Southwest Florida Symphony musicians OK possible strike over pay, union contract

Southwest Florida Symphony's musicians have approved a potential union strike, citing issues that include a chopped concert schedule, frozen wages and four years of negotiations without a union contract.

The strike was actually authorized in September, but the symphony musicians' union didn't announce the vote until Thursday night.

If a strike is called, it would be the first in the professional orchestra's 63-year history in Fort Myers.

Courtney Filner, the symphony's principal viola player, said she hopes it doesn't come to that, though.

"Our union colleagues have authorized the orchestra committee – those of us that are doing the negotiations with management − to call a strike should we feel it is necessary," said Filner, the vice chair of the union's bargaining committee. "Our sincere hope is that we don't have to do that.

"Nobody actually wants to strike. But negotiations have broken down to a point where we felt like we needed to take some sort of action."

Symphony CEO Amy Ginsburg, however, said she's "bewildered" by the union vote and that symphony management has been bargaining in good faith. They have a bargaining session scheduled for Tuesday, in fact.

Union members said orchestra management has canceled two recent bargaining sessions, but Ginsburg said that's not true. She said union members walked out of several sessions.

"We're always committed to returning to the bargaining table," Ginsburg said. "I'm still very confused about what they want. We did give them a proposal back in August, and we have yet to see a counter proposal. I'm willing to talk to them whenever."

Symphony union votes to authorize strike, waits to announce the news

The musicians' union voted unanimously Sept. 30 to authorize the potential strike, said American Federation of Musicians negotiator Adam De Sorgo. They'd hoped the vote would lead to more progress on negotiations.

"The musicians waited to reveal the authorization in hopes that more productive discussions of our issues during subsequent negotiations would take place," De Sorgo said. "But they did not."

A strike could affect the professional symphony's upcoming concerts at Barbara B. Mann Hall Performing Arts Hall and elsewhere. That includes the Saturday, Nov. 4, Masterworks 1 concert and December's annual Holiday Pops show.

"The musicians, at least for today, are continuing to rehearse for Saturday's concert," De Sorgo said Friday.

Southwest Florida Symphony's musicians are part of American Federation of Musicians Florida Gulf Coast Local 427-721. The union includes musicians in Fort Myers, Naples, Tampa Bay and Sarasota

The issues behind the potential symphony union strike

In a news release late Thursday, the union blamed the potential strike on many ongoing issues, including stalled contract negotiations and canceled bargaining sessions, management’s "hostile negotiating tactics," a dwindling youth-orchestra program and a reduced concert and rehearsal schedule.

That shorter schedule means fewer work opportunities and less job security for the musicians, who are paid per concert and rehearsal.

“The SWFSO has been a valuable Ft. Myers asset for 63 years,” said Jeanie Phelan, chair of the musicians' bargaining committee, in the news release. “We once enjoyed performing 30+ concerts a season, including many with the symphony chorus, and participating in the youth orchestra education program.

"Under the current regime, we now play 50% fewer symphonic concerts, and the Youth Orchestra Program has been cut by 75%. Yet, there has been no transparency or accountability for management’s drastic actions."

Ginsburg said the reduction of concerts didn't happen until the pandemic, when most Southwest Florida arts organizations reduced their number of events. Then Hurricane Ian happened last year, shutting down several of their usual concert venues and rehearsal spaces, including BIG ARTS on Sanibel Island and The Heights Center in Fort Myers (where the youth orchestra had just started rehearsing).

"The venues that we used to be able to access were no longer accessible," Ginsburg said. "We haven’t built back yet."

Attendance was also down "somewhat" last season, she said, since many snowbirds stayed home because of Ian's impact in Southwest Florida.

"We're here to serve the community," Ginsburg said. "We deliver the amount of orchestral music that the community has an appetite for. To program for the sake of programming doesn’t make sense."

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Four years without a contract

Symphony musicians have been working without a ratified contract since 2019, according to the news release. In October 2020, their usual number of concerts and rehearsals was cut during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Management imposed terms in 2020," the news release said, "and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the musicians continued to play to ensure the survival of the orchestra."

However, those terms have continued, Filner said, and the orchestra's musicians have had enough. Plus the musicians no longer have representation on the board of trustees.

Another issue is the symphony's elimination of financial support for musicians' travel expenses, the union says. About 60-70 percent of the musicians travel to Fort Myers from Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and other parts of Florida, Filner said.

"It makes it difficult for those who are coming in from out of town to choose to play with this group when other orchestras offer more," said Filner, who lives in Naples. "Not only more in compensation, but more services."

Ginsburg declined to discuss travel expenses or the lack of musicians on the board, saying she wanted to run that by the board before going on the record.

It's not just about money, Filner said. The lack of board representation is a big issue, for example.

"Of course we want more money," she said, "but that's not the top of the list by any stretch of the imagination. We feel like our voices have been silenced.

"In a typical orchestra or performing-arts organization, the musicians would have input on a lot of things, and it seems as though that's being taken away."

Ginsburg said she hopes the contract issue gets resolved soon, and the orchestra is moving ahead with its planned concerts Saturday and beyond.

"The orchestra has shown up to rehearse," she said. "They are rehearsing as we speak. So as far as we’re concerned, the concert is happening (Saturday)."

For more information about the union's concerns and its full statement, visit swfsomusicians.org.

— Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com. Follow or message him on social media: Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), X (formerly Twitter) (@charlesrunnells), Threads (@crunnells1) and Instagram (@crunnells1).

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Southwest Florida Symphony musicians OK strike for Fort Myers orchestra