Musicians and performers at the English National Opera (ENO) who voted to strike said they were being used as “pawns” in a political game after proposed cuts led some to say they could be forced out of the profession altogether.
Union members at the ENO voted this week to take action in a dispute over planned cuts – which would see 19 orchestra posts cut, all choir, orchestra and music staff dismissed and rehired for six months – leaving wages would be reduced by 40. % – and some only work on an ad hoc basis as freelancers.
The staff will stop working on February 1, on the opening night of the production of The Handmaid’s Tale. If the strikes continue, the show is not expected to take place.
Glen Sheldon, the orchestra’s second violinist and steward of the Musicians’ Union at the ENO, said many staff felt they had no choice but to abandon the organisation’s plans, which also involved Greater Manchester opening its new would be home.
He said the move left many ENO musicians questioning whether or not they should leave the industry completely. “I’m 58,” Sheldon said. “I have been in this business for 36 years. I have been working at the ENO for 23 years, I have to look very carefully at whether I can continue in this business, and it doesn’t really look like I can.”
Ronald Nairne, member of the ENO Choir, said: “We went out and campaigned with management, we wrote letters to MPs, we appealed to the Arts Council, inter-parliamentary groups and the DCMS, we went as far as we could. And now they have decided on this business model.”
Sheldon said the musicians felt like “pawns” in a political game that had unfolded since then culture secretary Nadine Dorries instructed Arts Council England to Taking £24m a year out of London at the end of 2022. That was followed by ACE’s decision to withdraw all funding from ENO and tell the 100-year-old institution it had to move outside London if it wanted to qualify for further grants. Since then, the musical director, Martyn Brabbins, has resigned in protest at the job losses.
Nairne said the strikers also felt solidarity with others across the country who were organizing strikes, including trainee doctors and railway workers. “I wouldn’t want to make a false equivalence, but people need to be able to afford to live and do their jobs to meet the rising cost of living. A lot of people are in trouble right now, and I think only certain strata, certain companies and certain areas are affected. The people who get to choose their pay package always seem to be fine.
Sheldon added: “We’re not talking about life and death like a trainee doctor, or keeping the capital running like train drivers. [but] I definitely feel like it’s part of what’s going on.
Nairne and Sheldon spoke on behalf of the orchestra because all musicians have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from speaking to the press unless they have express permission.
An ENO musician speaking on condition of anonymity said the proposed cuts would “make it completely unfeasible for me to stay there… It would mean losing my house – I simply cannot cover the shortfall.”
They added that it was “incredibly irritating that even at the top of this profession in this truly world-class orchestra it would be impossible to make ends meet… I would actually be better off if I found year-round work at the London living wage. than what ENO now offers.”
Another said: “I don’t believe those responsible for these cuts have any idea of the damage they will do to this company, the individuals affected and the wider industry as a whole.”
The ENO said on Wednesday that the dispute “can best be resolved at the negotiating table”. While it “respects union members’ right to industrial action as part of our ongoing negotiations,” the company said it is “disappointed that this means the public will miss an opportunity to experience the work and talent of the entire ENO business.”
Brabbins, who resigned in October following the announcement of the budget cuts, said Thursday that he “fully supports” the orchestra musicians and choir in making what would undoubtedly have been a heartbreaking decision to go on strike.”
He added: “As a result of Arts Council England’s petty and negligent decision to evict ENO from London, these brilliant musicians are facing destruction to their livelihoods and unprecedented stress on their families.
“When is an opera company not an opera company? When music is no longer central. This is the tragic reality of where the English National Opera will find itself should it go ahead with proposed plans to make deep and sweeping cuts to musicians’ contracts.”
ENO’s previous musical disagreements
The vote may be the first time Musicians’ Union members have chosen to strike since 1980, but it is not the first time ENO musicians have chosen to do so.
In 1970, just after the company moved from Sadler’s Wells to the Coliseum in London, employees demanded working conditions in line with those of the Royal Opera House, where staff had predictable working patterns and limited night work.
When the September production of Carmen was about to begin, the stage crew stopped working. The show went on with only a skeleton crew and – according to Susie Gilbert’s history of the ENO, Opera for Everybody – this created a fractious relationship between staff, unions and management, resulting in another strike in 1974. An Arts Council committee reported on the chaos The management discovered was inexperienced in dealing with ‘major operations’ and was generally ‘weak’.
There have been more recent splits. In 2002, the ENO’s then artistic director, Nicholas Payne, resigned amid “talks of layoffs” and accusations of “artistic misjudgment.” The following year there was another strike over layoffs, which were no longer rumors, halting production of Berlioz’s The Trojans: The Capture of Troy, which reportedly cost the ENO £50,000 in box office revenue.
During the dispute, choristers stood outside the Arts Council offices and sang the Choir of Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s Nabucco and Defend Our Homes and Children from Khovanshchina, the Russian tragedy they were rehearsing when news of the layoffs broke. Sir Gerry Robinson, who reorganized the Arts Council by cutting 50% of its staff at the time, reportedly told them it was “the most beautiful protest” he had ever heard.