County Symphony Musicians Promise No Strike for 30 Days

Threatened with cancellation of their first concert, musicians with the Ventura County Symphony agreed on Tuesday not to strike for 30 days provided that contract talks with the orchestra’s management continue in good faith.

Symphony President Felice Ginsberg called the announcement a breakthrough in what has been a virtual standoff since the two sides entered contract negotiations in mid-July. And she will recommend that the symphony’s directors approve the 30-day agreement tonight.

“I’m encouraged,” she said. “At least it gets us talking to each other.”

Ginsberg also said the announcement means that the season’s opening performance at the Oxnard Civic Auditorium will likely go on as planned. The symphony’s directors last week threatened to cancel the Oct. 8 concert rather than risk a last-minute strike by players.

But the fate of the rest of the six-concert season remains in question, including the Oct. 26 performance during the opening of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Negotiations had stalled in recent weeks and, after first threatening to hire strikebreakers, the symphony management gave musicians a Tuesday deadline to sign a no-strike agreement. Specifically, the symphony directors wanted the musicians to forgo any strike until after January, covering half of the season that runs through May.

In return, the directors promised not to lock out any of its musicians.

On Tuesday, the musicians union countered with a proposal that would prohibit a strike only until Oct. 21, provided that the symphony hires the same musicians as last year and pays them the same wages. After that, either side could cancel the agreement with 24 hours notice.

“The reason we need to have that is that if the first concert comes and goes and we’re in the same place where we are now . . . at some point we would have to re-evaluate the situation and decide how long we would continue to work under that agreement,” said Lynn Johnson, a union negotiator for the American Federation of Musicians.

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Ginsberg said she was uncomfortable with the 24-hour cancellation clause, but thinks enough progress can be made in the next month so that a strike will no longer be at issue.

“I thing it’s very important to us to get our season going,” Ginsberg said. “I don’t think we’re that far apart,” she said.

The musicians are seeking a contract that would guarantee them tenure, the right to play in all symphony performances and a peer review system that would examine any dismissal.

The musicians began seeking the contract--the first in the community symphony’s 30-year history--last spring after complaints arose about how conductor Boris Brott hired and fired musicians.

But symphony directors say they want the symphony to continue to improve. To do so, they believe it is important to preserve the conductor’s artistic rights to assemble the best orchestra possible and introduce different kinds of music.

Another major difference centers on the symphony’s “Music’s Alive” series planned for the spring. Rather than using its own musicians, the symphony association plans to bring in outside groups, including the Kronos Quartet and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Winds, for small performances.

Johnson said the “Music’s Alive” series should not be covered by the short-term agreement because it will not take place until the spring and because it remains an issue under dispute in the negotiations.