PRESS RELEASE by Local 58, American Federation of Musicians on September 26, 2013

The Union Negotiating team for the musicians met with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic management for seven hours on Thursday and did not reach an agreement.

The Fort Wayne Philharmonic Inc. proposed a reduction in work weeks from 40 weeks to 32 weeks. Currently, the annual salary is $27,221.60. This eight week cut reduces the annual base salary to $21,777.28. Under the Philharmonic’s proposal, employees will also be responsible for an additional $3,276 annually for family health insurance coverage.

“These cuts, if implemented, would profoundly undermine the fine musical ensemble that has been built by the efforts of many hands over the last forty years, and would leave the Philharmonic far less able to deliver to the community the services that it has come to know and value. The community would lose something precious and irreplaceable, and would be the poorer for it,” says Dennis Fick, Orchestra Negotiating Committee Chairman.