We are the Met : Opera unions rally against proposed pay cuts
Union members rally in New York on May 13, 2021, in opposition to the Metropolitan Opera s lockout of its stagehands and managements demands for deep and lasting pay cuts it says are needed to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Sara Krulwich/The New York Times.
by Julia Jacobs and Matt Stevens
NEW YORK
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- As New York prepares for the long-awaited reopening of its performing arts sector, with several Broadway shows putting tickets on sale for the fall, it is still unclear whether the Metropolitan Opera will be able to reach the labor agreements it needs to bring up its heavy golden curtain for the gala opening night it hopes to hold in September.
Locked out stagehands protest outside Metropolitan Opera
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Union member demonstrators rally outside the Metropolitan Opera house during a We Are the Met Rally, Thursday, May 13, 2021, in New York. Locked out stagehands and unions with contracts expiring this summer demonstrated outside the Met to protest the Opera s unfair treatment of workers, lockout of stagehands and the outsourcing of work. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
NEW YORK (AP) – Locked out Metropolitan Opera stagehands protested the use of nonunion shops to construct sets for the company’s upcoming season, attracting a crowd of roughly 1,000 people outside Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Thursday.
Locked out stagehands protest outside Metropolitan Opera
RONALD BLUM, Associated Press
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1of9Union member demonstrators rally outside the Metropolitan Opera house during a We Are the Met Rally, Thursday, May 13, 2021, in New York. Locked out stagehands and unions with contracts expiring this summer demonstrated outside the Met to protest the Opera s unfair treatment of workers, lockout of stagehands and the outsourcing of work.Mary Altaffer/APShow MoreShow Less
2of9Union member demonstrators rally outside the Metropolitan Opera house during a We Are the Met Rally, Thursday, May 13, 2021, in New York. Locked out stagehands and unions with contracts expiring this summer demonstrated outside the Met to protest the Opera s unfair treatment of workers, lockout of stagehands and the outsourcing of work.Mary Altaffer/APShow MoreShow Less
Met Opera Settles Contract Disputes With Performers As Stagehands Protest Looms
arrow THE GREEN on May 10, 2021 Jen Chung / Gothamist
The Metropolitan Opera has agreed to a new contract with one of the unions representing performers, while the stagehands’ union is planning a protest Thursday outside Lincoln Center after being locked out of their contract negotiations.
The largest performing arts organization in the country with more than 3,000 staffers, the Met cancelled its 2020-2021 season as the pandemic surged in New York City and has not performed since March 11th, 2020. The institution furloughed all union members about a week later including the opera’s musicians, chorus singers, and stagehands.
The Met Operaâs Musicians, Unpaid Since April, Are Struggling
About 40 percent of the players have left the New York area, and a tenth have retired. Now the Met is seeking long-term pay cuts, and offering them partial pay if they come to the bargaining table.
The musicians in the Metropolitan Operaâs orchestra, seen here at a rehearsal in 2017, have not been paid for nearly a year. Credit.Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Published March 15, 2021Updated March 17, 2021
As the months without a paycheck wore on, Joel Noyes, a 41-year-old cellist with the Metropolitan Opera, realized that in order to keep making his mortgage payments he would have to sell one of his most valuable possessions: his 19th-century Russian bow. He reluctantly switched back to the inferior one he had used as a child.