Veteran Musicians Get Tenure in Symphony Pact

Representatives of the Pacific Symphony’s board of directors and its musicians signed a three-year contract Tuesday giving veteran orchestra members lifetime job security and an increased decision-making role in exchange for minimal wage increases.

The early morning signing ceremony, at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa, was extremely harmonious.

Beverly Reidling, executive assistant to the president of Local 7 of the American Federation of Musicians, said: “It is very heartwarming to us to have negotiated a wonderful contract, with wonderful language.

“We hope that it will send a message throughout the United States to organizations that hear a lot of very negative things about symphonies now . . . a true message that management and the AFM worked very, very hard together to come to an agreement for musicians.”

Stewart C. Woodard, the symphony board’s president, said: “We are very, very excited about what we consider to be another milestone in the history of the symphony. We see this as one more step toward the building-block process of developing a very fine regional orchestra.”

Members of Local 7 ratified the contract Monday night, 41 to 10, with 34 members not voting, according to local president Douglas Sawtelle. (The low turnout was not unusual, said Reidling, noting that just 32 members of the local voted on the last contract).

The union has 1,200 members in the county.

Key provisions of the 32-page contract, the first three-year agreement with musicians in the orchestra’s 10-year history, include:

Tenure. Upon signing individual contracts for the current season, the 80 musicians who played regularly in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons will receive tenure. They can be removed only for “persistent and marked inability to continue to maintain the artistic standards of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.” They are further guaranteed that no orchestra member will be removed during the current season.

Those who first joined the symphony for the 1987-88 season will have to wait for a tenure recommendation from the orchestra’s new musical director, due to arrive in 1990.

Governance. Decisions regarding removal of tenured members and the hiring of new musicians for the symphony will be largely in the hands of committees made up of orchestra members. Members will also select representatives to serve as non-voting members of standing committees of the symphony board.

The symphony’s executive director will select a musician representative to serve on the finance committee, but this representative may be asked to leave the room when certain labor matters are discussed and will be asked to maintain strict confidentiality from the general public.

Salaries. Raises are slight, from $72 per performance last season to $75, increasing to $83 for 1989-90 and $95 for 1990-91. Rehearsal fees go from $51 last season to $55, rising to $61 for 1989-90 and $70 for 1990-91. All contracted members of the orchestra are guaranteed at least 81 rehearsal and concert dates during the winter season.

Both sides acknowledged that symphony management, which has reported a current operating deficit of $250,127, was unable to offer much in the way of raises, so it compensated with extensive job security for veteran members, as well as the increased role in the orchestra’s decision-making.

Mindy Ball, principal harpist and a member of the negotiating committee, said that “job security is an important issue with orchestra members,” particularly in light of the imminent departure of the symphony’s longtime music director, Keith Clark, whose replacement has not yet been named.

Ball said she is also pleased with members’ involvement on the audition and tenure review committees because “it’s important to have your peer review.”

“I think there was a meeting in the middle,” said Louis G. Spisto, the symphony’s executive director.

Spisto maintained that tenure for members was instituted “because it’s the way to run this orchestra,” not as a compromise.

“The orchestra is extraordinarily talented,” he said, “and we feel strongly that these players are, in fact, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Providing tenure states that for the first time: This is the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. We want to send that message to the community loud and clear.”

However, before the contract was signed, the symphony’s outgoing personnel director, Bob Peterson, said he opposed tenure because “it makes people lethargic, and it does not allow for any improvement.”

Peterson predicted that if tenure was granted, it would “freeze the ensemble at the caliber it is now.”

In any case, Spisto said having musician representation on board committees puts the organization “on the forefront of a trend” for orchestras.

Member musicians will be guaranteed at least $5,215 this season for 81 performances and rehearsals, not including the summer season.

However, most members play far more than the minimum number of dates. This year, the maximum possible combination is 199 performances and rehearsals, including the summer series, the classical series, winter pops, family concerts, choral and chamber concerts, special concerts and performances outside the county. Opera and ballet performances are paid at a higher rate.

Under the new contract, an orchestra member who played all available dates would earn at least $14,100. If the number of dates remains constant, and the rate for opera and ballet work does not rise above the current $100 per performance, the minimum will rise to $15,158 for 1989-90 and $16,745 for 1990-91.

Section leaders, or principals, will be paid more for all services.

Other attractive aspects of the contracts, from the musicians’ point of view, include participation of the PSO in the union’s benefit and pension plans for the first time. Also, rehearsals will still take place evenings, allowing orchestra members to continue teaching and taking lucrative studio work in Los Angeles.