Metropolitan Opera Lockout Looms: New Season Threatened

Peter Gelb, the general director of the Metropolitan Opera, is threatening a lockout of the organization's union workers if an agreement isn't reached by July 31. According to the Times, Gelb said in letters to workers, "If we are not able to reach agreements by July 31 that would enable the Met to operate on an economically sound basis, please plan for the likelihood of a work stoppage beginning August 1." In an interview with the paper, he said, "If we haven't reached agreements, the Met really has no option in my opinion but to impose a lockout."

Citing declining revenue and a shrinking endowment, Gelb has asked for changes to work rules that could result in fairly substantial pay cuts for many union workers.

In a release sent to Lighting&Sound America, Local 802, the musicians' union, offered a sharply worded response, accusing Gelb of pursuing "a cynical strategy calculated to result in a lockout of his artists and craftspeople and imperil the upcoming Met Opera season."

The union added: "If the Met in fact is facing financial difficulties, it is due to Peter Gelb's lavish overspending on productions that have been poorly received by critics and audiences. At the initial negotiating session scheduled for this Friday, July 25th, the musicians plan to propose ideas that would allow the Metropolitan Opera to realize over $20 million in cost-savings and avoid draconian cuts to its artists. That Peter Gelb would announce the prospect of a lockout before the start of negotiations with the musicians, choristers, stagehands, and other segments of the work force is indicative of his disrespect for his audience, his artists, and the City of New York."

The statement also said, "The loss to the City's economy as a result of a lockout will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars -- first, the $327 million that the Met spends on salaries, sets, costumes, and on many other vendors/services will be lost; on top of that, the losses to restaurants and hotels, especially those in the immediate vicinity of Lincoln Center, will be devastating given that the Met has 3,800 seats and its audience represents a high proportion of local restaurant and hotel patronage during the opera season."

The Met previously faced strikes in 1969 and 1980; the one in 1969 lasted 11 weeks. Imperiled by the lockout are new productions of Le Nozze di Figaro, The Death of Klinghoffer, The Merry Widow, La Donna del Lago, and double bills of Iolanta and Bluebeard's Castle, and Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. The Death of Klinghoffer has already been a focus of controversy when, in a compromise measure, Gelb cancelled the broadcast of the opera to cinemas in order to mollify Jewish groups who feel the opera is overly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause at the expense of Israel. The decision was criticized by many, including the opera's composer, John Adams.