Welsh National Opera chorus to vote on strike action

Welsh National Opera (WNO) chorus members of the performers' union Equity are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute relating to proposals to cut their pay by at least 15% and to reduce and rebalance the size of the chorus.

The ballot commences this week and will run until September 4.

Management at the opera house have cited ongoing financial difficulties caused by cuts to their funding from both Arts Council England and Arts Council of Wales as the reason for the proposals.

“WNO management seem intent on pushing through these changes at speed under the misguided impression that this will, in some way, allow our members the opportunity to maximise the possibility of other employment,” said Simon Curtis, Equity’s National and Regional Official for Wales and South West England.

“These proposals, however, are unsustainable for our members and potentially catastrophic for the sector more widely in the UK,” he said.

Curtis added that 80% of Equity’s WNO members thought the cuts would have a high or significant impact on their personal finances, with 78% saying they may have to leave the opera.

“Such is the precarity of their situation over half (56%) say they would have to leave the industry altogether, while a further third (32%) say that they may have to,” Curtis said. “As their union, we will keep all options open to fight an attack on our members' livelihoods.”

In July, Musicians' Union (MU) members at WNO voted in favour of a full strike to protest management plans to make the orchestra part-time at 85% of their current hours, reducing their pay by 15%.

In the ballot, 81.3% of voters favoured full strike action, with 96.9% favouring action short of a strike, based on a turnout of 88.9%. The MU said any action won't be announced until September, before the start of the new season.