the offer the musicians made (musicians would come back to work under the terms both sides have already agreed on while a three-person committee goes into binding arbitration to solve the other issues. The three-person committee would be one representative chosen by DSO management, one representative chosen by the musicians, and a third person that the first two people mutually agree on.)

If you thought the DSO management really wants to solve this strike, you might be a bit skeptical. I can't think of a reasonable reason why they would not submit to this arbitration, unless it is that they don't want the strike to end.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by the_muse

By the way, DSO management turned down the offer the musicians made (musicians would come back to work under the terms both sides have already agreed on while a three-person committee goes into binding arbitration to solve the other issues. The three-person committee would be one representative chosen by DSO management, one representative chosen by the musicians, and a third person that the first two people mutually agree on.)

If you thought the DSO management really wants to solve this strike, you might be a bit skeptical. I can't think of a reasonable reason why they would not submit to this arbitration, unless it is that they don't want the strike to end.

I think that the reason is that the concept of the arbitration is to arive at a binding decision that places the agreement somewhere in the middle. That means that each side must give a little. The DSO cannot give anyhting more, they have no money. They cannot negotiate. I could very wll be wrong, but from listening to the president or whatever of the DSO on the radio, I believe that it is like this:

"I only have $10. I will pay you $10"

"No. I want $34."

"I only have $10, that is all I can pay you."

"Let's have binding arbitration to arrive at a number between $10 and $34"


"I only have $10, I cannot pay a number between $10 and $34, I can pay $10 and that is it."


However it apepars that tehy do nto even have $10. They are just hoping that this is a number that they can come up with. They are not willing to try to come up with a bigger number because they know that it is not possible. Reality is probably more like:

"I have - $24,435,332, I will give you $10."

"No, I want $34"

At this point I do not think tha the DSO will be able to evne keep a deal at the original offer. Their season is already impacted. If they were smart, they woudl withdraw the ealier offer and make an offer that conforms to reality.