Negotiations

Responding to Eric Anderson’s post from yesterday:

You (and Laura) make some very good points Eric. I completely agree that, even in the best of situations, there is going to be tension between management/board and players and that the collective bargaining process can be an effective tool to address issues and find acceptable compromises. But I don’t think it is my job to always push for whatever is best for the bottom line, and I wouldn’t work for a board that so defined my job. My job is to push for whatever is going to help the orchestra best accomplish its mission over time. I would also comment that I completely endorse Robert Levine’s suggestion that bringing core IBB principals like listening, probing positions non-critically, and thinking imaginatively into the traditional bargaining process can achieve very positive results for the organization.

I don’t know enough about your situation in Memphis to say much about your strategic planning story. Reducing a deficit and operating within a balanced budget obviously can be vital to an orchestra’s long term viability. But it’s hardly a compelling vision of how you are going to make a difference in your community. Economic health is a necessary means to an end, but not an end in and of itself.

As to your stories about clueless trustees, I guess I would say that most boards probably have a few members who know virtually nothing about how the organization works. But that’s not representative of Trustees collectively or in general. Stereotyping is bad for the field, whether it’s Trustees transferring traditional ideas about labor relations from their manufacturing corporation background, or musicians thinking that Trustees are only there to attend parties and pad their social resume. I think that one of the important benefits of musician participation on committees is breaking down these stereotypes, seeing that we really do have common goals most of the time, and that we really are all willing to work hard to accomplish these goals, and that we all can contribute to finding the best ways to make this happen.