Philadelphia Orchestra members approve new labor pact

Members of the Philadelphia Orchestra ratified a new three-year labor contract tonight, clearing the way for Tuesday's first rehearsal of the season and Thursday's 108th opening-night concert.

Players voted 75-8 (with two abstentions) in favor of a contract that gives them moderate raises, and grants the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, the organization that employs them, greater freedom to earn revenue.

Musicians will play more Sunday concerts and "run-outs" (performances in nearby cities); their healthcare provisions remain basically unchanged; work-rule restrictions on tour have been eased; and they will receive raises averaging 4.6 percent in each of the next three years.

"I think [the vote] shows that this is a reasonable agreement," said Eric Carlson, the trombonist who chaired the musicians' committee.

The orchestra's base salary will rise (from the current $117,500) to $119,600, $124,800 and $131,040 this season, next, and 2009-10, respectively.

That means the minimum has risen between 2004 and 2007 by $14,040 - an increase of 13 percent, a few points higher than inflation.

But musicians typically measure labor success in terms of whether they achieved parity - that is, how their minimum salary compares to the nation's other largest orchestras. Such comparisons are rough, if only because most players, including principals, assistant and associate principals earn above (and sometime well above) the minimum.

Players, who are represented by Local 77 of the American Federation of Musicians, tonight expressed the perception that parity had been achieved, and they were happy about it.

"I think we've kept pace with our peers," said Carlson.

The tone of these talks lacked the obstreperousness of the tussle of 2004 that required the intervention of Mayor Street. That deal was brokered only after alarmist rhetoric, an extension and a strike-authorization vote.

New provisions in this new contract continue a trend started in the 2004 pact. Once again, musicians will work on more days they normally have off, and in more places.

The deal gives the Association the right to book four "run out" concerts in addition to the ones already played at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Management can add four more Sunday concerts, for a total of 10. And the number of non-intermission Access concerts (a shorter format aimed as classical new-comers) can be doubled to eight.

Both the Sunday concerts and the Access format have been popular with audiences.

The contract calls for the Association to maintain 105 musicians and two librarians, but eliminates a costly provision negotiated into the contract in 2004 called "Complement Plus One," which required the hiring of one additional string player for each section for rehearsals just in case a musician got sick before a concert.

The extra player could leave once the concert started, and was paid for the performance even if he or she did not play.

Orchestra president James Undercofler called "significant" the savings achieved by eliminating that practice.

The new contract expires Sept. 20, 2010 at 12:01 a.m.