This just came in:

Dear Fellow Musician,

The Musicians of the Bellevue Philharmonic are in a labor dispute with management. In short the executive director decided that the current contract was a non-binding, year-to-year agreement and unilaterally chose to deny contracts to fourteen musicians, ignoring the artistic non-renewal process spelled out in the contract. Realizing that we needed a contract with teeth, the musicians voted overwhelmingly to ask the American Federation of Musicians to represent us in negotiations.

To support us in our search for fair treatment we ask that you contact the Seattle Musicians Association [206.441.7600; local76@local76-493.org] before accepting employment with the Bellevue Philharmonic to ensure that you are not being asked to undermine the legitimate efforts of the Musicians of the Bellevue Philharmonic to achieve an enforceable contract.

Thank you.

You go Margie!

Make sure you check in with today's post.

Hey everyone--check out Margie talvi's blog at mktalvi.blogspot.com. Way to go Margie!

Seattle is small enough that news spreads like wildfire. E-mails have been flying and some very suspicious and sleazy things are happening:

At the end of the summer, regularly contracted musicians were sent a contract for the season with minimum services. These contracts have always (for the last decade) been sent with an "Attachment A - Policy Guidelines" This was not a CBA but looked very similar to one with all the policies laid out in Attachment A. The new negotiating committee had presented the E.D. Jennifer McCausland with their revisions to the Attachment A prior to this but she was not happy with them. As this orchestra was not represented by the AFM or any other organization they felt very uncomfortable signing off on any thing the new and inexperienced ED may send out. She wanted contracts signed before the first concert so only the contracts were sent out. The envelope only contained 2 copies of the contract, no policy guidelines, no cover letter, no schedule, no W-9's, no return address and no date of deadline to return the contract.

Are you all with me here?

Why would any sensible musician sign a contract referring to unseen policies?

The musicians consulted with Local 76-493 who immediately stepped up and began helping them sort this all out. It was decided that the contracts should not be signed. Unfortunately a few slipped through the cracks so around 9 contracts did get signed. That left about 52 unsigned contracts.

The orchestra committee then scheduled a meeting with the board president Dale Miller. In that meeting they discussed the contracts being sent without an attachment and he agreed in front of all of them that it was inappropriate to sign a contract referring to another unseen contract. things went downhill with the BPO mgt after that and the BPO musicians proceeded with an incredibly swift and successful card signing campaign to request AFM representation.

It must be pointed out that this orchestra had never come close to actually organizing ever before and it was a very unhappy orchestra due to orchestra/conductor relations (leaving out a whole other story here to save space).

During this whole time of card signing the orchestra was also dealing with this internal audition issue. Mgt. was sent a letter of recognition to sign and they declined as expected. But, thanks to the efforts of Local 76 and the orchestra committee the internal auditions were effectively shut down. The concertmaster said they were shut down for good but the few outside musicians that had confirmed were told they would happen in Spring 2009. Typical communication with the BPO mgt. these days.

On Oct. 22 musicians in the BPO were told that the concertmaster - John Kim was going to take on the role of Interim Music Director beginning Nov 14. They were not given any other information about his duties. The former M.D. Fusao Kajima supposedly stepped down from this role to "Resident Conductor" as he did not want his name associated with the artistic changes happening in the orchestra and this will be his final season. Whether he was forced to step down or not is a bit vague.

As one of the points of the musicians regarding the internal auditions was that they had no MD to start a dismissal process (as described in their old policies), it is quite obvious where this new appointment is going.

BPO mgt then sent out letters to the entire orchestra stating the following:

The Orchestra intends to honor the term, compensation and services provisions of the Musician Independent Contractor Agreement for the 2008-09 season for those musicians who signed and returned the Agreement within fifteen days from their date of receipt of the Agreement. The Orchestra deems the contracts that were not signed and returned within fifteen days of the date of receipt to be withdrawn, as described in Section 27 of Attachment A to the Musician Independent Contractor Agreement for the 2007-2008 season.

The musicians have been trying to communicate over and over to management that they were not sent copies of any policy guidelines of any season.

Musicians who are already under contract for the 2008-09 season and are needed for a performance will receive first priority. The remaining musicians needed for a performance will be selected by first offering single-performance independent contractor agreements to those who performed in the October 4/5th MW1, 2008 concert, and will be given a deadline by which to respond. These contracts will be offered next week. If an insufficient number of musicians respond in writing by the deadline, then the Orchestra will select such other musicians as are needed to fill the positions for each performance.

In reviewing our options for moving forward, we had a professional review of our contracts, and it was brought to our attention that the musicians currently under contract) should qualify as employees of the Orchestra, The biggest change resulting from employee status is that the Orchestra will make an employer contribution to Social Security of behalf of the musicians who previously signed and returned the Agreement for the 2008-2009 season.

It is illegal to pay Social Security Taxes on some employees and not others. The musicians are doubting that the Board President actually wrote this letter.

On Oct 28 John Kim began rehiring or unhiring musicians for the December concerts. The musicians had already been hired or requested leave through the still employed personnel manager Kirsten James.

Instead of following the hiring order stated by the board president, John Kim did the following:

replaced principal and asst. principal players with section players.

excluded every member of the orchestra committee and the personnel manager

tried to hire from the outside of the BPO roster when the 4 BPO bass players had not even been asked.

There you have it. Stay tuned for more.

Wow. I guess Margie Talvi calling this orchestra the Bellevue Psychiatric Orchestra is pretty correct!

E.D., Jennifer McCausland fired long time Personnel Manager of the BPO, Kirsten G. James today.

Not surprisingly, the musicians were told that Concertmaster/Interim Music Director John Kim would now be taking on these duties. Local 76-493 sent out this message:

Dear Musicians:

Kirsten G. James, Personnel Manager for the Bellevue Philharmonic was fired today by Jennifer McCausland, Executive Director of the Bellevue Philharmonic. The BPO Orchestra Committee condemns this unilateral and destructive decision. Kirsten has been personnel manager for the last 10 years.

Please be aware that if you accept work from John Kim - Concertmaster/Interim Music Director, Jennifer McCausland - E.D., Lyndee White - Office Manager or anyone else acting as a contractor for the BPO, you will be taking a regular BPO musician's job. Additionally, be advised that a variety of Union activities are planned for the rehearsals and performances this season.

We continue to press for the BPO to recognize the Union. Nothing in Federal or State law prevents management from recognizing the Union. Please support the Bellevue Philharmonic Musicians.

Sincerely,

The Orchestra Committee

Questions? Contact Motter or Warren at the Union office (206) 441-7600 motter@local76-493.org or warren@local76-493.org

It appears that management is playing a little game with the musicians and making it very difficult for them to obtain the music for their concert next week. Since all the pieces are rentals, not many of them own copies of their own. The only possible explanations are either gross incompetence or management intentionally undermining the quality of the performance. I think they were all looking forward to this concert with guest conductor Aaron Jay Kernis too. It's sad really.

Man. What a cluster***k. They will reap what they sow.

One of the saddest parts of this whole situation is how long the musicians of this orchestra have suffered with the lowest pay in town while enduring the highest volume of insults from the podium in town. The BPO just needed some healing time but ONE (1) day after it was announced that the conductor was stepping down to "resident conductor" for his final season, the E.D. started slashing and burning the orchestra roster.

She is known to be extremely vengeful and has taken the musician roster off of the website. The musicians are looking forward to the day that all mention of her is taken off of the website.

It's true that their pay was the lowest in the Seattle area but I heard that the previous executive director gave them pay raises 4 years in a row. I think they were small raises but it's true that they got them. Even better was that the previous e.d. added concerts so they had more services per season than before.

The new e.d. cut their subscription series by two concerts which means the musicians lost 12 services.

It's kind of ironic that the BPO musicians (namely principal bass Karen Janes)are buying the flowers for the soloists as they are mortified that management is not doing this themselves.

It's not just ironic but truly appalling. I am certain that the previous executive director made sure that all guest artists -- women and men -- received flowers onstage after their performances. I guess the current e.d. doesn't understand concert etiquette, not surprising since she's never worked in orchestra management before.

The chaos and amateur hiring practices currently going on at the BPO are appalling. Crucial positions have not been hired for a Messiah next week, scabs have been hired and (possibly) unhired and one lie after the other is told to the musicians and conductors (if they are lucky enough to be one of the ones to get responses to their emails and phone calls). BPO Musicians cannot get an answer as to if they are playing concerts or why they aren't. All this coming from an E.D. that insisted on the tightest attendance policies in town.

This poor orchestra will have such a sullied reputation by the end of this whole mess that no one will work for them.

Meanwhile the board states that they are 100% behind Jennifer McCausland but she states that the board will not let her negotiate with the musicians.

Morecowbell, who is conducting the Messiah? Has a conductor been confirmed for their December 19 holiday concert?

The latest rumor is that Jennifer is going to cancel their January masterworks subscription concert. She's apparently already asked some Bellevue Phil musicians to play a private chamber music concert at her house on that same night, which she is calling a "fundraiser" for the Bellevue Phil.

You can go to this bizarre press release to find out about the conductors.

The musicians were never sent any of this new information regarding the reduction of the size of the orchestra and they have heard that Jennifer can't be bothered writing up any kind of newsletter for the orchestra.

It's a shame that Adam Stern and Don Thulean, two very well respected people, are involved with the Bellevue Phil at this critical time. It's almost like crossing a picket line.

Where is she getting the money to pay for Mr. Pratt? He's not going to play for free.

Jennifer also asked the city government for an emergency handout, which is a joke. The Philharmonic is already the highest funded arts organization in the city.

Emergency funding. Hmmmm. I thought she ws supposed to be this great fund raiser, too. Didn't she work for the Seattle Symphony at one point? I thought I saw that written about her somewhere. And I thought she was hired because she had all these GREAT connections...

Gee, you don't suppose that she actually fooled the board about having great connections, do you? (LOL) (LOL) (LOL)

Boy, trying to find this orchestra in any of the local event calendars (free advertising) is next to impossible. They failed to get into the Seattle P.I. Holiday Arts Guide and their Messiah for this Friday is not listed on the website for the Seattle Weekly.
The Messiah may also be a new version without oboes as the new "personnel managers" have not exactly dealt with hiring oboes for this concert (the dress rehearsal is tonight)

Yeah, but if this woman is "one of their own" a fellow rich person, the board will back her even if it means the orchestra tanks.