OFF-BROADWAY

Summer of ’42: Local 802 has negotiated a two-year agreement with Summer of ’42, LP, Mitchell Maxwell, Producer, for six musicians who are performing in a run-out presentation of this musical at Stamford’s Rich Forum Theatre and returning to the 498-seat Variety Arts Theatre.

It includes a minimum scale, for both presentations, of $765, inclusive of on-stage and in-costume premiums for eight or fewer performances over a six-day week. The premiums for music director and associate conductor are 50 percent and 15 percent, respectively. The minimum for the rehearsal/audition musician is $800 for a 40-hour/six-day week. The hourly rate is $30 and $21 for the orchestra, for a minimum two-hour call. Musicians will receive a 4 percent wage increase in the second year, on Oct. 29, 2002.

Premiums include 12½ percent for the first and 6¼ percent for each additional double. The synthesizer premium is 25 percent for the keyboard player and 12½ percent for the percussionist. If the employer requires the services of a designated contractor from among the performing musicians, a 50 percent premium will be paid.

Musicians will be eligible for a one-week paid vacation after 25 weeks of employment, after which the employer will pay 4 percent into each musician’s weekly wages. Health benefits are $50 per week and pension is 8 percent of wages and vacation. Music preparation is paid at 100 percent of wages and benefits specified in the General Price List.

For information regarding Off-Broadway, contact Mary Donovan at (212) 245-4802, ext. 156.

NEW YORK COLLEGIUM

Thanks to eleventh-hour negotiations, the Nov. 16 concert of the New York Collegium went on as scheduled after musicians had voted to strike the rehearsals and performance if management refused to come back to the table. Collegium management had walked out of negotiations in August after refusing to discuss fulfilling hiring-list language included in their first contract with Local 802, which expired on Aug. 31 of this year.

As the first rehearsal for their Nov. 16 performance neared, the union informed the 14 musicians involved in the concert that, unless management returned to the table or indicated a willingness to bargain in good faith, there would be no contract for upcoming rehearsals and performances. On Nov. 9 the musicians voted to authorize the union to call a strike at the first full rehearsal if management continued to refuse to negotiate, and to call a strike at the concert if an agreement had not been reached by performance time.

802’s Executive Board approved strike benefits after the Friday vote. With the performance in jeopardy, management called the union to set up a meeting on Nov. 12, the day before the first full orchestra rehearsal. At that meeting they continued to refuse to enter into serious dialogue regarding a hiring list, and walked out again. However, by the end of the day management faxed over a proposal and a meeting was called for the following day with the Collegium negotiating committee, to consider it.

After a full day of negotiating, a tentative agreement was reached. With the committee’s recommendation, it was taken to the full orchestra for a vote on Wednesday morning. Just minutes before the second rehearsal, the orchestra approved the proposal by a vote of 12 to 2. Strike benefits were paid to the musicians for the missed rehearsal on Tuesday.