Who is to Blame?

I read the article “Strife Joins Minnesota Musicians in Concert” in New York Times Classical Music. It is about the dispute between Minnesota Orchestra management and its player. The seemingly successful orchestra will decline or disappear as a result of “ Labor Strike” . To me,  it's a sad story. So who is to blame?

I believe the orchestra has been in great shape and the players are professional, to say the least, as is stated in this article that the concerts put on by the players has sold all the seats. It looks like the management is the issue: its financial status is in deep trouble, a debt of six million. They have to reduce the cost before its too late to cover, or as the management put out, “when we still have assets”. The assets are the salary of the players, which will be cut a great deal. Personally, I think the management did not have an option. If they do they would have already chosen.

So now we take a look at the players, first you can tell the are great musicians. They organized their own concert and made a great show. They refuse to take the cut because they believed that to be competitive the player has to have top salary. So it seems that both the management and the players are deadlocked and cannot agree on now. However, personally I side with the management, because first of all the debt is real and they have to face the reality and reduce the debt. However, as for the players they prefer to see the Orchestra disappear rather giving up a little payment which I did not side with. My heart goes especially to Osmo Vanska, the conductor. He devoted all his life to the profession and refuse to get involved in financial dispute.
 
Zhuying Li