Friday, November 20, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
The contract between Youngstown Symphony Orchestra musicians and the Youngstown Symphony Society, which operates the ensemble, expired Sept. 30, and the two sides have met a few times to negotiate a new pact.
But those talks hit a bump this week when musicians say they were stood up for a negotiating session that had been scheduled.
The roughly 75 musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians Youngstown chapter, Local 86-242. The bargaining committee of the AFM unit came to the YSO offices in the DeYor Center for the Performing Arts, downtown, Wednesday evening but no one was there.
Katie Shaffer, chairwoman of the union committee, said a meeting had been scheduled and confirmed but the YSS negotiators did not show and offered no reason why.
“Only three [bargaining] meetings have taken place in the past six months, despite efforts by the musicians to schedule more,” said Shaffer. “The last scheduled meeting was also canceled at the last minute by symphony management.”
Patricia Syak, president and CEO of the YSS, believed it was a miscommunication.
Read more about the talks in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.