Time to Back Off a Bit

It is very disheartening to hear the harsh sounds of a labor dispute emanating from the very people who in other times so skillfully play the kind of music that brings tranquility into our lives and enriches our souls. It’s sadder yet to think of fall stretching into winter with little hope of a symphony season being mounted in Symphony Hall, still fresh with last year’s major renovations.

But that’s the situation San Diego finds itself in as contract talks between the musicians and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra Assn. remain deadlocked. On Wednesday, negotiators for the two sides are scheduled to meet for the first time in weeks.

Few labor disputes can be seen in black and white terms, and that is the case with this one. Money, of course, is the central issue. To the symphony management, it’s a question of how much it can reasonably afford to spend on orchestra salaries. It wants to reduce the season from 45 weeks to about 40. For the musicians, it’s a matter of fairness and being paid a wage comparable to their counterparts’ in other cities. They believe basic salaries should be $7,000 or $8,000 higher.

The symphony’s troubled financial history--the most recent chapter of which is an $877,000 deficit in the last fiscal year--stands as a backdrop to the negotiations. The symphony board is correct in refusing to enter into a contract that would guarantee yet another financial disaster. After all the crisis campaigns of recent years, the symphony is no longer in a position of trying to maintain credibility within the community, but rather trying to rebuild it from scratch.

But perhaps if the two sides backed off a bit, each could find some creative ways to give a little and come closer to an agreement. Management, for example, might retreat from some of the changes it seeks in increasing the authority of Music Director David Atherton. Regardless of the merits of these proposals in the abstract, they are best left for a year when the musicians are being offered more, not less.

Management also could help win the confidence of the players by promising to give new Executive Director Wesley O. Brustad a mandate to implement a vigorous marketing program and then to stay out of his way while he does it. Brustad already has shown that he can cut the orchestra’s administrative costs, and his track record indicates that, at last, the symphony may have the professional management it has long needed.

For the musicians’ part, they may have to gamble and give the Symphony Assn. one more chance to right the ship. This could be done by taking less money in the first couple of years of the contract in exchange for heftier increases later on, giving Brustad an opportunity to improve the symphony’s financial position.

Despite their hard feelings over the poor management practices of the past, orchestra members must give the new team of Brustad and association President Herbert J. Solomon a chance if the situation is to ever be resolved.