Re: Florida Philharmonic Orchestra Strike


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Posted by economics? on October 21, 2000 at 13:54:49:

In Reply to: Florida Philharmonic Orchestra Strike posted by Jay Bertolet on October 20, 2000 at 21:22:38:

I take issue with the statistics offered under the "Economics" page at the FPO website. While such statistics are acceptable in a Presidential debate, they have no place in trying to win over people to your side. Unlike others, I will attempt to show you how they might be made more convincing. The underlying assumptions of the first two points must be scrapped as they bear little relationship to reality. The third must be explained more fully.

1). Orchestra budgets are homogenous. This is not true; the eight orchestras whose budgets are nearest in size to the FPO assuredly do not derive their budgetary funds in exactly the same way. To make this point convincing, it must be shown that the FPO derives a larger share of their budget from ticket sales, recording royalties, and other activities that directly reflect upon the quality of the orchestra itself and not upon the philanthropic activities of corporations, individuals, and trust funds. Then show that any increases in philanthropic components of the budget are strongly correlated with increases in the previously mentioned budget components. To make the latter more convincing, it is important to show that it preceded the former.
2). Distinct geographic regions are homogenous. Florida does not have an income tax. On the other hand, the Miami area does have amongst the highest grocery prices in the nation. I would have to research other factors involved in determining cost of living; I cannot recall them off the top of my head.
3). Cost of living indices are indicative of little without citing which indices are used and how they are used. Without such citations, we must assume that you used the one most friendly to your cause. It would be better to show the comparison using all major cost-of-living indices, not just the one the union uses. (I recall from previous threads that the union does have an index designed especially to calculate its members' cost-of-living).

The average salary tells me very little. If "the four orchestras with larger annual budgets nearest in size to the FPO," have budgets that are substantially larger than that of the FPO, and if "the four orchestras with smaller annual budgets nearest in size to the FPO," have budgets that are very similar in size to the FPO, the results will be skewed in favor of the FPO. Miami is a large area with a large population. It is not unreasonable to expect that the eight cities nearest in size might be LA, Boston, Chicago, New York, Dallas, Houston, or San Francisco. No offense intended, but without citing which cities are used in the examples, and which group from each city is used, I can easily say that I personally value the above symphonies much more than the FPO.

Also, the phrasing is amibiguous, especially in the case of points one and three. Are these orchestras nearest in size to the FPO, or are these the orchestras whose budgets/c.o.l. index are nearest to the FPO's? Given that English is right associative, I would suspect that the latter is correct, and thus would not be a point of contention, but clarification would not be out of order.


Finally, what is there to stop the musicians from rejecting management's offer and forming a new orchestra under a different name? Wealthy individuals and large corporations would continue to need tax deductions. Euphonophiles would continue to buy tickets. This is an honest question, and I do not pretend to have an answer for it. I would have to do extensive research to come up with an approximate answer, and it is much easier to rely on others' anecdotal evidence in this instance.

In summation, I wish the members of the FPO good luck in their endeavour. In general, I am opposed to unions, but inasmuch as the musician's union has not prevented me from enjoying music, and that it has increased the amount of good music available, I will support it most of the time.




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