L.A. Musicians Join in Protest of Scale in S.D.

About 35 musicians of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra were joined on picket lines by 20 Los Angeles Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra musicians Saturday night to protest inadequate pay for the San Diego group.

The pickets were at San Diego Symphony Hall at 7th Avenue and B Street for about an hour Saturday before the 8 p.m. performance of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Civic Theatre.

The Los Angeles musicians also presented checks totaling about $1,000 to the San Diego Symphony musicians, who face loss of their jobs in a threatened cancellation of the 1986-87 concert season here if a contract agreement is not reached by Tuesday.

Roland Moritz, spokesman for the Los Angeles group, said the visiting musicians are “saddened and concerned” over the plight of their San Diego counterparts.

A statement of support from the Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians was inserted into the Saturday concert program, he said, and the Los Angeles orchestra members observed a symbolic moment of silence “reflective of the silence at Symphony Hall” before starting their concert.

David Lewis, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, also read a statement of support for the San Diego musicians after intermission at the Saturday concert.

Contract talks between musicians and the San Diego Symphony board and management have been at an impasse for more than three weeks, and neither side is predicting a last-minute resolution of the salary dispute. A three-year contract expired in August.

The symphony season was to have started Oct. 23, but symphony officials canceled six weeks of the season in an effort to balance the orchestra’s books.

The musicians and orchestra management reportedly are still $500,000 apart in their salary proposals. Symphony officials are seeking an 11% pay cut for orchestra members.