Coronavirus: Sydney Symphony Orchestra pay deal with staff to extend until end of 2021

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has negotiated a pay deal that will support musicians well beyond the expected scope of the coronavirus pandemic.

David Robertson conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Peter Grimes. Picture: Jess Gleeson.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has won praise from the artist’s union for negotiating a pay deal that will support musicians well beyond the expected scope of the coronavirus pandemic.

Orchestra management announced on Tuesday that musicians and administrative staff had agreed to reduce the company’s salary bill by 25 per cent with pay cuts and reduced working hours.

Chief executive Emma Dunch will take a 40 per cent salary cut, while 20 vacant positions will not be filled until 2022.

The new arrangements will extend until the end of next year, with a reduced concert season anticipated throughout 2021. The deal means that musicians would remain “in a state of readiness for an immediate return to public performances” once restrictions on public gatherings had been lifted.

MORE REPORTS: Carriageworks calls in the administrators | Opera Australia stands down workers until May | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in ‘hibernation’ | Sydney Symphony Orchestra kicks off its Town Hall residency

The pandemic has been brutal on the arts sector: the most high profile casualty appears to be the prestigious Sydney venue Carriageworks, which called in the administrators earlier this week.

At the SSO, which fell silent in mid-March, revenue losses from COVID-19 are expected to reach $25 million by the end of 2021. The orchestra had been planning to spend this year and next at the Sydney Town Hall while renovations took place in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House. Its full-time residency at the Sydney Opera House is expected to resume in 2022.

The orchestra said 99 per cent of musicians and administration staff voted in favour of the agreement during a consultation process conducted over several weeks.

Joseph Tawadros and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Picture: Daniela Testa.

Terrey Arcus, chairman of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, said the deal was essential to preserve the ensemble during the crisis.

“While this outcome does not fully resolve our difficult financial situation, these reductions make a significant contribution to our solvency and financial sustainability prospects in the short and medium term,” he said.

“Our revenue losses as a result of COVID-19 will be unprecedented, as they will be for many

organisations. However, for us, they will be compounded by the problems caused by our displacement from the Sydney Opera House for 2020 and 2021, when the Sydney Symphony is performing fewer concerts in a substantially smaller venue.

“Our best trajectory for recovery is a resumption of performances in venues and locales where our audiences feel safe to return. Our longer-term sustainability depends on artistic vibrancy and the ticket revenues that naturally follow, as well as generous support of our patrons and government stakeholders.”

Paul Davies, from the the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said the agreement, certified by the Fair Work Commission on Monday, protected musicians during the immediate crisis and beyond.

“The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s collaborative approach, which delivered a very constructive result without industrial conflict, is a best practice model for other Australian cultural organisations,” he said.

Last month, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra directed management to “hibernate” all musicians, as well as 12 administrative staff members. The remaining employees would take a 20 per cent reduction in salary.

And in late March, Opera Australia stood down the majority of staff on 80 per cent of their regular salary until the end of May.