Moving symphonic music forward
in Western Massachusetts

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST SSO INC.

Dateline: September 17, 2021
Springfield, MA - The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against the Springfield Symphony Orchestra Inc. for unfair labor practices. The complaint alleges that the Springfield Symphony Orchestra administration is bargaining in bad faith and has failed to comply with their legal obligation under the Collective Bargaining Agreement by failing to offer individual contracts for the 2021-22 season. A trial before the NLRB is scheduled for December 1, 2021.
For details on the NLRB complaint, and to view the status of the complaint: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/01-CA-277037 

UPDATE FROM MOSSO
dated July 13th, 2021

Last week, the members of the SSO Development Committee were notified that their July meeting was being postponed, after the June meeting was also cancelled. This implies that, since the Board has not committed to any concerts for 2021-2022, there is no reason for the committee to plan to raise money.

This latest development increases the volume of numerous alarming questions:

• Why is no effort being made to raise money? Is fundraising not possible because of the absence of any announced concerts, any commitment to future seasons, or any plans to replace the numerous vacant senior staff positions?

• Why are no searches being conducted for a Music Director, Executive Director, Operations Manager, Personnel Manager, Education Director, or Music Librarian? These positions have sat vacant for months, and there are still no positions posted on the website besides "college internships".

• Why has a 2021-2022 season not been announced? The explanation that a season cannot be announced until the musicians contract is settled is simply untrue. Standard operating procedure has always been to schedule and perform concerts while musician contracts were being negotiated.

• Why did the Board let Maestro Kevin Rhodes’ contract expire in spite of the fact that the SSO Strategic Plan reported a 95% audience approval rating and an overwhelming majority of musicians of the SSO wrote letters of support?

• Why hasn’t the Board offered the musicians individual player contracts for this coming season and settled a new contract with the musicians? The musicians have offered huge concessions during negotiations in order to allow for a sustainable return of live concerts. More on that below.

• Why does the Board, according to their own letter sent to patrons, question the "viability" of the SSO, despite having an endowment approaching $8 million?

• Why has the Board changed the bylaws and formed a separate “Management Committee” that can meet outside of regularly scheduled Board meetings? This group of six is Ron Weiss, Tony Falcetti, Peter Thomsen, Robyn Newhouse, Dr. Paul Friedmann, and Cindy Campbell. Art Elkin recently passed away. That leaves just Ali Fazaeli, Jim Birchall, and Marsha Harbison still on the Board but not part of the “Management Committee”.

• Why is nobody willing to be the Board President or Treasurer?

• Why has the Board made no effort to replace Board members who resigned out of frustration to bring the number of Board members up to the 15 called for in the bylaws?

• Why did the Board shelve the recommendations of the Rainmaker strategic plan, a months-long process involving dozens of SSO stakeholders, supported with $60,000 in funding from Mass Mutual and the Massachusetts Cultural Council?

• Why did some members of the Board have secret meetings with the Board of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra?

For your information:

• The SSO has an endowment of almost $8 million and a surplus of $250,000 this year.

• The latest musician contract proposal contains huge concessions on the part of the musicians in order to get the orchestra up and running again. This includes a greatly-reduced concert season next year and a reduction from a 4-year agreement to a 2-year agreement, in addition to many other concessions. 

• The musicians have long held that the Executive Board’s unwillingness to commit to anything beyond this upcoming season is simply unacceptable ... not only to the musicians, but to the entire SSO community and patron base. It is destructive on a number of levels to send the message that the SSO’s own board does not believe in its future. As mentioned above, the board recently wrote directly to SSO patrons (via both email and direct mailing) saying that they want to use next season "to assess the Symphony’s viability going forward," and they have still not made any contractual proposals that go beyond next season. It should be obvious that a reduced concert season, which we are about to enter without a permanent Executive Director, Music Director, Development Director, Education Director or Operations Manager, would provide a horrible benchmark "to assess the Symphony's viability." It has become difficult not to interpret this line of reasoning as active sabotage on the part of the board.

The musicians have had to:

• Hire a NYC labor lawyer at their own expense (despite being out of work for a year and a half).

• Press charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) - some still pending.

• Bring in two federal mediators to facilitate contract negotiations for the last two years.

• Meet with Mayor Sarno and concert sponsor Lyman Wood to try to save the SSO from the board’s destructive acts.

• Appeal to State Representative Eric Lesser and National Massachusetts politicians Richard Neal, Ed Markey, and Elizabeth Warren to bring our situation into the light.

• Establish MOSSO (Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra) and apply for non-profit status.

• Produce a summer concert on 6/12/21 on the Symphony Hall steps to rally support for a return of SSO concerts in Symphony Hall.

What you can do:

• Ask the members of the SSO Board’s Management Committee (members listed above) to answer the questions posed above.

• Appeal to the SSO Board’s Management Committee to immediately re-hire the senior staff needed to run the orchestra including a Music Director, Executive Director, Operations Manager, Personnel Manager, Education Director and Orchestra Librarian. 

• Call for the SSO Management Committee’s resignation if they will not commit to planning future seasons in accordance with the SSO’s mission.

• Consider donating to the Musicians of the SSO (MOSSO) Fund, 100% of which will be used for the production of live classical music.

The musicians from the SSO are happy to discuss these matters in more detail. Please feel free to inquire at SpringfieldSymphonyMusicians@gmail.com.

Thank you for your efforts to help save our gem of an orchestra!

Sincerely, 

Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra - MOSSO

MOSSO RESPONDS TO THE PUBLIC BOARD STATEMENT
dated June 2nd, 2021

The Musicians of the SSO wish to respond to a number of statements made by the board in a recent mailing to SSO patrons. We believe the Board is misinformed on several of its points or is being disingenuous about its actions and intentions, and wish to correct the record:

From the Board’s Email:
“The SSO has sustained very large losses over the last decade despite attempts to improve its fundraising, programming, and marketing.”

Musicians’ response:

The SSO endowment has grown significantly during the pandemic due to both market performance and the absence of any performance expenditures. It is inaccurate to state that the board has attempted to improve marketing. The marketing staff and marketing budget have been systematically reduced year after year over the past decade. Not surprisingly, these marketing cuts have directly coincided with reductions in concert attendance and public awareness of the SSO’s activities. When Susan Beaudry was promoted to Executive Director, the organization lacked a director of development for many months. With the departure of Susan Beaudry, our very capable Development Director, John Anz — after just one year in that role — was promoted to interim executive director. This reshuffling created yet another development vacuum and a self-imposed funding crisis. 

“The strategic planning process that the SSO is currently engaged in has provided many ideas for both performances and fundraising that we are acting upon" ... "The Board, through this ongoing strategic planning process, is also determining the tools it has or needs to sustain the organization.”

The Board has shelved the recommendations for fundraising, programming, and marketing initiatives from the recent Rainmaker Consulting firm’s strategic planning process (generously funded by MassMutual and the MA Cultural Council with a combined $60,000 contribution). Has the Board changed course and is now “acting upon” these recommendations, or is there a separate strategic planning process? If either is true, the musicians and several members of the Board are unaware of it.

“The SSO needs to use our next season to determine whether audiences will attend in sufficient numbers and whether community support is sufficient to ensure its sustainability…The SSO would like its musicians to give it the flexibility to balance the desire to produce live, high quality, professional music with the financial reality of doing so in the Greater Springfield area.”

The musicians wish to stress that we have offered flexibility for upcoming seasons in our contract proposals. Why has the Board ignored our March proposal until this past Wednesday, June 2 — one day after our press release came out? The implication that the Greater Springfield area might not be able to support a professional orchestra would seem antithetical to what an SSO Board member should believe. Does the Board not see that Western Massachusetts is hungry for the return of symphonic music? The Greater Springfield area wants and deserves a professional orchestra.

“One of the SSO’s key functions is its educational programming and youth orchestras. These programs are fully functional, well-staffed, thriving, and looking to the future.”

Just a few days after this statement was issued, the SSO’s Education Director resigned.

“Upon the resignation of the former Executive Director in April, Development Director John Anz was requested by the Board to serve as Interim Executive Director to manage staff and operations during this critical time for the SSO.”

Precisely because this is such a “critical time for the SSO,” why has the Board not initiated a national search for a permanent executive director? Engaging such a person would provide essential leadership as the SSO navigates this pivotal moment, and allow John Anz to get back to his successful work raising money as development director. 

“Recent communications and media coverage has brought to light the absence of a labor agreement with the union representing SSO musicians.” ... “The SSO is planning for a partial season for 2021-2022 which requires negotiations with the musicians’ union to reach an appropriate agreement.”

Planning a season is not and has never been contingent upon the completion of a collective bargaining agreement. The SSO has on many occasions produced concerts while in contract negotiations with the orchestra musicians. If the Board was indeed planning for another season, why did it allow the music director’s contract to expire? Why is it not seeking to fill vacancies for an executive director, an operations director, a personnel manager and an orchestra librarian? All are central to season planning. Furthermore, there is no “absence of a labor agreement.” The terms of the expired Collective Bargaining Agreement are in full force until there is a successor agreement. (See National Labor Relations Act 1935: Employer/Union Rights and Obligations.)

“While conversations about future programming and conducting are in process with Maestro Kevin Rhodes, the SSO currently does not have an agreement with him, as his contract expired on May 31. The SSO cannot know the appropriate terms of a contract for the Music Director until it has firmed up its planning for this coming season, and that depends on the outcome of negotiations with the musicians’ union.”

It is the job of the Music Director, in collaboration with the Board, to plan and program the upcoming season. Sidelining Kevin Rhodes and failing to renew his contract has handicapped the ability of the SSO to plan next season. Furthermore, Kevin’s contract as Music Director is in no way connected to the outcome of the negotiations with the musicians’ union. Saying that the terms of an existing Music Director’s contract can’t be known until the orchestra has planned the upcoming season is in fact the opposite of how season planning works. Absent a music director, the SSO finds itself without artistic leadership at this critical juncture. Kevin’s departure would be a huge loss to both our musicians and audience, and is particularly distressing when both parties are eagerly awaiting news of next season’s plans.

“The SSO Board and staff continue to work together to plan and prepare for the 2021-2022 season and beyond.”

The Board’s Programming Committee has yet to meet to begin discussing repertoire and no dates have been presented or proposed to the musicians. The board has now publicly rescinded all previous long-term employment proposals made during negotiations. They have explicitly stated that they need to “assess the Symphony’s viability going forward.” The public needs to hear in no uncertain terms that the SSO Board of Directors believes that the future is bright for symphonic music in Western Massachusetts. Sadly, our audiences are receiving exactly the opposite message from the board.

“Despite what you may have heard, the SSO Board of Directors is fully functional, and has retained all members except for two whose terms have just recently expired. It is in the process of seeking qualified volunteers to fill vacant positions.”

Board membership has dwindled well below the 15 members stipulated by Board bylaws. The Board nominating committee has not met in over two years. Why has the Board failed to recruit a diverse slate of representatives from the Springfield community? Why has it refused to consider nominations made by Board members who happen to be musicians?