LOUISVILLE, KY (WDRB) -- Louisville Orchestra musicians are determined to not stay quiet. Monday their chorus of protest grew as dozen of union members from the Jefferson County Teachers Association, AFL-CIO, firefighters' union, and the UAW threw their support behind the musicians. "We want the Louisville Orchestra to remain alive and well here in Louisville," says James Carrico with CWA Local 3310.
They're upset about the orchestra's plan to hire replacement musicians if they can't reach a contract deal. Kentucky Opera has already hired high school and college students for this weekend's show at the Brown Theater, which union members called reprehensible. "Replacement workers in a labor dispute are often refereed to as scabs but we would rather not apply to this term to students and will refer to them as misinformed," says Bill Londrigan, president of Kentucky chapter of AFL-CIO.
Musicians seem ready to balk the latest arbitration deal while other union members launched attacks at Fund for the Arts with many promising not to donate to the fundraising campaign that kicked off 2 weeks ago. "I will go to our members and advocate that they do not donate any money to the Fund for the Arts for these sinister acts upon the Louisville Orchestra," says Craig Willam with Louisville Firefighters Local 345.
Fund for the Arts Acting President & CEO Barbara Sexton Smith was not at Monday's rally, saying she was told by union leaders their intent is not to withhold donations. "It's not that they were asking their brothers and sisters not to donate," says Smith. "They were simply asking the Fund for the Arts to provide leadership and try to bring the folks back to the table and have a conversation."
Part of that conversation includes a request for Mayor Greg Fischer to convene a blue-ribbon panel to study the orchestra dispute. But if union members really do withhold donations from Fund for the Arts, will others in the art community stand to suffer?
"If there are collateral damages that is unfortunate outcome," says Londrigan.
