CSO musicians, management may be getting close to an agreement

Fri Mar 15, 2019 at 9:58 pm

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Nobody’s talking specifics yet but there are signs that the week-long strike by Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians may soon be coming to an end.

After a meeting between actuaries from each side Friday, the Chicago Federation of Musicians and the CSO Association resumed negotiations in the afternoon, which continued late into the night.

No agreement was reached but the two sides agreed to continue talks on Saturday.

Check back to CCR for updates.

Posted in News


5 Responses to “CSO musicians, management may be getting close to an agreement”

  1. Posted Mar 16, 2019 at 7:03 am by ozlock

    why didnt they bring in actuaries a year ago?

  2. Posted Mar 16, 2019 at 10:22 am by Myra jkst

    They did and the Nbers that the board’s own actuaries produced showed that the Musician’s plan(keeping defines benefits). Actually saved the cso many mlions of dolllara. Go figure!!!!

  3. Posted Mar 16, 2019 at 12:16 pm by Frustrated CSO Fan

    I completely agree with the previous comment… Why in the world weren’t the actuaries brought in to number-crunch during the last 11 months of regular negotiations? Why wait until after a strike has ensued to do that? Yeesh. Hopefully having the actuaries involved will help both sides come to a fair resolution.

  4. Posted Mar 17, 2019 at 2:49 am by Peanut gallery

    The actuaries WERE brought in 11 months ago, and they presented the same daunting pension figures that were shown to the LA Phil and Seattle Symphony, at which point their respective musicians’ bargaining teams chose to alter their pension plans accordingly. Only 4% of workers nationwide still have a defined benefit pension plan… just sayin

  5. Posted Mar 17, 2019 at 1:09 pm by Nameless Fan

    Yes, we’ll I think some of these musicians are living in never-never-land. Apparently they haven’t noticed that the world of employer-provided benefits has changed drastically over the past couple of decades. Like another commenter pointed out…only about 4% of people out there still receive a defined pension. And I’d venture to say that most of those who still receive them are either police officers or firefighters. My fear is that these orchestra members are fighting a losing battle.

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