New developments in the contract dispute between the San Francisco Symphony administration and the SF Symphony Chorus bode ill for broader discord at the organization.
Specifically, the conflict between SF Symphony management and the orchestra itself, whose contract is set to expire at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24.
The SFS Chorus has 32 union members in addition to some 120 volunteer singers; the former are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). The approximately 100 members of the orchestra are represented by the American Federation of Musicians Local 6. Programming concerts without the SFS Chorus is difficult but possible; the orchestra is indispensable to SF Symphony operations.
While both management and labor have stated publicly that negotiations are ongoing, sources have told SF Classical Voice that, in recognition of the lack of progress, the search for an outside mediator has begun. When contract negotiations have broken down at the SF Symphony in the past, mediation has not prevented strikes.
An SFS spokesperson told SFCV on Monday that “we hope to have an agreement in place as soon as possible, and when appropriate, we will release more information.” Local 6 reiterated that “the musicians are in ongoing negotiations with management.”
For all parties involved in the ongoing conflict, this is familiar terrain. Last year, the orchestra kept working for more than 300 days before reluctantly accepting the current contract. A similar situation is now possible if no agreement is reached.
The SFS Chorus went on strike for three days in September, leading to the cancellation of the season-opening program of Verdi’s Requiem, and is now performing without a contract. This was the case over the weekend, Nov. 15–17, for three concerts featuring Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, which saw musicians and management engaging in an escalating sequence of events.
First, members of the SFS Chorus distributed leaflets to ticketholders outside the performance, sharing the choristers’ stance on the state of negotiations. Next, 15 minutes into Friday’s concert, SF Symphony public relations sent an email to patrons outlining its position. Finally, on Saturday, AGMA made its own statement denouncing the administration’s.
Audience member Laura Leibowitz told SFCV what the scene in Davies Symphony Hall on Friday was like as both concertgoers and orchestra musicians expressed their support for the SFS Chorus:
“When the Chorus started taking their seats in the terrace, the applause started, and it built, becoming thunderous. String players waved their bows at them, and some players stomped their feet. Audience members rose to their feet, followed by many of the musicians, as the ovation continued. You could see the gratitude on the faces of the Chorus — a contrast to the usual concentrated stoicism.”
A public letter to the SF Symphony’s CEO and board of governors from AGMA chorister Adam Cole states some of the SFS Chorus’s points of contention:
“Though financial hardship was originally cited [by the administration in negotiations], subsequent statements have revealed that SFS is not unable to afford the Chorus, but merely ‘unwilling’ and ‘not interested’ to guarantee its current level of funding and program engagement beyond 2024–2025, for reasons it adamantly refuses to explain or defend.
“The current incarnation of the Chorus is already by far the cheapest human resource SFS possesses, and its skill and versatility are central to upholding [the] SF Symphony’s reputation and artistic mission.
“[The] SFS Chorus comprises the 32 lowest-paid professional musicians in the organization, further subsidized four to one by a corps of skilled unpaid singers who donate their time and considerable talent for nothing. The whole amounts to just 1 [to] 1.5 percent of the [orchestra’s] annual operating budget.
“In exchange for such modest investment, that unique blend of [a] professional core, highly experienced veteran amateurs, and younger singers offers continuity and institutional knowledge that empower SFS to present the significant choral works expected of a world-class symphony year after year, at the highest artistic levels and on very limited rehearsal time.”
What the SFS administration says:
“The Symphony is committed to continuing to work with our AGMA partners in hopes of ratifying a new contract soon.
“We have been transparent about the significant financial challenges facing our organization and the need to reach agreement on a contract that recognizes the important contributions of our AGMA choristers while also addressing our financial reality.
“With approval from the Symphony’s board of governors, [last Monday, Nov. 11] the SF Symphony agreed to meet the key terms of the AGMA choristers’ previous three-year proposal.
“Despite the Symphony administration agreeing to AGMA’s previous proposal terms and making a competitive offer that preserves existing generous wage levels for these part-time employees, AGMA has not accepted this offer and has instead raised their demands.”
The email on Friday listed the contract proposal from the administration:
— Preserves current wage rates for AGMA choristers for the current and following seasons — more than $131 [per hour] for performances and $73 [per hour] for rehearsals.
— Modestly reduces the guaranteed number of chorus performances for the 2024–2025 season from 26 to 23, resulting in a 7.5 percent reduction in total compensation for the season — from $22,053 to $20,411 — but still allowing for all scheduled choral concerts to proceed as planned.
— Restores total compensation and the volume of guaranteed services in the 2025–2026 season to current levels.
— Commits to continued bargaining on terms for the third year of the contract.
Saturday’s statement from AGMA negotiators:
“AGMA Choristers have not received a raise since 2023, nor were we made whole after pandemic-era cuts, and have been working under an expired contract since July 2024. Meanwhile, the Symphony’s endowment has grown substantially, from $326 million in 2022 to $336.7 million in June 2024, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
“On Nov. 14, the day before the opening performance of the Fauré Requiem, SFS management returned to the table with the very same pre-strike offer which they themselves had rejected in September (a two-year agreement with cuts in year one, and a promise to continue discussing a third year).
“Their offer is conditioned upon a tentative but extremely significant change to the Symphony’s dedicated Chorus budget, which they have not yet disclosed to the public. It is that same highly significant change in finances which motivated AGMA’s counteroffer for a multiyear plan: a reduction in year one to $21,615, a return to the 2022 rates in year two, and a modest 5 percent raise in year three.
“Despite their claims of transparency, SFS management has repeatedly refused to provide AGMA with financial information to verify its waffling claims of ‘financial hardship.’ This refusal prompted the union to file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, which is now under investigation.”
