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Hartford Symphony Orchestra Says Music Could End Without Union Deal

Nate Gagnon
/
WNPR
Members of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra rally in Hartford to protest cuts, September 9, 2015.
The board's most recent contract with the musicians union expired in June 2014.

Credit Chion Wolf / WNPR
/
WNPR
Michael Pollard of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in a WNPR file photo.

The board that oversees the Hartford Symphony Orchestra said it could be forced to shut down unless a union that represents musicians is willing to make concessions.

Stephen Collins, the symphony's director of artistic operations and administration,told The Hartford Courant that the symphony is running an approximately $1 million annual deficit and will have to make "very difficult decisions" early next year.

The board's most recent contract with the musicians union expired in June 2014.

Michael Pollard, an HSO violinist and member of the union's negotiating team, said the union is not the problem and, even if it accepted every concession, the symphony's financial problems would not be solved.

In September, the National Labor Relations Board said the HSO had failed to bargain in good faith with the union.

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