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Symphony Players Get Raise Weeks Before Start of Season

The Spokane Symphony musicians are getting a raise. Over the weekend the Board of Trustees and orchestra musicians agreed on a new two-year contract. It raises salaries across the board by four-percent in the first year, and another 3.5 percent in the second year, and keeps benefits the same.This comes after musicians voted to strike in 2012 and the core contracted players ended up with an eleven percent pay reduction. Percussionist Bryan Bogue chairs the Orchestra Committee, and says this is a very positive step forward.
 
Bogue: “With what their initial offer was and what our initial ask was, we were not far apart at all, we really weren’t. And we were just very pleased to see that.”
 
The musicians, about 55 of them, actually voted unanimously for the contract, which Bogue attributes to good communication with the Symphony Society.
 
Symphony Executive Director Brenda Nienhouse says there is a lot of good energy to the start of this symphony season.
 
Nienhouse: “Worked really hard, everybody throughout the organization, to in general, find ways to work together to solve problems in a very collaborative way. And it’s just been great, and the contract was a result of all of that hard work.”
 
The season begins September 20th, with a program of Romantic masterpieces that night.

Copyright 2014 Spokane Public Radio

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