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Cleveland Orchestra Contract Negotiations Break Down, Strike Likely

The music could stop on January 18. That’s the first day the orchestra’s musicians said they would strike after no settlement was reached with management. The players are asking for a one year wage and benefits freeze, but the orchestra is seeking salary cuts. Its proposal is a one-year salary reduction of 5%. Pay would be restored and then increased in the last two years of the contract.

Cleveland Orchestra Management has already taken cuts. Executive Director Gary Hanson, who shaved 15% from his pay last year, said in a statement that they need the union to recognize the shared sacrifice throughout the institution and respond in kind.

Management says average compensation for orchestra members last year was $152,000 and the official work week is 20 hours.

But Jeffrey Rathbun, an oboist and the chair of the musicians’ negotiating committee called the pay cut proposal drastic, and said in a statement that if that were to happen, it would be the beginning of the end of the Cleveland Orchestra as one of the leading ensembles in the world.

With a strike looming in a week and a half, there are no further meetings planned between the two sides.