Labor Spat Threatens Opera’s Opening Show

The fate of the San Diego Opera’s season opener hangs in the balance today as lawyers negotiate musicians’ contracts.

“Among other things, the opera has requested an unconditional written non-strike agreement for ‘Der Rosenkavalier,’ ” Ian Campbell, general director of the San Diego Opera, said Monday. “If we don’t have it by 5 p.m. (today), we will be forced to cancel ‘Der Rosenkavalier.’ ”

With $600,000 in tickets sold for five performances beginning Jan. 18 and $892,000 invested in the production, rehearsals at the Civic Theatre are to begin Thursday on the Richard Strauss opera. Among other issues, hassles over potential scheduling conflicts with the San Diego Symphony--for which many of the musicians also work--and allocation of pension contributions have tied up the negotiations for a possible two- or three-year contract.

The opera wants negotiations to continue while rehearsals begin, with the guarantee that there will be no strike during this first production. Liza Hirsch DuBrul, the attorney representing the musicians and who also represented the union in its recent settlement with the San Diego Symphony, said the musicians are willing to begin rehearsals, but will not guarantee they will go ahead with the performance.

Each side is blaming the other, although all negotiations were secret until Monday.

“It’s been disinformation after disinformation,” DuBrul said late Monday, echoing the words of opera officials.

“I’m dealing with a democratic group,” DuBrul said of the musicians’ negotiating committee. “We said, ‘Please, let’s continue to talk’ at the end of the day. Their lawyer is more into taking banker’s hours,” she said, referring to the attorney representing the opera. Negotiations Monday ended at 5:30 p.m.

In the past, contract negotiations between the opera company and the union have been quick and amicable; the last one took just four sessions. Today’s meeting will be the 16th for this contract. Each side now uses a lawyer to do its negotiating, whereas in the past the musicians met directly with opera officials. The change came when the musicians asked DuBrul to work for them last year.

The stakes are especially high this time because, despite the slowed economy, the opera is about to begin its best-sold series in years. Last year the company sold 7,600 subscriptions; this year it has sold more than 10,200, Campbell said, adding one performance for each of the operas scheduled in the season, which runs through mid-May.

Underscoring the seriousness of the impasse, the San Diego Opera on Monday delayed delivery to the San Diego Civic Theatre of the scenery, lighting and costumes for “Der Rosenkavalier,” which, Campbell said, must be delivered by 8 a.m. Wednesday in order for the complex show to go on.

“We are now out of time,” Campbell said.

A major sticking point has been the issue of scheduling between the local opera and the San Diego Symphony. DuBrul says the musicians have asked for an agreement that would ensure that they will not have to decide who gets scheduling priority, leaving the choice to whichever organization commits first.

Campbell said the opera’s offer ensures that the schedule already set up for the term of the contract will be followed, and that “service days will not be added to this schedule without the consent of the orchestra committee,” thereby leaving the decision in the hands of some orchestra members.

Campbell also claims that the musicians are asking to be paid by both organizations should a conflict arise.

The increasing acrimony in the negotiations was made clear Monday when the union released to the media a letter it had sent to Campbell. It was the first public word on the state of the previously secret negotiations.

“I’m surprised and shocked that a personal letter would be sent to the media,” Cambell said after learning from a reporter that the letter had been made public. “It’s inappropriate. It’s incorrect behavior, and it’s simply wrong.”

The letter outlined musicians’ concerns, primary among them the scheduling with the symphony; it also told of requests for a three-year contract, not the two-year one offered by the Opera management; for additional provisions for leaves of absence for musicians, and for contributions to an American Federation of Musicians Pension fund, rather than the local pension fund proposed by the Opera management.

The musicians repeatedly state that the main issues are “less economic than human.”

But Roberta McClellan, director of marketing and public relations for the Opera, said, “It seems to me that, when you break down the issues, it’s all money.”