Re: Re: Orchestra Salaries


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Posted by Acually... on May 09, 2003 at 11:39:58:

In Reply to: Re: Orchestra Salaries posted by Mark Preece on May 09, 2003 at 00:38:43:

Mark,

This is all public information. But it can be quite misleading, due to cost of living, etc. Please read on...

As a former AFM Local Officer (Local 579), I can tell you that by design, collectively bargained wages are public knowledge. (Please understand that any member of any orchestra holding an AFM Master Agreement holds a collectively bargained contract.)

Additionally, these numbers reflect the absolute minimum for a full time section musician, and that Principals get a premium on top of the published rate. This premium rate is usually 25 to 30 per cent above scale, and is also published for the public. In many cases, the minimum wage for Concert Master is double scale, while string principals might make more than their wind or brass counterparts. (Every orchestra negotiates for different things for different reasons.)

There are divers additional factors that come into play when negotiating wages, which are not very apparent when looking at raw numbers for minimum salaries, such as pension or 401k contributions by the employer, quality of health care coverage, the presence of a loan program for players to purchase new instruments, instrument insurance, length of work week, number of paid and unpaid personal days, employee job security (dismissal and tenure procedures for both the Music Director and the Peer Review Committee), all the way down to temperature and lighting standards. Every tiny detail costs the Management money, and they will fight tooth and nail with the players over things like stage temperature/humidity/lighting, or the conditions under which an outdoor performance might have to be delayed or canceled.

Therefore, EVERYTHING affects the final wage numbers.

By way of example, the MSO has what is called a Freelance Booking Form. This allows us to block any dates not used by the orchestra in the first draft of the season schedule, up to 30 days prior to a given date. If you are asked to play a gig in February and the MSO has not scheduled a service that uses you on that date, you can "block" it. Then, if the MSO later schedules a service on that date, they have been officially notified exactly who will not be available and have to engage substitutes at the Association's expense (Operations Manager: Let's see, we have 16 players out on the 23rd - do we REALLY want to book this runout on this day, or would the following week be better?).

If you do not follow the procedure properly, then you must either turn down the outside opportunity or get docked so that the Association can pay the sub with your money. So, if the MSO has a Personnel Manager that is competent, this is never a really major issue. But when they hire some guy that constantly fails to try to engage local substitute players with adequate notice, then they end up paying lots and lots of wasted money in mileage for out of town players!

We had that problem a while back. Our erstwhile Personnel Manager would frequently try to engage subs that he knew he would need MONTHS in advance with only one or two days notice, or in many cases AFTER the first rehearsal!!!!! Most people can't get off of work for a whole week without at least a week's notice. So none of our regular subs could play. We effectively DOUBLED our operating costs due to mileage that year. So now the Freelance Booking Form is a hot item in negotiations. We took a 12% across the board pay cut, but we managed to keep that form.

Was it worth it? Yes!

Is that reflected in the AFM's wage chart? Not in any meaningful way that would make sense to an outsider.

So EVERYTHING affects the bottom line wage package. And everything in the Master Agreement is public information. You can call some orchestras and get a copy of their Master Agreement prior to an audition to see whether or not the job is any good. I did this, as I certainly never thought that I would want to live and play in Mississippi. But some study of the MSO Master Agreement showed me that the job was worth auditioning for. I have requested copies of Master Agreements from other ROPA orchestras when preparing for rounds of contract negotiation meetings. These are very interesting documents, if (ahem) a bit dry...

It is ALL public information.

However, most orchestras' Master Agreements have clauses that allow for individual negotiation, so long as it is not for LESS than the Master Agreement stipulates. (That is to prevent undercutting.) My contract is in three parts, of which only two are covered by the Master Agreement (and therefore advertised in the International Musician if I leave). The third outlines additional job duties and is privately negotiated. And the two covered sections are for terms differing from the MA as well.

Two publications that all aspiring orchestral musicians should make an effort to read once in a while are the newsletters of ICSOM (Senza Sordino) and ROPA (The Leading Tone). These will give you a much more realistic idea of what life in an orchestra is like. It is a LOT of business and politics.

Two additional VERY INFORMATIVE annual publications are:

Wage Scales and Conditions in the Symphony Orchestra: ICSOM Orchestras
Wage Scales and Conditions in the Symphony Orchestra: ROPA Orchestras

These booklets are published by the AFM at this time each year (part of this chart was the source of the original poster's information from the AFM website). We got ours, along with the current edition of The Leading Tone at rehearsal just yesterday. These are complete, encapsulated little educations unto themselves and should be studied by aspiring players. This is how the real world works when applied to American symphony orchestras.

[Funny, but my music education fell woefully short of preparing me for the real-world business and political aspects of the job. I (as everyone else in an orchestra) had to learn how to negotiate wages and working conditions against hardline bankers and big business people ON THE JOB. It was hard going at first for me - I was quite the "Business Idiot" in 1993. Few musicians want to do this short of stuff for any length of time, so EVERYONE rotates on and off of various committees at one time or another.]

Personally, I think that it is funny how Corporate America teaches us to be so secretive about money, Blue Collar America is so open about it, and musicians are lodged squarely between the two worlds, sharing views with both sides.

What a way to make a living!

Wade Rackley


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