{"id":9217,"date":"2019-05-15T16:15:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T14:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riccardomuti.com\/?p=9217"},"modified":"2021-06-01T08:39:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T06:39:47","slug":"the-chicago-symphony-ends-its-longest-strike-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riccardomuti.com\/en\/2019\/05\/15\/the-chicago-symphony-ends-its-longest-strike-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Symphony Ends Its Longest Strike With Pension Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
Riccardo Muti leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, whose players voted on Saturday to end
\nthe longest strike in the orchestra\u2019s 128-year history.
\n<\/span>Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times<\/span><\/h6>\n

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Chicago Symphony Ends Its Longest Strike With Pension Change<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\u2013 di Michael Cooper<\/span> | April, 27<\/p>\n

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The longest strike in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra\u2019s 128-year history ended Saturday, when the orchestra\u2019s musicians and board agreed to a new contract that will shift the players from their defined-benefit pension to a defined-contribution plan, similar to a 401(k).<\/p>\n

The proposed change to the pension plan was the major sticking point in a musicians\u2019 strike that lasted nearly seven weeks. The deal was brokered with the help of Chicago\u2019s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, who had called the players\u2019 union and the orchestra\u2019s management to his office on Friday to try to break the stalemate.<\/p>\n

The orchestra\u2019s management had said that the existing pension plan, which guaranteed the players a set amount in retirement, had grown too costly. The players countered that the proposed alternative, in which the orchestra would put a set amount of money into individual retirement accounts, would shift investment risk to the musicians.<\/p>\n

The two sides came up with a compromise. The orchestra\u2019s management said that when current players switch to the new defined-contribution plan and agree to invest their retirement accounts prudently, the orchestra will guarantee that their benefits at retirement will be the same as what they would have earned under the old pension plan, which is being frozen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That guarantee will not be available to new players: Those hired after July 1, 2020, will immediately move into the new plan, in which 7.5 percent of their base salary will be placed into retirement accounts.<\/p>\n

The other major issue was wages. The new contract will include raises in each of the five years of the contract \u2014 of 2, 2, 2.5, 3.25 and 3.5 percent \u2014 which will bring the base salary to $181,272 in the final year, management said.<\/p>\n

The strike attracted the attention of orchestras nationwide, which have been under pressure to curb expenses, especially during contract negotiations with their unions. While defined-benefit pensions have grown rarer in the private sector, they are still the norm among the nation\u2019s leading orchestras. So musicians from around the country watched closely to see whether the Chicago players would succeed in protecting theirs.<\/p>\n

The musicians\u2019 union said in a statement that the new deal \u201cpreserves guaranteed minimum retirement benefits for current musicians and commits the parties to study options for providing retirement security for new hires.\u201d In the past, unions have been loath to accept contract changes that would protect current workers at the expense of new hires, fearing that such deals would create two tiers of workers in the same orchestra.<\/p>\n

The strike was also notable for the unusual involvement of the orchestra\u2019s revered music director, Riccardo Muti, since conductors usually avoid seeming to take sides in labor disputes. But before the strike began, Mr. Muti wrote to the orchestra\u2019s board and management, saying, \u201cI am with the musicians,\u201d and he later appeared with the players on the picket line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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While Mr. Muti publicly insisted that he simply wanted the management and the board to \u201clisten more carefully to the needs of musicians who represent one of the greatest orchestras in the world,\u201d the symbolism was hard to miss. He is scheduled to return to the orchestra\u2019s podium this week, which added pressure on both sides to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n

Steve Lester, a bassist in the orchestra who was the chairman of the musicians\u2019 negotiating committee, said in a statement that \u201cafter about a year of negotiations, we are victorious in our efforts by protecting and maintaining our secure retirement and gaining lost ground on our annual salaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen Zell, the chairwoman of the orchestra\u2019s board, said in a statement that the new agreement \u201censures that the musicians receive the outstanding compensation they deserve\u201d while securing the orchestra\u2019s \u201clong-term financial sustainability through the retirement plan transition.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Michael Cooper, The New York Times<\/em>, April 27<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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CSO, Riccardo Muti return in triumphant program following strike settlement<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2013 di Kyle MacMillan | May 3<\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest news from Thursday evening\u2019s Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert is that the event took place at all.<\/p>\n

After a seven-week strike, the orchestra returned to Orchestra Hall for the first time following the management and musicians signing a new labor agreement last weekend with the intervention of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. And the audience was clearly glad to see the ensemble back.<\/p>\n

A homemade sign with the words, \u201cWelcome Home,\u201d hung briefly over the side of the balcony above the stage. And when the lights brightened above the stage signaling the imminent start of the concert, applause and cheers began, growing in intensity as concertmaster Robert Chen came out to take his bow.<\/p>\n

More cheers and a partial standing ovation greeted music director Riccardo Muti when he took the stage. He launched the orchestra into a performance of \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner,\u201d which it usually plays at the start of each season, but this concert felt like a kind of new beginning and the gesture seemed appropriate.<\/p>\n

Beyond the much-anticipated restart of the 2018-19 season, Thursday\u2019s program was marked with some other notable milestones and historical connections. First off, two of the featured composers, Georges Bizet and Hector Berlioz, were both winners of the much-coveted Prix de Rome competition.<\/p>\n

In January 1926, Ottorino Respighi traveled to Chicago to serve as soloist in his then-new piano concerto and to lead performances of his now-celebrated symphonic poem, \u201cPines of Rome,\u201d just days after its American premiere in New York under Arturo Toscanini.<\/p>\n

Thursday evening opened with the Chicago Symphony\u2019s first complete performance of Bizet\u2019s \u201cRoma\u201d since 1894, a bizarrely long time considering the innate appeal of this overlooked early suite, which the composer began writing in his early 20s during his residency in Rome. (Muti has a knack for musical rediscoveries like this.)<\/p>\n

Like \u201cPines of Rome,\u201d which concluded the concert, \u201cRoma\u201d offered the ideal festive spirit for this reprisal of the season, with its rich orchestrations, fetching harmonies and scene-setting imagery. This was easy-listening in the best sense of the term.<\/p>\n

Muti and the orchestra brought an appropriately light, relaxed feel to this music, delivering apt doses of gentleness during the pastoral sections and rhythmic thrust in the more upbeat moments, including plenty of snap and sparkle in the lively second movement. Deserving special note were principal clarinetist Stephen Williamson\u2019s handsome solos sprinkled throughout and the exuberant French horn calls in the first movement.<\/p>\n

Kyle MacMillan, Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>, May 3<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dates, concerts, programs.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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May,\u00a0Thursday 2 – Chicago Symphony Center at 8:00 pm
\nMay,\u00a0Friday 3 – Wheaton College\u00a0at 7:30 pm
\nMay,\u00a0Saturday 4 – Chicago Symphony Center at 8:00 pm
\nMay, Tuesday 7 – Chicago Symphony Center at 7:30 pm<\/p>\n

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Bizet<\/strong>\u00a0Roma<\/em>
\nBerlioz<\/strong>\u00a0The Death of Cleopatra<\/em>, Lyric Scene for Mezzo and Orchestra
\nRespighi<\/strong>\u00a0Pines of Rome<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
\nJoyce DiDonato\u00a0mezzo<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Watch the photos:<\/p>\n

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