Since last night, the musicians of the Québec Symphony Orchestra are locked out by their management. The decision was taken after the management’s last offer for the renewal of the collective agreement of the musicians had been rejected.
The Musicians’ Union deplores this decision just before Christmas, said president Benoît Cormier: « This is really a time that is very poorly chosen, especially since it’s just before Christmas. We are the working poor, the SOQ, there are many mothers and fathers, it is as if one wished to punish us in some way, » he said. Cormier believes that management refuses more than reasonable demands of employees. They demand a wage freeze the first two years of the employment contract and increases of 1%, 1.25% and 1.50% thereafter. However, Management proposes 1.25% increase only in the fifth year of the contract. The collective agreement for musicians of the OSQ expired on 31 August. According to the union, some forty musicians from the orchestra earn an annual base salary of $ 33,000 to $ 35,000 and twenty soloists, $ 42,000 to $ 43,000.
