As #heartunions week gets into its stride, an unlikely bunch of militants are preparing to take industrial action.
When it comes to strikes opera singers are not what most people think of, but the choristers at English National Opera are being balloted in#heartunions week on taking strike action.
They have been told by their management to expect a 25 per cent cut in pay and to lose at least four jobs – a course of action that Equity fears could push ENO into terminal decline. This has come in the wake of 29 per cent cuts in funding from Arts Council England and meltdown in ENO management with recent resignations from its artistic director, chair and executive director.
Everyone accepts that ENO needs to save money, but cutting back on the singers who are the very heart of ENO and who the audiences pay to see makes no sense. If you damage the art you damage the chances of ENO thriving into the future.
And whoever is the blame for the mess ENO has got itself in, it is certainly not the singers in the chorus who are widely celebrated as being one of the best opera chorus in the world.
ENO is the only opera company in the UK to sing all its repertoire in English, and with tickets as low as £15 it is committed to delivering accessible opera that everyone can enjoy.
Hilary Hadley, our head of live performance here at Equity, said: ‘The plans by English National Opera management amount to cultural vandalism as they are threatening the future of a world-class chorus and as a consequence the viability of ENO itself. We have no alternative than to ballot on industrial action, which could result in strikes and cancelled performances.’
We believe that whatever mistakes the management of the ENO have made, the chorus should not be expected to carry the cost.
What can fellow trades unionists do? Go to Equity’s website for the latest news and sign the petition to keep a full-time opera chorus on full pay.
———————————
Martin Brown is assistant general secretary of Equity
———————————
Photo: Stephano Cagnoni