English National Opera chorus to vote on industrial action over job and pay cuts

Robert Dex @RobDexES8 February 2016

The English National Opera’s chorus are to be balloted for industrial action after a row over potential job and pay cuts erupted into the open.

All current members of the chorus were expected at a press conference in central London today to state their opposition to the planned cuts, which come after the ENO’s public funding was reduced.

It is another blow to the company, which has endured a torrid year, losing its chairman, executive director and artistic director as well as millions of pounds in Arts Council funding. It is understood the ENO wants to cut four jobs from the chorus and reduce the pay of the rest by 25 per cent to save about £876,000.

A spokesman for performers’ union Equity said: “This plan comes from managers who are still relatively new to the ENO and we think they have fundamentally misunderstood how the chorus works.

“Cutting the numbers of the chorus will eventually cost them more because they would lose longstanding members and would no doubt need to bring in freelancers who would require much more rehearsal time.

“We also know performances with the full chorus are what people want to see, so any cut in chorus numbers could see a fall in ticket sales as well.”

He said the nature of any industrial action had yet to be decided, but it is believed the chorus will overwhelmingly back action in the vote.

The Arts Council gave ENO more than £30 million for two years from 2015, to support its move to what the opera says is a “new business model” that will be less reliant on subsidy.

At the end of the month, the company is expected to unveil its plans for the future, with more shows expected to be staged away from its base at the London Coliseum — a move that aims to generate ticket sales at the new venues and free up its home theatre to host more commercial work.

The proposed 25 per cent pay cut for the chorus is thought to reflect the fall in the number of productions planned for the new season in the ENO plan.

A spokesman for the company said: “ENO is committed to preserving a permanent chorus.

“However, in order to move towards a more sustainable business model it is inevitable that cost savings will have to be made throughout the organisation.”

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