Both Sides in Metropolitan Opera Dispute Agree to Independent Financial Analysis

The threatened lockout at the Metropolitan Opera got a reprieve over the weekend, when the Met and two of the unions it is negotiating with agreed to keep working while an independent analyst examined the company's finances, The New York Times has reported.

"Since Friday, the Met and two of its biggest unions, representing the orchestra and chorus, have been in talks with a federal mediator," the newspaper reported. "Those talks yielded the idea of calling in an independent analyst to conduct a confidential, nonbinding study of the company's finances. The parties chose Eugene Keilin, a founder of KPS Capital Partners who has long played a role in New York City's finances, having served as chairman of both the Municipal Assistance Corporation, which was created to deal with the city's 1975 fiscal crisis, and the Citizens Budget Commission."

The hope is that the analysis will yield some hard data that will help in forging some kind of compromise. As a result, all contacts, which were set to expire on July 31, and then were extended over the weekend, will continue for another week.

The newspaper also reported, "The president of Local 1, James J. Claffey Jr., called the extension a 'step in the right direction' in a statement. 'It is our intent to bargain in good faith and get a deal done,' he said. 'We have been bargaining with management since May and we will continue to do so without a mediator in days to come. We want to see the show go on.'"

For the full Times story, click on the URL listed below.