What Board Members Didn't Hear

Danny Laufer had planned to address the ASO Board of Directors with the following prepared speech.  Stanley Romenstein did not allow him to speak.  Here is the text of his letter, followed by a short note he sent to Board members.  

Ladies and Gentlemen of the ASO Board of Directors,

I would like to briefly speak to you foremost as a member of the ASO for 21 years. After all the years I and my colleagues have invested on stage and after all the years you all have invested in the ASO -- it pains me greatly to see the damage that has been done to the future of the orchestra during these eight months.

The musicians were made fully aware that our August 25th proposal -- containing the annual and deep concessions of $2 million that Stanley had asked us to agree to, met with the ready approval of this board, only to be shot down by the WAC as insufficient – as not taking enough away from the musicians. Yet in the hope of preserving the ASO, we put aside our anger and, after an incredibly painful process, the ASOPA Committee on September 19 made the proposal that met the WAC’s and your demand for $2.58 million in cuts.  You must understand the depth of this proposal because it sets the ASO back 31 years in the number of weeks of work per year (to when our management staff consisted of around fifteen people).  It pushes our pay backwards and downwards ten years, not even taking inflation into account.

My orchestra has sacrificed way too much already to call itself even the ASO we remember as the winter season ended last June. We have been bullied into just about every concession on the monetary side, and yet today still continue to face further demands when a deal should have been struck weeks ago with our still huge but more reasonable $2 million offer. The several remaining issues that we have articulated to your lawyer -- after getting rid of every one we possibly could -- can be resolved – tonight -- and we hope this happens.

I am here to state to you as our board that these negotiations need to be completed on terms which the musicians can also agree on -- if there is to be any possibility of a future for this once great institution.  We have members having to accept work in other orchestras as the days and weeks pass, an exodus that will only grow as a natural consequence of having no pay and no health care. You have the ability to bring these negotiations to a conclusion, and I ask you to make your voices heard to the leadership team of the ASO. I will leave you shortly so you are able to speak in private.

Finally, a very few of you have greatly misjudged the character of my colleagues and myself. In one case, you have not even met me or my colleagues once.  This is unfortunate, divisive, and deeply disappointing to me personally.  Being aware of the invitation sent to all of you to meet with us on September 16^th and of the e-mail quickly following that requested that you not attend, we were shocked at the entirely inaccurate and flawed prediction made about what we would be doing, saying, or having you do there.  We just wanted to have a relaxed conversation with you where you could ask us also anything you want. The “empty room” as referred to in the e-mail you received did not send to our orchestra the message you were hoping for.

Today we are – by necessity, not by choice -- fighting to preserve the ASO as an institution, and as an orchestra – a singular body, not a hastily assembled group of individual musicians. Tomorrow, with this Board’s good choices exercised today – we really should – and can -- be making music and supporting a future for the ASO.

Please help the ASO cross the finish line in these negotiations in order that we can try to let the healing and rebuilding begin.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you directly. We have known many of you for many years and do appreciate your support through these trying times even if it has been in private conversations to this date.

Dear ASO Board members,

It was very disappointing to have seen that when I asked this afternoon to speak for a few minutes to all of you, Jim Abrahamson turned to Stanley who shook his head no. Since I was silenced, I thought I would share with you what I had prepared to say to all of you.

I did want to agree with Stanley that the deficit needs to be balanced but how that is accomplished can be done in many ways. I hope most of you will understand that in my body, working together is called compromising. I am quite disillusioned at this point what our leadership has in mind besides being in the black.

With much regret not being able to speak to you as if I am a danger of some kind, I hope you take this at face value for what this letter is regardless if you receive a follow up letter from Jim Abrahamson and / or Stanley Romanstein.

With appreciation to you.

Sincerely,

Danny Laufer