October 22, 2023
COURTESY/PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
Philadelphia Orchestra musicians and the Kimmel Center agreed to a new labor contract on Saturday, which granted players a 15.8% base salary increase and voided a strike like the one the musicians' union voted to authorize two months ago.
The Philadelphia Orchestra won't go silent after all. More than a month after their last labor contract expired, the ensemble's players reached a new agreement with the Philadelphia Orchestra-Kimmel Center (POKC) management on Saturday that provides increased pay and improved labor protections for the musicians.
The newly-ratified contract includes an 15.8% base salary increase for orchestra musicians over the next three years. That multi-year pay boost begins next year with an initial 6% increase in musicians' salaries.
The new contract's salary increase isn't quite the 19.6% boost the musicians' union wanted, but it's more than management was willing to offer just two weeks ago. On October 1, the players rejected a contract proposal that only offered a 13.5% increase and accused management of unfair labor practices.
Members of Philadelphia Musicians Local 77, the union that represents the orchestra's players, have said that the pay increases are necessary to keep up with inflation and ensure that members of the Philadelphia Orchestra are paid at rates comparable to players in similarly-sized orchestras in the United States.
While its pay increases were welcomed by the orchestra musicians, a Local 77 spokesperson said future improvements were still needed in the players' retirement benefits.
As part of the new labor agreement, the orchestra's substitutes and extra players will see their pay increased to 100% of what regular musicians make. The new contract will also ensure that freelance musicians are still paid in full in the event that a performance is canceled without more than two weeks' notice.
The new contract also requires management to fill vacant seats in the 105-person ensemble by hiring new musicians and two more orchestra librarians.
Members of the orchestra voted in August to authorize a strike in the event that a fair agreement could not be reached in a timely fashion.
