Things I learned from the Cleveland Orchestra strike
January 20th, 2010 Posted in classical music
As you might have heard, if you’re the highbrow type who pays attention to the Arts column (or if you just live in Cleveland — that’s not to say you couldn’t be both) the Cleveland orchestra was on strike for about ten hours this week. The two most striking (haha) things I’m getting from this episode are:
- The median pay for members of the orchestra is over $140,000.
- They get several times more paid vacation a year (10 weeks) than I do.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t get pissy over a pay cut. In fact, I’d love to redistribute some less deserving salaries (politicians, hedge fund managers, ambulance chasers, etc.) to the coffers of my own special interest groups (classical musicians, research scientists, underwear models, etc., especially people who are all three). However, that particular sharing of the wealth will have to wait until I am made dictator of the USA, probably around mid-August. No, I’m delighted they are defending their salaries, but that’s a pretty sweet deal!
Does anyone know what the range of salaries is? I bet that median figure is biased toward the low end of the range.
February 12th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Well, they are deserving. I just picked up my instrument after years of not playing and the callouses mixed with swollen fingers, mixed with long hours of practice is enough to make me want to strike. Of course I don’t get paid for my music so I’d only be hurting my education, but still, I get not wanting a pay cut when you’ve worked so hard to earn the pay in the first place.
Go Cleveland!