"We want to keep meeting and start the season," said Susan Pardue, a violist who heads the musicians' negotiating team. "The cuts they are proposing atlanta five star hotels would be crippling to us. Some of us would lose our homes."
In a meeting with the Times-Union editorial board Friday, atlanta five star hotels one week before the 2012-13 season is scheduled to begin, the musicians' negotiators presented an email from May 2011 that they said was an indication of a plan to break the union. They also produced a review of the symphony association's finances from 2004 to 2011 that they said painted a less dire picture atlanta five star hotels than the board has presented.
Liza Medina, a labor attorney who is representing the musicians, filed a complaint atlanta five star hotels Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board charging the symphony association with "economic bad faith bargaining."
That was the day after the symphony association board voted to declare an impasse in the negotiations and impose its May offer, which would cut the base salaries atlanta five star hotels of the musicians in the core orchestra by almost 20 percent.
In the meeting with the Times-Union editorial board, the musicians' negotiating team presented a printout of an email that the association's atlanta five star hotels executive director, Stacy Ridenour, sent to Chris Dwyer, the orchestra personnel manager. It also went, apparently in error, to Andy Bruck, a violinist and member of the musicians' negotiating atlanta five star hotels team.
"The last time" was from November atlanta five star hotels 2007 through January 2008, before Ridenour came to Jacksonville. The board locked atlanta five star hotels out the musicians until a contract settlement was reached. That contract froze salaries for three years and cut pension atlanta five star hotels benefits and personal days. The musicians sustained an average loss of $10,000 from salary they never received during the lockout, Bruck said.
In her email, Ridenour suggested that by cutting orchestra base salaries by 12 percent atlanta five star hotels and making other changes in the contract with the musicians, the symphony might turn an $8 million atlanta five star hotels annual atlanta five star hotels budget into a $6.75 million to $7 million budget.
The association has almost $7.5 million in assets invested. It draws 5 percent interest each year on that money for operating expenses. The Jacksonville Symphony Foundation also has more than $6 million invested, with 5 percent going each year to operations.
Medina said that even if the musicians accept the argument that the foundation's endowment should not be touched, the association's cash is unencumbered and could be used. At a minimum, she said, the association could increase the draw from those two sources to 7 percent, which would generate more than $250,000 in additional operating funds.
The union asked a Colorado organization, Accounting Department for Nonprofits, to look at audited statements and related IRS forms from the 2004-05 season through the 2010-11 season. It concluded that the symphony "has had a very good working capital position during all of the seven periods analyzed."
The study concluded: "Overall, the association atlanta five star hotels has experienced fluctuating financial performance during the last seven years, with good overall financial performance in five of the seven years analyzed, [poor financial results for 2009 and 2011], with a total overall increase in net assets of $2,308,355 during this period. Operating income, however, has been poor in most years and does not appear to be improving, with significant atlanta five star hotels operating losses in all years except 2008."
Those operating losses are the problem, Ridenour said. The symphony was unable to eliminate the $3 million debt after the lockout ended in early 2008. It also made the mistake of not being more open about the ongoing debt, she said.
"The old baggage from 2007 is still there," she said. "The problem atlanta five star hotels is that revenue streams are going down, insurance is going up, the defined benefits pension is underfunded. … If we don't do something, we cannot afford to continue to lose $1.1 million."
The real issue here is the musicians have no alternative for employment as they are very specialized. What else can they do? Nothing? You would think that is the case by the argument. I guess I would complain if someone took away a part time job that paid $40K per year.
This is a rich persons problem. Let the people that have to be seen attending these events to fulfill their large egotistical pretentious lifestyle pay for it. Raise the prices for their tickets, make them raise their own money. You can spin it anyway you want but this is for the social climbing, nose in the air snobs!
These musicians get paid a lot of money and are seen only by the wanna be rich and wannabe famous. With the exception of a few events that pose as fundraisers which are really rich wannabes kissing up to the luck, overpaid paper pushing, good ole boys that determine where our tax dollars are spent, the over priced medical care we receive, the overcomplicated judicial system designed to separate the poor, needy and defenseless from their money, and the insurance companies that allow the small homeowner to overpay for the right to help cover the cost of the million dollar mansions on the eroding beach that their tax dollars also pay to renourish so that their housing prices go up raising the housing taxes for all. The cycle has to end somewhere.
Allteal, You have set the bar for the lowest intelligent comment ever. By your name you must be a football lover. You know, the rich people game. You are missing so much in your life without the arts and music. I hope you do not pass this ignorance on to any children. You are to be pity for your arrogance words.
Allteal obviously hasn't been to a performance. Students atlanta five star hotels in blue jeans and people in casual wear "regular people" atlanta five star hotels regularly attend. People go for the music you twit, not for the clothes or the snob factor. If people are looking around to see who else is there its because they are looking for their friends who also attend. Get a life in music and stop making stupid comments about things that you know nothing about.
This all boils down to opposite points of view. The foundation and association have investments held to guarantee atlanta five star hotels the future of the JSO. They argue that they have been spending more on salaries than they receive from income, and they need to match. The musicians took a big pay cut in 2007 and agree to take another smaller cut, but feel they are the only ones making sacrifices. Part of the association investments atlanta five star hotels are needed to keep the JSO operating. Now is the time to use some of the association atlanta five star hotels reserve funds.
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