Baltimore Musicians Reject Both of Mgmt's Offers

As anticipated, the full membership of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra voted to reject management’s final offers to return to work.There were two: Accept the fact that money is scarce and agree to a 40-week season under a new, one-year agreement, or come back and play under the old, 52-week contract (which expired last January) until December, with the idea of continuing negotiations through the fall.

No future negotiations are scheduled; the season was planned to open two days from now, with rehearsals scheduled yesterday and today.

BSO Players Committee Co-chair Brian Prechtl maintains that, had Maryland's Republican governor agreed to the legislature's proposed $3.2 million BSO bailout, all problems would be solved.

“Just like that, the governor could solve this problem temporarily by releasing that money,” Prechtl tells the Baltimore Sun.  “We would be back at work this week. I can guarantee it.”

He and co-chair Greg Mulligan have been firm in maintaining an “us vs. them” stance against BSO management and filed a complaint with the NLRB on Monday.

The Baltimore Sun