Credible vs. credulous, or jumping the shark while holding an oboe
The most recent statement from Dave Gaudry, Chair of the Negotiating Committee representing the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony, issued today, brought out my inner schoolmarm (and it's a bad sign when Norman Lebrecht and I agree on something):
The Musicians have been negotiating in good faith with Symphony Management to try to reach a deal before the Carnegie Hall tour begins. At 4:30 Sunday morning the talks broke down [Why? What was the last offer made by both sides?].
Even though the Musicians believe that the Symphony is in excellent financial condition [and I believe in unicorns, though I’ve never seen one], they have attempted to address Management’s concerns more than half way [examples, please]. Unfortunately, opportunistically attempting to seize on the misfortunes of other Orchestras, SFS Management continues to insist that the Musicians accept draconian [you should really look up the definition of this word] cuts in compensation and benefits and concede work rule changes that would set back by decades [!!!!!! OMFG] the protections in the Musicians’ contract designed to ensure artistic excellence. They have attempted to justify this policy with talk of “operational deficits” which were largely the self- created results of outsized programming [???? Really- it’s not every day an orchestra turns 100] and spending an additional 11 million dollars last year on a Centennial Celebration, providing enormous bonuses [define “enormous”] and compensation to top executives and consultants [this is the first mention of these “consultants”- who are they and what instrument do they play?] and directing resources away from the core mission of the Orchestra. Even with all the additional spending the SFS has experienced significant growth in the endowment, reported a 32 million dollar surplus to the IRS year [that 32 million won’t even cover the orchestra’s current compensation for 2 years- oh, and did that money come from increased ticket sales from all of that outsized programming, or was it raised by the administration? Or...? Just wondering.], and is projecting substantial growth in revenue this.
The Musicians’ concern over vacancies in key positions [what vacancies? in which positions?], defections of their most talented musicians to better paid orchestras [Herbert is one- name another, please] and Managements’ demands for erosion [erosion? erosion? Erosion occurs on coastlines, not in contracts ]of essential contract protections has them willing to stay out on strike until Management makes a fair contract offer – one fitting for an organization in solid financial condition and that will help to maintain the artistic quality of the orchestra that has taken so long to build [how many other people in the organization have participated in this effort- are you also going to bat for them?].
In the meantime, we continue to believe that Management, especially given the public money it receives [sorry, but that's a really low blow, people- you benefit from that money more than anyone else except the audience], needs to make public the Symphony’s finances.
Please, somebody help the musicians communicate better than this.