The Lost Accord
To the arguments for realistic scheduling, the Association goes back to its responsibility to furnish year-round employment. In the summer it looks for work outside the city because an unair-conditioned Academy of Music is sheer torture in warm weather. But partisans of the musicians are suggesting more outdoor concerts at the Robin Hood Dell or summer concerts at Convention Hall (air-conditioned and equipped with a new acoustical shell) until the Academy of Music is air-conditioned. They’re talking about expanding the sold-out winter series for adults and children. They’re talking about stimulating outside income from radio and television and recordings. Men in other major orchestras realize more income from these sources than Philadelphia Orchestra men do. Boston encourages its musicians to work in the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the Boston Pops Orchestra (which records) and to teach — and sets up work schedules that make this possible. The way the present Philadelphia year was mapped out, no one could give pupils any kind of continuity or take jobs with chamber groups or even practice enough.
On a fair November day when the sky was a brilliant blue, two pickets trudged up and down in front of the Orchestra Association offices at 15th and Locust. A tall young man in a sport coat walked briskly by and shouted, "I don’t know what you’re fighting about, but I hope you win." One of the pickets wearing glasses and a slightly askew placard, called back, "I don’t know what anyone else is fighting about. I just want time to practice."
SECRET BOOKS. Wanton Balis is right. Money is, of course, inextricably wound in with the work load question. As far as the salary part of the scene, the final agreed-upon starting salary of $225 a week for the first year (plus a $2000 guaranteed recording fee) is above the Boston 50-week minimum of $205 and the soon-to-be-negotiated New York Philharmonic minimum of $210. It isn’t as good as the contract signed this fall by the orchestra of the New York Metropolitan Opera.
However, the statements tossed off by management about whether it can afford the demands of labor for less work and more pay are based on management’s figures about its own worth. To say the board misrepresents the financial picture is to put it mildly. The players have some inkling of this, but whether they will ever find out the whole truth is anyone’s guess.
The union sent a letter to Messrs Balis and Bullitt on September 27th: "You seem to be claiming that our proposed contract might create some financial difficulty …. On the contrary, it is our understanding that the Philadelphia Orchestra Association can easily meet our proposed terms.
"Just so there is no misunderstanding, however, we are taking your claimed ‘financial limitations’ at face value. Our certified public accountant will appear at the offices of the Association on Friday morning, September 30, 1966 at 9:30 a.m. He will conduct an audit of your financial books and records . . ."
