Tucson Symphony Orchestra musicians will see their wages rise by 16.3% over the next three years, according to terms of the new collective bargaining agreement between the musicians and the orchestra.
The agreement, made public on Friday, also increases the orchestra’s share of musician healthcare premiums by 5% each year through Aug. 31, 2028, according to Alana Wiesing, president of Local 33 of the American Federation of Musicians representing TSO musicians.
The orchestra finalized the agreement in early September and was expected to announce it from the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall stage at Friday’s season-opening concert with guest pianist Olga Kern.
Wiesing, now in her seventh season as TSO’s principal timpanist, said she and her colleagues will see their per-service rate go up 4% this year, 5% next and 6.5% in the final year of the three-year agreement. The new collective bargaining agreement, meanwhile, levels the playing field for substitute players, restoring their pay rate to equal that of permanent orchestra players. The rate had been reduced in 2008 as part of the orchestra’s cost-cutting measures during the recession.
The contract also makes a provision for unpaid primary leave in the event that a musician has to skip a daytime rehearsal because it conflicts with their primary job.
Under a new collective bargaining agreement, Tucson Symphony Orchestra musicians will see their pay increase 16.3% over the next three years.
“A vast majority of our musicians, if not everyone, to some capacity, have at least one other job outside of the TSO, and oftentimes those jobs pay more than the salaries the TSO pays,” said Wiesing, who noted that daytime rehearsals are rare.
In past years, the amount of unpaid primary leave was unlimited; the new contract restricts it to the Classics series and limits it to six times a year in the contract’s first year, five in year two and four in the final year.
Wiesing said she and the musicians committee negotiating with TSO management determined the concession “was in the best interest of trying to advance the wages and other working conditions” most musicians favored.
“We were able to gain greater ground elsewhere in the contract by making a concession there,” she said.
TSO President and CEO Paul Meecham said the fact that the orchestra was able to elevate musician pay “gives you some indication that we feel confident that we can afford to do that.”
“Financially, we’re getting stronger,” Meecham said, adding, “we want to be stronger still.”
The orchestra early this year received an anonymous $9 million bequest for its endowment fund, which had stood at $2.5 million after the pandemic, Meecham said. With smaller bequests in the past couple of years and growth in the stock market, the endowment is now valued at more than $16 million, he said.
