Performing arts union ballots members in Welsh National Opera chorus on strike action

Members of the chorus of the Welsh National Opera (WNO) are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The orchestra and chorus are currently under threat of being made part-time following funding cuts, which supporters say will be devastating for the nation.

The performing arts trade union Equity say proposals to cut pay by at least 15% and to reduce and rebalance the size of the chorus, already under resourced, will lead to a real threat of compulsory redundancies.

High profile artists including Luke Evans, Katherine Jenkins and Michael Sheen have signed a letter calling for emergency cross-border funding for the Opera.

Their intervention followed the publication of an online petition set up by the WNO orchestra in conjunction with the Musicians’ Union calling for it to be retained as a full-time company.

The petition has reached over 11,000 signatures so far.

Cuts

Equity delivered the notification of intent to ballot members to WNO Management last week.

Members will receive their ballots through the post from Tuesday (August 20) and it will run until the 4th September.

WNO says it’s facing ongoing financial difficulties caused by substantial cuts to funding from both Arts Council England and Arts Council of Wales.

These retrograde decisions have already seen a reduction in output with touring weeks lost in Liverpool, Llandudno, and Bristol.

Equity says touring is the “lifeblood” of the company and reducing it will “seriously undermine” the stated mission of the WNO to bring opera to as wide an audience as possible.

‘Unjust’

The union says WNO must go back to the drawing board on the “unjust proposals” and engage in a process which “protects the full-time status of members and recognises the huge value of the highly skilled workforce”.

Simon Curtis, Equity’s National and Regional Official for Wales and South West England says: “WNO management seem intent on pushing through these changes at speed under the misguided impression that this will, in some way, allow our members the opportunity to maximise the possibility of other employment.

“These proposals, however, are unsustainable for our members and potentially catastrophic for the sector more widely in the UK. Almost 80% of them said it would have a high or significant impact on their personal finances, with 78% of them saying they may have to leave WNO.

“Such is the precarity of their situation, over half (56%) say they would have to leave the industry altogether, while a further third (32%) say that they may have to. As their union we will keep all options open to fight an attack on our members livelihoods.”