Musicians and performers who voted to strike at English National Opera (ENO) said they were being used as “pawns” in a political game after proposed cuts led some to say they could be forced to withdraw from the profession altogether.
This week union members at ENO voted to take action over a dispute over planned cuts; accordingly, the dismissal of 19 orchestra staff, the dismissal and rehiring of all choir, orchestra and music staff for six months and a reduction in salaries by 40% – and some of them only working on a temporary basis on a freelance basis.
The staff will stop working on February 1, the opening night of the company’s production of The Handmaid’s Tale. The demonstration is not expected to take place if the strikes continue.
Glen Sheldon, the orchestra’s second violin and director of the ENO Musicians’ Union, said many staff felt they had no choice but to cancel the organisation’s plans, which included making Greater Manchester its new home.
He said the move has left many ENO musicians considering whether to leave the industry altogether. “I’m 58 years old,” Sheldon said. “I have been in this business for 36 years. “Having been at ENO for over 23 years, I have to look very carefully at whether I want to continue in this job, and it doesn’t look like I can do that.”
ENO choir member Ronald Nairne said: “We went to the executive and campaigned, wrote letters to MPs, appealed to the Arts Council, inter-parliamentary groups and DCMS, we took this as far as it went. They’ve now decided on this business model.”
Sheldon said musicians felt like “pawns” in a political game that had been developing since the then culture secretary Nadine Dorries instructed Arts Council England to do so. Receives £24 million a year from London This was followed by ACE’s decision to remove all funding from ENO and tell the 100-year-old institution it would have to move out of London if it wanted to qualify for more grants. Music director Martyn Brabbins has since resigned in protest against the redundancies.
Nairne said the strikers also felt solidarity with others staging work stoppages across the country, including junior doctors and railway workers. “I don’t want to make a false equation, but people need to be able to make ends meet and do their jobs to keep up with the increasing cost of living. A lot of people are in a difficult situation right now, and I think only certain layers, certain companies and certain areas are affected by this. People who choose their pay packages always look good.”
Sheldon added: “We’re not talking about life or death, like a junior doctor, or keeping the capital running, like train drivers. [but] “I definitely feel like that’s part of what’s going on.”
Nairne and Sheldon were speaking on behalf of the orchestra because all musicians have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from speaking to the press without express permission.
An ENO musician, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposed cuts would “make it completely impossible for me to stay there… That would mean I would lose my home; there’s no way I can make up for that deficit.”
They added that “it’s incredibly frustrating that it’s impossible to make ends meet even if I’m at the very top of this profession with a truly world-class orchestra… In fact, I’d be better off getting a year-round job in London for a living wage.” More than ENO currently offers.”
Another said: “I don’t believe those responsible for these outages have any idea of the damage these outages will cause to this company, the people affected and the industry as a whole.”
ENO said in a statement on Wednesday that the dispute “can best be resolved around the negotiating table.” It said it “respects union members’ right to industrial action as part of our ongoing negotiations” but said it was “disappointing that this means audiences will miss out on the opportunity to experience the work and capabilities of the entire ENO company”.
Brabbins, who announced his resignation in October after the cuts were announced, said in a statement on Thursday that he “fully supports” the orchestra’s musicians and the choir “in making the undoubtedly heartbreaking decision to go on strike.”
He added: “As a result of Arts Council England’s short-sighted and negligent decision to push ENO out of London, these brilliant musicians face devastation to their livelihoods and untold stress on their families.
“When is an opera company not an opera company? When the music is no longer in your heart. “This is the tragic reality of where English National Opera will find itself if it goes ahead with proposed plans to make deep and sweeping cuts to musicians’ contracts.”
ENO’s previous musical differences
This vote may be the first time members of the Musicians’ Union have chosen to strike since 1980, but it is not the first time ENO musicians have chosen to do so.
Immediately after the company moved from Sadler’s Wells to London’s Coliseum in 1970, workers demanded working conditions consistent with those of the Royal Opera House, where staff had predictable working patterns and limited night work.
As the September production of Carmen was about to begin, the stage staff stopped working. The show continued with only a core crew, and according to Susie Gilbert’s history of ENO, Opera for All, this created a tense relationship between staff, unions and management that culminated in another strike in 1974. An Arts Council committee published a report into the chaos. found that management was inexperienced in managing “major operations” and was generally “weak”.
There have been more breakouts lately. In 2002, ENO’s then artistic director, Nicholas Payne, resigned amid accusations of “talk of dismissals” and “artistic misjudgment”. The following year there was another strike over redundancies, which were no longer rumored, and production on Berlioz’s Trojans: The Capture of Troy was halted, costing ENO £50,000 in box office profits.
During the dispute, choir members stood outside the Arts Council offices and sang the Hebrew Slaves Choir from the Russian tragedy Verdi’s Nabucco and Save Our Homes and Children from Khovanshchina, which they had been rehearsing when news of the redundancies broke. Sir Gerry Robinson, who reorganized the Arts Council at the time by laying off 50 per cent of its staff, reportedly told them it was “the finest protest” he had ever heard.