employees with 141k base salary on strike, does it matter that they are musicians?

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://sfist.com/2013/03/13/breaking_sf_symphony_goes_on_strike.phpUsually folks would be outraged over high salary folks striking. What about musicians

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/03/16/san-francisco-symphony-strike-continues-saturday-concert-canceled/



161k average salary sf symphony orch on strike. Not getting lots of sympathy based on posts in sfgate forums
Do you have more sympathy knowing they have to own and maintain million dollar instruments?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. The Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

are also on strike (actually, locked out). It does not matter how much they make; the issue is whether they are being treated fairly by management. And they are not.

[freshwest]

2. I had no ideas of their salaries or instruments. They are a small group of people, no?

I don't begrudge anyone what they get, their salary going down doesn't enrich my life or pocketbook. That's the way Teabaggers think about them. Since they are public employees, they are going to get trashed in the race to the bottom.

Same with athletes whose bodies get a beating, ending up crippled and can't continue in their fields. So they ask for more upfront, knowing it's coming.

I think we should show solidarity, but I doubt anyone complaining about their salary are thinking about the issue you brought here, or the cost of living in SF. Maybe you should mention it on the comment page.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. These people work extremely hard. For decades.

They practice for hours a day, every day, for decades, go to top music schools where they practice four to six hours a day. Audition for top symphony orchestras and work hard in a symphony.

I am a former violinist and it's very physically taxing to play an instrument. When I was in high school and playing in the school orchestra, we put on the school musical. I was in the pit orchestra. I got a severe left shoulder cramp and left arm fatigue from playing too much. I was 14 years old then.

Professionals in symphonies work very hard and are exhausted a lot of the time. Even though a violin is only 14 inches long you can get quite tired after an hour of playing.

Bows and fiddles are not cheap either.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. thank you for that insight

[Recursion]

4. NFL players strike

Solidarity is solidarity. Fuck this stuff.

[Nye Bevan]

5. How about when the baseball players went on strike? Some of those guys earn millions.

And the basketball strike was basically millionaires versus billionaires.

[Ikonoklast]

8. Millionaires that MADE some of those owners billionaires.

If professional athletes are generating billions in revenue for the team owner, they deserve a slice of that pie.

After all, without the players, all the owners have is a team name and an empty stadium.

[HiPointDem]

7. no, i'm not outraged by 'high salary' workers striking. focusing on 'high salaries' of workers =

#1 tool of capital.

and usually they misreport the 'high salaries'.

[Populist_Prole]

9. They're still blue collar people who actually produce something, as I see it

Let us never fall into the trap of demagoguery the plutocrats try to set for us: That is, never bash another working class member for their struggle against their employer just because they have a higher salary than you do. The race to the bottom needs no help from us, that's for sure.

[99Forever]

10. I don't begrudge other Union people doing well.

Ever.

I begrudge multi-millionaires and billionaires not paying their fair share back into The Commons.

I begrudge 1%er assholes sitting in plush offices on their fat asses, stuffing their bank accounts with the labor of hard working people who still qualify for Food Stamps, Aid to Dependent Children ad Medicaid while working for them.

Grief for Union Master Musicians? Not so much.

[haele]

11. No. They have a lot of expenses most workers don't...

Union Musicians pay the entirety of their health insurance plan and their retirement - while the union may negotiate the basic plan and cover collective bargaining, they don't get employer matching. There are additional costs due to travel (if it is a traveling orchestra), outrageously expensive instrument and equipment upkeep and insurance costs - including having a satisfactorily quality back-up instrument in case of failures or damage to a favorite instrument; the costs to look "professional" on stage (no rented tuxedos for professional orchestras), and some serious rehearsal requirements - most professional orchestral musicians I know from high school when I played work at their art one way or another (between concerts, rehearsal and practice) a good 60 to 80 hours a week.
And many of them cross-contract on their original symphony contract to support other orchestral organizations that symphony might also play for - the city opera or ballet, or a client community theater group - for which they have to also practice and rehearse. They are also often "encouraged" to volunteer to perform community outreach - usually to support development of performance arts interests in the local schools, scheduling time that would otherwise be used for rehearsal time to play for elementary school outings or go talk to students.

If they were working on an hourly basis with contracted rehearsals and a requirement for practice hours, that base salary would probably cover an $18 - $20 hourly wage with OT at the hours they are required to "work".

By making sure they are salaried, the symphonic or orchestral contract employer can keep the costs and working time requirements for skilled musicians and primary chairs - the truly artistic talents - within the boundaries they set.

So, no - the musicians are being paid what they are worth at the level they are performing. While it might be a class-based "hoitey-toitey" performance to "the average person", it's still a matter of paying a talented person in an expensive field of endeavor the proper amount of compensation to both meet their costs and put aside something for the future.

Haele