It’s been a busy few weeks on the labor front for both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Columbia College.
“But,” Lester added, “we were able to get a secure guaranteed benefit for the [current] members of the orchestra going forward.” And he said they’re “studying” what to do about new hires. “We’re working with the Association to come to an agreement on a plan for them; the expectation is that we will work cooperatively to get this done.”
According to the report, the committee found them guilty of theft of the union’s list of member e-mail addresses, of “undermining the union as collective bargaining representative” (in part by trying to get rid of its officials “other than through regular elections”), and of “conduct threatening the survival of the union” by encouraging members to stop paying “cease their auto-deduction” of membership dues. Exhibits attached to the report consisted mostly of e-mails between the five accused members (along with a sixth person, who wasn’t technically a union member at the time).
