Musicians from the English National Opera (ENO), who announced last January that they would initiate a strike action against the company at the beginning of this month, have called off said plans after reaching an agreement with the ENO, as per The Guardian.
ENO's Favorable Agreement With Musicians' Union
The negotiations were held between the Musicians' Union, which represented the staff, and the ENO organization, wherein the latter agreed to revise its plans to axe around 19 orchestra regulars and make them work part-time for six months within the year.
Changes to this plan, which was the catalyst for the union's strike action, will see the employees getting rehired as originally proposed. However, this time, the musicians will be given seven months of "sure" employment alongside redundancy payment and "improvements" to the contract.
The musicians' demonstration, which was the first strike the MU has planned for in just about the last four and a half decades, and set to start this February, is now canceled due to the favorable agreement.
In addition, the performing arts union Equity - which also represents the ENO employees - said last Jan. 29 that a temporary settlement with the orchestra was en route, though, it has yet to reach finality.
This current "deal" between the MU and the ENO is some rarely seen positive news for the company, as it has been under fire for months on end.
This streak started when it was removed from the national portfolio of the Arts Council England in 2023, which resulted in the loss of its £12.8m annual grant.
In addition to this, the orchestra was asked by the council to relocate its operations outside of London if it is looking to qualify for prospective grants in the future.
That said, this deliberation from the Arts Council England received vitriolic responses from the critics, calling it "cultural vandalism," which eventually pushed the council to give the ENO more leeway in terms of time and funding for its move to its new home in Greater Manchester.
Jo Laverty, the National Organiser for Orchestras under the MU, was quoted in the union's press release saying: "Our members remain deeply disappointed that they have lost so much work and income when many of the other ENO staff have stayed full time."
"It is our intention to work on building up our members' work with ENO so they can return to full contracts," he added."An ideal long-term situation would see ENO making opera full time in both London and Manchester."
