The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) last week filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the San Francisco Opera—the second-largest opera company in North America—has violated its contract with the guild.
The 17-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, asks the court to order the company to follow the collective bargaining agreement's grievance and arbitration provisions.
The union has complained of 25 instances in which the opera company allegedly violated pact provisions regarding principal singers, chorus members, or dancers. They include paying less than scale and failing to hire the contractually required number of singers, supply costumes, or pay soloists' living expenses. The union says the company also failed to hire the requisite number of dancers for performances and paid the incorrect rate to those it did hire.
AGMA has filed grievances, according to the contract, on these issues, but said that the opera's management has not responded. The pact requires that both sides meet to arbitrate grievances. The union's lawsuit asks the court to order the opera company to bring each grievance to "final and binding arbitration" and to issue a contempt-of-court order against the company if it fails to arbitrate in the future.
A Bad Bargain?
The guild issued a statement Tuesday reporting that the union would file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging that the company "is guilty of bad faith bargaining…. The NLRB charge arises out of the Opera's apparent ability to give its conductor, Donald Runnicles, a 40% pay boost (from $361,000 to $513,000, plus $10,000 for every performance he conducts), despite the Opera's continuing claim that it is in dire fiscal condition. In contract negotiations between AGMA and the Opera that were concluded last April, the union accepted a pay raise of 0%, 0%, and 2% so that the Opera could survive financially."
In the statement, Alan Gordon, AGMA's national executive director, was highly critical of the company's management.
"The San Francisco Opera has a recent history, under Pamela Rosenberg's leadership, of gross disrespect for its singers, dancers, and production staff," Gordon said. "It claims it has no money that would allow its singers (who earn an average of $45-55,000 a year) and its dancers (whose annual income rarely exceeds $20,000) to earn a living wage, and it cavalierly refuses to show any good faith in addressing or trying to resolve their work-related problems. The management of the San Francisco Opera operates with a 'Let them eat cake' approach to the men and women who create the beauty of its operatic music. We think that Rosenberg brings shame to an otherwise fine opera house, to its patrons, to its artists, and to the city of San Francisco."
Gordon stressed one grievance in particular:
"The company forced some of its solo artists to perform at Donald Runnicles' 50th birthday party," Gordon noted. "When a singer, who works on a freelance basis and whose livelihood is dependent upon Pamela Rosenberg's good will, is 'asked' by her to perform at a birthday party, that singer has no real option. That's why the contract requires the union's consent for such requests. In keeping with its policy of disregarding its contractual obligations, however, the Opera simply refused to ask the union and, instead, pressured its singers into entertaining Runnicles' birthday guests."
Robert Cable, the opera company's acting associate director of communications, had this response via email:
"San Francisco Opera has just been served with a lawsuit and it is in the process of reviewing it. We will respond to it in an appropriate manner within an appropriate time frame. San Francisco Opera values its relationships with its unions and continues to look forward to working with them on these and all other issues."
The lawsuit and NLRB complaint are part of the continued uneasy relationship between the guild and the company. In March, the guild appeared prepared to implement a mid-April strike. The union instructed its solo, chorus, dance, and production-staff members to expect to begin a job action on Wed., April 14. AGMA's Gordon also wrote to San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom asking him to intervene in a last-ditch effort to prevent a strike. The strike threat led to further meetings with company management, which in turn led to a tentative agreement at April's end.
The San Francisco Opera has been experiencing financial duress for some time. Over a year ago, the opera announced that it would cut $5 million from its operating budget, much from programming and production. Cuts in artistic expenses—including travel, materials, and construction—were expected to save $1.8 million, according to Rosenberg.