After a hard-fought struggle for a fair contract that began last summer, teachers at Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege program were able to close out the school year with a huge victory: the ratification of a new five-year contract that represents unprecedented gains in wages, a total rollback of the administration’s attempts to dramatically increase class sizes, and other improvements in terms of employment. Just in time for May Day, our members voted overwhelmingly to ratify the new contract, with a sense of relief and celebration that our hard work and perseverance over these many months have paid off. (Precollege faculty are represented by ARTS-MSM, a local of New York State United Teachers.)

The ratified contract includes a 70 percent increase in minimum hourly pay over five years, with an immediate bump of 38 percent in year one. Long-serving instructors will enjoy longevity differentials for their many years of service in the first two years of the new agreement. Large ensemble instructors and conductors will benefit from a newly formulated wage tier that guarantees that the extensive prep time required by their positions is reflected in their wages. And, because the administration dragged out negotiations for such a long time, with teachers working for almost the entire school year under the terms of an expired contract, teachers will receive almost all of the generous new provisions of the contract’s first year as backpay.

These tremendous gains were won from an administration that started negotiation refusing to offer more than miserly increases of a few dollars per hour for teachers whose wages had fallen so far behind industry norms that many were barely making half of the minimum rate paid at similar institutions like Mannes Prep. Even though it was clear from the school’s own public financial filings that MSM’s Precollege program is the most profitable division of the school and there was more than enough money to cover teacher’s reasonable demands, the administration chose to spend untold sums of money on notorious union-busting lawyers who attempted to demean and discredit the school’s own teachers. Clearly, they thought that they could do whatever they wanted without our having the capacity or the courage to fight back, but they couldn’t have been more mistaken.

Because of the hard work of so many of our colleagues, we were able to organize and engage faculty into a powerful collective force, while also increasing our membership. Because of the incredible solidarity from so many musicians and our invaluable partners at Local 802*, AGMA, and other sibling unions, we were able to coordinate an expansive coalition with our NYSUT leadership and the NYC Central Labor Council that the administration was powerless to silence or intimidate. Because of the unshakeable support of our students, parents, and the broader MSM community, we were able to make good on our determination to ensure the long-term health of an institution that so many of us care about deeply, by guaranteeing that faculty wages keep up with industry standards and the conditions of our students’ educations aren’t irreparably damaged by short-sighted cost-cutting measures.

Winning this fight took a tremendous amount of work, but we absolutely couldn’t have done it without this coalition of support, to whom we are tremendously grateful. When the administration pushed us to the breaking point, digging in their heels in an attempt to lock us into a deeply unfair and damaging contract, we made history by taking strike action for the first time in the century-plus history of the school. Taking this collective action was no small thing, but we were able to successfully pull it off and beat back the administration’s attempts to recruit scabs to break the line, because of the community, solidarity, and trust that we built together. While we will continue to celebrate these victories throughout the summer and will enjoy the benefits of this hard-fought contract for the next four years, the lessons we have learned through this epic fight will last much longer. Prominent among those is that when musicians stand together, we are unstoppable. Thank you to Local 802 for its invaluable support* of us through this fight  —  we look forward to continue standing together, fighting together, and winning together going forward!

In solidarity,

ARTS-MSM

Adam Kent, President

David Friend, Interim Co-Vice President

Adrienne Kim, Interim Co-Vice President

Elena Belli, Treasurer

Karen Rostron, Secretary

*Watch Local 802 President Bob Suttmann’s powerful speech at one of our rallies, where he proudly shared that he is an alumnus of the school, but that the administration’s behavior during the strike was shameful. (In a previous statement, Suttmann also affirmed that “Local 802 supports these hard-working teachers. Many Local 802 members teach in this program, contributing their invaluable experience as performing artists to the education of young musicians. We know that the future of our profession lies in the development of new talent, and that pedagogical excellence is the key to nurturing tomorrow’s musicians and audiences for musical performances.”)

PREVIOUS ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES:

PRE-COLLEGE MUSIC FACULTY AT MSM ON THE CUSP OF VICTORY

PRE-COLLEGE MUSIC FACULTY AT MSM RAMP UP THEIR CAMPAIGN FOR A FAIR CONTRACT

PRE-COLLEGE MUSIC FACULTY AT MSM ANNOUNCE STRIKE FOR FAIR CONTRACT

Pre-college music faculty need a meaningful raise NOW!

Pre-college music faculty need a meaningful raise NOW!

Pre-college music faculty at the Manhattan School of Music are still fighting for a fair contract

Pre-college music faculty at the Manhattan School of Music are fighting for a fair contract