The San Francisco Symphony has announced that negotiations over a new contract with the musicians have broken down with the players’ rejection of a federal mediator’s proposal for a cooling-off period. As a result, the orchestra’s East Coast tour, which was to have included concerts at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday and Thursday as well as concerts in Newark and Washington on Friday and Saturday, has been canceled.
The musicians went on strike on Wednesday, mainly over wage issues, the current average salary being $165,000, and rehearsals and concerts were canceled at its home, Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, day by day through the weekend. What were called marathon bargaining sessions, meanwhile, proved fruitless. Brent Assink, the orchestra’s executive director, said on Sunda that management was “ready to resume bargaining†with the players, though “collectively, we need a few hours of sleep.â€
