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Lyric Opera Strike | A View From The PitAs the strike continues, we must turn our attention to where so many of Lyric's problems lie: the management of Lyric Opera of Chicago and, in particular, Anthony Freud. A Familiar Story: The CEO Gets a Big Raise While Cutting Workers' Pay Here's one clue: While the musicians' salaries have stagnated, Freud's has not. He saw a compensation increase of 18 percent from 2014 to 2017. In 2016 alone, right after the orchestra musicians agreed to a wage-neutral contract with health care cuts, Freud got a 16 percent raise. His annual salary last year was a staggering $784,387 - roughly 12 times a musician's base salary of $65,912 this year. Consider this simple fact: Each orchestra musician stands to lose at least $6,000 this year as a result of Freud's proposed cuts. He makes that much in just three days. Paying the musicians less, cutting the number of musicians, gutting the number of performances . . . while at the same time the CEO gives himself a massive raise? This is not a "new business model" or "sustainable" financial approach, as Freud feebly claims. It is a very old business model. It was discredited long ago. We cannot return to the Dark Ages. Freud's Track Record Of Failure Freud also claims that donors won't support Lyric anymore unless the musicians get on board with his slash-and-burn agenda. That's nonsense. Our donors have been loyal and generous, and we are grateful every day for their support. They support Lyric Opera because they love opera. Donors want to be confident that Lyric is a good steward of their generous gifts, for sure, but most of all, they want to know that their generosity is supporting opera, and they must be given reasons to be excited about it. Nobody gives to a balance sheet. Continuing his baseless attacks, Freud complains that he doesn't want to "pay musicians for work not done." That is the height of irony. If Freud's assertions of financial distress are to be believed, then it happened entirely on his watch. If he wants to point the finger at anyone being paid for not doing their job, he need only look in the mirror. Eight hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money to pay for failure. This Must Stop - See also: Lyric Opera Responds To Union Charges. - Posted on October 11, 2018 |
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