Opera Management, Union Members Singing Off Same Page

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Labor and management are in harmony at the Washington National Opera. Again. Workers and management at the 54-year-old local musical institution settled a new contract in less than 48 hours last month, reports Eleni Kallas, National Director of Organizing and Training at the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). "We have a great relationship with our employers," says Kallas, "Together, AGMA  and the Washington Opera brainstorm to fix problems as they arise" Although the workers struck twice in the early 1990s, the relationship is now so harmonious that in 2008 AGMA nominated the Washington National Opera for the "Labor Day List" award of  top employers  by American Rights at Work. The new agreement provides singers, dancers, stage managers, and principal artists at the Opera with modest increases in wages and benefits over the next three years, says Kallas. - Boaz Young-El, AFL-CIO Union Summer intern; photo: members of both negotiation teams celebrate the new contract together; photo courtesy AGMA