The Musician?s Union (MU) has accused Welsh National Opera (WNO) of ?artistic savagery? following WNO?s decision to lay off six members of its orchestra as an element of its stabilisation process.
WNO?s new policy is to make use of more freelance musicians when the repertoire requires certain instrumentalists, and the MU is specifically critical of the creation of three new posts in the orchestra?s administration at the same time as requiring payroll musicians to accept redundancy proposals. The MU has requested an urgent meeting with Baroness Blackstone, Minister of State (Arts) to discuss the role of the Arts Council of England (ACE), a part-funder of WNO?s stabilisation process, in this matter. The MU?s Assistant General Secretary Bob Wearn said ?The Union is considering legal action against the Arts Council, as we believe that they are acting outsider the terms of their Royal Charter.? In response to the allegations WNO has released a statement denying that ACE had influenced its decision-making: ?It was clear to the company that it was no longer viable to employ certain orchestra members on a permanent basis given that, through no fault of their own, they were playing less than 50% of their contracted hours ? We do not believe that the redundancies will detrimentally affect the artistic integrity of the orchestra.
Published: 25-03-2002