Three Days Grace

The Met and its unions announce a 72-hour lockout delay.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Met's current situation reminds one of this classic Sydney Pollack thriller.

Promotional image for Three Days of the Condor © 1975 Paramount Pictures.

In a tweet posted at 10:33pm on Thursday night, Wall Street Journal reporter Jennifer Maloney announced that the Metropolitan Opera will delay the lockout of its unions by 72 hours, giving the opera company and its unions three days in which to reach a compromise.

Mediate...Deliberate...Negotiate?

At the 11th hour, the Met and two of its unions agree to explore mediation.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Members of INXS (including the deceased Michael Hutchence, left) show up unexpectedly
at Lincoln Center, where the negotiations between the Metropolitan Opera (left) and its
unions have entered crunch time.
Images of Michael Hutchence, Garry Gary Beers and Jon Farris from the
INXS video "Mediate" © 1987 Atlantic Records.

The Metropolitan Opera and its fifteen unions stand poised on the brink of a lockout that threatens to cancel part or all of the 2014-15 season. However, a report in today's New York Times by Michael Cooper states that a federal mediator is being asked to step into negotiations between Met general manager Peter Gelb and two of the key unions whose collective bargaining agreements expire at midnight tonight.

50 Shades of Negotiations

The Met (and its unions) are heading for a showdown.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Image from someecards.com © 2014 someecards.com

In the middle of news stories about the current state of negotiations between the Metropolitan Opera and its fifteen unions (whose contracts all expire at midnight on Thursday). Apropos of nothing, last week also saw the release of the trailer for the movie version of E.L. James' kinky romance novel 50 Shades of Grey.

Just One Week 'til Doomsday

The Metropolitan Opera and its unions are headed for the precipice.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The title (with a slight background picture alteration) speaks for itself.

Photo of Peter Gelb's head by Marty Sohl © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

Original cover of While The Clock Ticked by Franklin W. Dixon

Artwork © 1932 Grosset and Dunlap. Photo alteration by the author.

With one week left before the July 31 deadline and union contracts for fifteen of the Metropolitan Opera's sixteen unions threatening to expire, both Met general manager Peter Gelb and union representatives have upped the stakes in their war of angry words.