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| MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 12:54 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
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| The Metropolitan Opera's Union Says Opera Season May Not Happen Unless Management Reinstates Workers and Acts Fairly Union tells opera donors and lawmakers in Washington, New York and Albany to withhold contributions and financial aid until the lockout of opera workers ends. IATSE launches advertising campaign: "Without People the Opera is Nothing" NEW YORK - The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents roughly 800 artistic and technical workers at the Metropolitan Opera, this week is warning in a print advertisement and through social media that "unless the Met's management returns to the bargaining table and treats workers fairly, there will be no opera in 2021." The advertisements, in response to The Met's December lockout of IATSE members, begin with the headline: "The Metropolitan Opera Without People Is Nothing." The ads caution that without additional negotiations: "The Metropolitan Opera House will remain dark and quiet, a vacant warehouse." In December, Peter Gelb, The Met's general manager, announced that he was "locking out" stage technicians and shop crew members such as carpenters and electricians who build sets at The Met and who are represented by IATSE Local 1, cutting off their wages and stopping the production of sets at Met facilities for the 2021 opera season. The Met's new season is scheduled to begin in September. Gelb has demanded that IATSE members take a 30 percent take-it-or-leave-it pay cut that would remain in effect long after the pandemic ends. "Very few people were working at The Met in this period, barely affecting the bottom line," said IATSE International President Matt Loeb. "Gelb is cruelly and cynically using the COVID-19 crisis as leverage to stab his workers in the back, cutting off their wages and healthcare payments during the pandemic and putting the future of the opera company in jeopardy." IATSE members who work as stagehands, ticket sellers, costumers, lighting designers and technicians, set designers and make-up artists, along with other dedicated Met employees, understand the strain COVID-19 is placing on the performing arts. They are willing to make accommodations during these difficult times. But they are unwilling to accept Gelb's overreach. The union is launching a lobbying effort in Washington, Albany and New York to ask lawmakers to exclude The Metropolitan Opera or any other employer in the performing arts from stimulus or arts funds if they have locked out their workers. "Monies for the arts should not be used to beat up on artists and to fund $1,500-per-hour, union-busting consultants," said IATSE Local 1 President James Claffey Jr. "This would be a misappropriation of funds." "We also know that lovers of opera and patrons of the arts have many choices as to where to spend their money," Claffey Jr. added. "At this time we're asking them to withhold contributions to The Met until management returns to the bargaining table and our members are returned to work." The union also is briefing government officials of The Met's rumored plans to outsource set-design work to shops in Russia and other countries and of the inappropriateness of using funds designated to support the arts community here at home. IATSE has set up a website at www.MetOperaNews.com to keep operagoers, Met subscribers and the general public informed. The union also has made it possible to receive updates by visiting the website and registering. "It's time to return to negotiations and settle this matter," Loeb said. "The Met cannot operate without our people. If the curtain doesn't go up, it would be a real opera tragedy." This is not the first time Gelb has tried to make up for a history of overspending, mismanagement and his own lavish lifestyle by placing unreasonable demands on his workforce. He threatened to lock out Met workers in 2014. While he claims not to be taking compensation currently, his pay will likely be made up later through deferred compensation or bonuses. Gelb was paid over $2.1 million in combined pay and benefits for running the nonprofit, according to The Metropolitan Opera's 2020 filing. He is sitting out the pandemic in a luxury midtown apartment provided by the opera company. Six local unions of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) represent The Metropolitan Opera's artistic and technical workers: Local 1 represents skilled craftspeople who are experts in carpentry, lighting, sound, props, and set and building construction. Local 764 includes costume shop employees who create the costumes, and dressers who assist the performers with their costumes. Local 751 is comprised of the workers who most frequently interact with the public - box-office employees such as treasurers and ticket sellers. Local 798 includes the artists responsible for hair and makeup. Local 794 represents technicians involved in The Met's live broadcasts. USA 829 represents scenic artists as well as the designers of sets, lighting, costumes and sound. |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:35 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - Official_Press_Release 12:54 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
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| At times like this, I like to remind myself that in a recent season, Peter Gelb made $2 million and the Met's profit and loss for that same year was negative $1 million. Strangely, no one suggested that there was an obvious fix to balancing that budget... | |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 06:36 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - Singapore/Fling 01:35 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
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| I'm not sure if this continues, but for March-April-May Peter Gelb waived his salary. | |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 07:35 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - NewtonUK 06:36 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
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| And that was a great thing to do, but he waived his salary after years of making exorbitant wages compared to the artists and stagehands in his employ, and it took a global pandemic for him to reconsider making millions of dollars a year for leading a non-profit arts organization. And now he's asking everyone else to take large pay cuts that will extend past the duration of the pandemic, at a time when people who work in the arts are already making relatively low wages. Of course, this pay structure isn't unique to the Met. It's endemic throughout the entertainment sector, but at least some industries, such as Hollywood, are talking about making sure everyone earns livable wages. Theater and opera not so much, the Vineyard Theatre being the one notable exception. |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 12:55 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - Singapore/Fling 07:35 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
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| I think we need to be fair, also, to leaders of large institutions. Besides running huge organizations and dealing with all the unions involved, they also have major responsibilities in fund-raising. Peter Gelb (whose tenure I do not think has been great) has a salary of $1.49 million a year, in an organization with an annual budget of about $310 million. Doing some follow up, he waived his salary for the duration of the pandemic, in April 2020. The head of MOMA earns $5.1 million out of a $267 million budget. The head of the Met Museum, on the other hand, earns $1.25 million of an annual budget of $491 million, while the head of the Whitney earnes $1.1 million of an $89 million budget. In our industry, Andre Bishopa (LCT) and Todd Haimes (Roundabout both earn around $1 million a year. Neither organization is even 10% as big or complex as the Met Opera or Met Museum of Art. Lynne Meadow & Barry Grove (MTC) both earn $600,000 plus (I have no idea what cuts, waivers any of the above have taken).. These are big complex jobs, responsible for earned and contributed income, programming, policies, union relations - so much. All large organizations, including Broadway, are looking for ways to reduce costs, at least over the next 24-36 months, when we are all trying to heal from the huge losses we have taken. The industry would love everyone to take some of the pain - but what is being heard, mostly, is pay us full everything or fuhgettabout it. That's nyt very responsible either. We're all in this together. We have to be in this together re getting out of it. | |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:37 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - NewtonUK 12:55 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
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| All of these institutions have been able to survive this long by paying most of their labor force minimum wage or less, while working them for as few weeks a year as they can. Lynne and Barry make $600,000 a year (which means a combined $1.2 million) while relying upon an army of unpaid and low-paid interns and part-time staff, and an administrative and creative staff that is lucky if they make $60K a year, to live in New York, but at least those folks have health insurance. Many of these workers are asked to put in 6 - 7 days a week, and if they not exempt, the nature of overtime compensation is factored into their starting salary such that they are not being paid commensurate with the additional hours they are working. And after years of doing this, now the leaders of these non-profits are asking workers who were barely surviving as it was to take additional pay cuts so that we can "be in this together". Well, we weren't in this together when they were making 20 times what their lowest paid workers were making (and, again, lots of unpaid workers as well), and we weren't in this when they were telling us that we should be grateful to have jobs at all, so why ask for such frivolities as a weekend. But when they need to make even deeper pay cuts, suddenly we're all in this together. |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: ryhog 02:00 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - Singapore/Fling 01:37 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
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| A bit of course correction is in order. Yes, there are throngs of underpaid and exploited people working in NY NFPs. Yes, there are executives in NY NFPs who are worth every penny they are being paid. The opposite is also true. But this thread is about stage hands at the Met Opera, who most would acknowledge are not underpaid in this fashion, and an executive at the Met Opera who many think is not worth what he is paid. | |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 02:18 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - ryhog 02:00 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
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| This press release is sponsored by the stagehands, but my understanding is that these pay cuts are also being asked of musicians and performers, so it's beyond just IATSE. | |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: ryhog 03:48 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - Singapore/Fling 02:18 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
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| That would make sense. Still, these are all union employees and not low paid exploited individuals. Individually or collectively they have the ability to shut the house down if they are so inclined. That's not the case for the essentially fungible people who regrettably have no right to be treated fairly in this context. | |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 06:24 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - ryhog 03:48 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
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| Based on which union we're looking at, I think we can still be talking low paid, exploited individuals - that's certainly a large part of the messaging behind We See You White American Theater - we're just negotiating the degree to which one is being exploited and underpaid. As someone who is not part of any of these unions, I often find myself in a similar boat financially to colleagues who are in creative unions. The larger issue, of course, is one that is endemic to our version of Capitalism: it is mistaking the value of a company for the value of the person that runs that company. So we look at the budget of a theater, and some folks, rather than ask how that money is being spent to support the livelihood of thousands of people, instead ask how much of that money can go to a select few earners, and how little can be paid to the rest, in order to fund those select few earners, (who are also generally the ones who are making these decisions in the first place. And then, when things get tight, the folks who have been earning that money ask how those who are already suffering can suffer further, offering inspirational bromides of how we're all sacrificing for our art... but some folks are making that sacrifice in a rent-free Manhattan penthouse, and others are making that sacrifice by eating ramen in the outer boroughs. I appreciate how much Gelb works to keep The Met prosperous, but his job only exists because of everybody else who is working in that institution. We might say Gelb is underpaid, but everyone is underpaid; the question is how much more underpaid some folks are compared to others, and whether the performing arts can exist without that system. Some days most days, I think that boat has sailed. |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: ryhog 10:46 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - Singapore/Fling 06:24 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
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| a lot there to unpack and this is not the right place for most of it. So I will just highlight one thing which is that I think the union issue in many of the troubling situations is in how the rewards of hard fought contracts are divvied up, and another is that in the theatre we have a lot of union members especially (but not only) in the creative segment who hideously exploit the people they have working for them. Much to ponder of course. |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly ALSO LETS LOOK AT THE OFFER | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 10:01 am EST 02/22/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - ryhog 10:46 pm EST 02/21/21 | |
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| We have to understand what led to the lockout. The Met' s offer to their Stage Hands in December was this: We'll pay you $1500 a week during the pandemic lock down, if you will agree to a 30% wage reduction - only until Box Office returns to pre-pandemic levels. This does not seem that unfair, as the Met cuts would go pretty much across the board. The average stage hand costs the Met $270,000 a year in salary and benefits. Doesnt sound like an exploited worker to me. $200 million of the Met's $300 million budget goes to salaries & benefits. |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly ALSO LETS LOOK AT THE OFFER | |
| Posted by: ryhog 12:39 pm EST 02/22/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly ALSO LETS LOOK AT THE OFFER - NewtonUK 10:01 am EST 02/22/21 | |
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| I'll leave the Met vs. stage hands for others to duke out (as well as the sources of the current situations - musicians anyone?), but let's unpack that salary and benefits stat a little. What do we know about the Met? We know, for instance, that they do a great deal more in house than most everyone else. So a lot of things that would be vendor bills in a typical Broadway budget (even for most of the non-profits) are salaries and benefits at the Met. We know that they do not pay "rent" in the conventional sense. There are other elements but these two dramatically shift the balance. | |
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| re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly | |
| Posted by: singleticket 03:39 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: MET OPERA Union says opera season may not happen unless management reinstates workers and acts fairly - Singapore/Fling 01:35 pm EST 02/19/21 | |
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| I think it's great that the unions alerted donors that this was going on although I think they should have admonished them to do what Gelb suggested to IATSE: "...take a 30 percent take-it-or-leave-it cut that [will] remain in effect long after the pandemic ends." | |
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